Research Catalog

Shoe reels : the history and philosophy of footwear in film

Title: Shoe reels : the history and philosophy of footwear in film / edited by Elizabeth Ezra and Catherine Wheatley.
Publication: Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2020]

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	MFL 21-1571	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre

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Description

xiii, 298 pages : illustrations (some colour); 25 cm.

Summary

In his famous interpretation of Vincent Van Gogh's painting A Pair of Peasant's Shoes (1886), Heidegger argues that shoes tell us all we need to know about the world of the person who walks in them. In the case of Van Gogh's painting, we learn this not through a description of the pair of shoes, nor by a report on how to make shoes, but by looking at the shoes. Heidegger thus gestures towards the power of the visual arts to show us human truths through images of footwear and the feet they conceal or reveal, a power that finds its fullest expression in the cinema. From Chaplin's meal of boots (The Gold Rush, 1925), through Powell and Pressburger's Red Shoes (1948) and Dorothy's ruby slippers (The Wizard of Oz, 1939), to Julia Roberts' pvc thigh-highs (Pretty Woman, 1990), Marty McFly's power-lacing Nikes (Back to the Future, 1985) and the slim, spike-heeled stiletto that graces the poster for The Devil Wears Prada (2006), shoes are not only some of the cinema's most enduring icons; they also serve as characterisations, plot devices, soundtracks, metaphors and philosophical touchpoints. This book anaylses their significnace through a range of approaches drawn from the fields of Film Studies, Philosophy, Cultural History, Fashion, Cultural Studies and Politics.

Series Statement

Films and fashions

Subject

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Call Number

MFL 21-1571

ISBN

1474451403
9781474451406

OCLC

1136959541

Title

Shoe reels : the history and philosophy of footwear in film / edited by Elizabeth Ezra and Catherine Wheatley.

Publisher

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2020]

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Films and fashions

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Added Author

Wheatley, Catherine, editor.

Ezra, Elizabeth, 1965- editor.

Research Call Number

MFL 21-1571

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