Research Catalog

Title

The culture and philosophy of Ridley Scott / edited by Adam Barkman, Ashley Barkman, and Nancy Kang.

Publication

Lanham : Lexington Books, 2013.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• Barkman, Adam, 1979-
• Barkman, Ashley, 1978-
• Kang, Nancy, 1977-

Description

ix, 300 pages; 24 cm

Summary

• "The Culture and Philosophy of Ridley Scott, edited by Adam Barkman, Ashley Barkman, and Nancy Kang, brings together eighteen critical essays that illuminate a nearly comprehensive selection of the director's feature films from cutting-edge multidisciplinary and comparative perspectives. Chapters examine such signature works as Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Thelma and Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), Hannibal (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), and American Gangster (2007). This volume divides the chapters into three major thematic groups: responsibility, remembering, and revision; real, alienated, and ideal lives; and gender, identity, and selfhood. Each section features six discrete essays, each of which forwards an original thesis about the film or films chosen for analysis. Each chapter features close readings of scenes as well as broader discussions that will interest academics, non-specialists, as well as educated readers with an interest in films as visual texts.^
• The Culture and Philosophy of Ridley Scott assembles the critical essays of scholars working in the fields of philosophy, literary studies, and cultural studies. An international group, they are based in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Italy, Greece, Korea, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. The guiding assumption on the part of all the writers is that the filmmaker is the leading determiner of a motion picture's ethos, artistic vision, and potential for audience engagement. While not discounting the production team (including screenwriters, actors, and cinematographers, among others), auteur theory recognizes the seminal role of the director as the nucleus of the meaning-making process. With Scott an active and prolific presence in the entertainment industry today, the timeliness of this volume is optimal."--Publisher's website.
• While recognizing Scott's undeniable contributions to contemporary popular cinema, the volume does not shy away from honest and well-evidenced critique. Each chapter's approach correlates with philosophical, literary, or cultural studies perspectives. Using both combined and single-film discussions, the contributors examine such topics as gender roles and feminist theory; philosophical abstractions like ethics, honor, and personal responsibility; historical memory and the challenges of accurately rendering historical events on screen; literary archetypes and generic conventions; race relations and the effect of class difference on character construction; how religion shapes personal and collective values; the role of a constantly changing technological universe; and the schism between individual and group-based power structures.^

Subject

Scott, Ridley > Criticism and interpretation

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction / Nancy Kang, Ashley Barkman, and Adam Barkman -- Part I. Responsibility, Remembering, Revision: 1. "Good badmen": reading race in Black rain, American gangster, and Body of lies / Nancy Kang; 2. A double-edged sword: honor in The duellists / James Edwin Mahon; 3. The trans-religious ethics of Kingdom of Heaven / Michael Garcia; 4. Levinasian responsibility in Someone to watch over me, Black rain, and White squall / Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns; 5. Re-membering Vietnam in Somalia: Black Hawk down and ethical militarism in American historical memory / David Zietsma; 6. 1492 and the ethics of remembering / Silvio Torres-Saillant -- Part II. Real Lives, Alienated Lives, Ideal Lives: 7. What's wrong with building replicants? artificial intelligence in Blade runner, Alien, and Prometheus / Greg Littmann; 8. A villainous appetite: erôs, madness, and the food analogy in Hannibal and Legend / Antonio Sanna; 9. Detecting puzzles and patterns in Numb3rs: no one escapes "Scott Free" / Janice Shaw; 10. Celebrating historical accuracy in The duellists / Carl Sobocinski; 11. Conceptions of happiness in Matchstick men and A good year / Basileios Kroustallis; 12. Techno-totalitarianism in Alien / Dan Dinello -- Part III. Gender, Identity, Selfhood: 13. Through space, over a cliff, and into a trench: the shifting. Feminist ideologies of Alien, Thelma & Louise, and G.I. Jane / Aviva Dove-Viebahn; 14. Why doesn't Hannibal kill Clarice? the philosophy of a monstrous romantic in Hannibal / Matthew Freeman; 15. In the guise of character: costumes, narrative, and the reality of artifice in Thelma & Louise / Lorna Piatti-Farnell; 16. Becoming authentic in Matchstick men through the ultimate con / Elizabeth Abele; 17. Virginity in Alien: the essence of Ripley's survival / Sydney Palmer; 18. Gladiator, gender, and marriage in Heaven: a Christian exploration / Adam Barkman.

ISBN

• 9780739178720 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 0739178725 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 9780739178737 (electronic) (canceled/invalid)
• 0739178733 (electronic) (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

• ^^2012051602
• 40022179550

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library