The Book of Iowa Films

The Book of Iowa Films
Author: Marty Knepper
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2014-08-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0990428915

This is the first comprehensive history of films made in or about Iowa. It reflects some twenty years of collecting, lecturing, and talking with some of Iowa's current generation of independent filmmakers. It covers the span from 1918 to 2013 and gives important background information on dozens of high profile films such as the STATE FAIR films of 1933 and 1945, THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, FIELD OF DREAMS, and many others. It is designed as a companion for the State Historical Society's blockbuster "Hollywood in the Heartland" exhibition in Des Moines that is scheduled to run at least through 2016. The book has an interpretive essay covering the entire history as well as paragraph length descriptions of each film. A user-friendly feature is the Index of Films, which makes it easy to locate discussions of individual films. Marty Knepper is a featured commentator on video screens in the "Hollywood in the Heartland" exhibition.

Shoeless Joe

Shoeless Joe
Author: W. P. Kinsella
Publisher: Rosetta Books
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2014-01-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0795311710

The novel that inspired Field of Dreams: “A lyrical, seductive, and altogether winning concoction.” —The New York Times Book Review One of Sports Illustrated’s 100 Greatest Sports Books “If you build it, he will come.” When Ray Kinsella hears these mysterious words spoken in the voice of an Iowa baseball announcer, he is inspired to carve a baseball diamond in his cornfield. It is a tribute to his hero, the legendary Shoeless Joe Jackson, whose reputation was forever tarnished by the scandalous 1919 World Series. What follows is a timeless story that is “not so much about baseball as it is about dreams, magic, life, and what is quintessentially American” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). “A triumph of hope.” —The Boston Globe “A moonlit novel about baseball, dreams, family, the land, and literature.” —Sports Illustrated

On the History of Film Style

On the History of Film Style
Author: David Bordwell
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 338
Release: 1997
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674634299

Bordwell scrutinizes the theories of style launched by various film historians and celebrates a century of cinema. The author examines the contributions of many directors and shows how film scholars have explained stylistic continuity and change.

Disney's Star Wars

Disney's Star Wars
Author: William Proctor
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2019-07-01
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1609386442

In 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilm, which meant it also inherited the beloved Star Wars franchise. This corporate marriage sent media critics and fans into a frenzy of speculation about what would happen next with the hugely popular series. Disney’s Star Wars gathers twenty-one noted fan and media studies scholars from around the world to examine Disney’s revival of the franchise. Covering the period from Disney’s purchase through the release of The Force Awakens, the book reveals how fans anticipated, interpreted, and responded to the steady stream of production stories, gossip, marketing materials, merchandise, and other sources in the build-up to the movie’s release. From fears that Princess Leia would be turned into a “Disney princess” to collaborative brand management, the authors explore the shifting relationship between fans, texts, and media industries in the context of a crucial rebranding campaign. The result is a fascinating examination of a critical moment in the iconic series’ history.

Star Attractions

Star Attractions
Author: Tamar Jeffers McDonald
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2019-12-15
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1609386736

During Hollywood’s “classic era,” from the 1920s to 1950s, roughly twenty major fan magazines were offered each month at American newsstands and abroad. These publications famously fed fan obsessions with celebrities such as Mae West and Elvis Presley. Film studies scholars often regard these magazines with suspicion; perhaps due to their reputation for purveying scandal and gossip, their frequent mingling of gushing tone, and blatant falsehood. Looking at these magazines with fresh regarding eyes and treating them as primary sources, the contributors of this collection provide unique insights into contemporary assumptions about the relationship between fan and star, performer and viewer. In doing so, they reveal the magazines to be a huge and largely untapped resource on a wealth of subjects, including gender roles, appearance and behavior, and national identity. Contributors: Emily Chow-Kambitsch, Alissa Clarke, Jonathan Driskell, Lucy Fischer, Ann-Marie Fleming, Oana-Maria Mazilu, Adrienne L. McLean, Sarah Polley, Geneviève Sellier, Michael Williams

The Stones of Summer

The Stones of Summer
Author: Dow Mossman
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company
Total Pages: 612
Release: 2003
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780760748848

Episodic coming of age saga.

Desire After Dark

Desire After Dark
Author: Andrew J. Owens
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2021-03-02
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0253053846

Since the 1960s, the occult in film and television has responded to and reflected society's crises surrounding gender and sexuality. In Desire After Dark, Andrew J. Owens explores media where figures such as vampires and witches make use of their supernatural knowledge in order to queer what otherwise appears to be a normative world. Beginning with the global sexual revolutions of the '60s and moving decade by decade through "Euro-sleaze" cinema and theatrical hardcore pornography, the HIV/AIDS crisis, the popularity of New Age religions and witchcraft, and finally the increasingly explicit sexualization of American cable television, Owens contends that occult media has risen to prominence during the past 60 years as a way of exposing and working through cultural crises about queerness. Through the use of historiography and textual analyses of media from Bewitched to The Hunger, Owens reveals that the various players in occult media have always been well aware that non-normative sexuality constitutes the heart of horror's enduring appeal. By investigating vampirism, witchcraft, and other manifestations of the supernatural in media, Desire After Dark confirms how the queer has been integral to the evolution of the horror genre and its persistent popularity as both a subcultural and mainstream media form.

Film/Genre

Film/Genre
Author: Rick Altman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2019-07-25
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1838715797

Film/Genre revises our notions of film genre and connects the roles played by industry critics and audiences in making and re-making genre. Altman reveals the conflicting stakes for which the genre game has been played and recognises that the term 'genre' has different meanings for different groups, basing his new genre theory on the uneasy competitive yet complimentary relationship among genre users and discussing a huge range of films from The Great Train Robbery to Star Wars and from The Jazz Singer to The Player.

Narration in the Fiction Film

Narration in the Fiction Film
Author: David Bordwell
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2013-09-27
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1136099166

In this study, David Bordwell offers a comprehensive account of how movies use fundamental principles of narrative representation, unique features of the film medium, and diverse story-telling patterns to construct their fictional narratives.