Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation (Library of Modern Middle East Studies) - Softcover

Shohat, Ella

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845113136 ISBN 13: 9781845113131

Publisher: I.B. Tauris, 2010

Synopsis

When the Hebrew edition of this groundbreaking book came out, it provoked a stormy public debate. The author has now up-dated "Israeli Cinema", adding a substantial new postscript that reflects on the book's initial reception and points to exciting new trends in the cinematic representation of Israel and Palestine. Ella Shohat explores the cinema as a productive site of national culture, dating back to the early Zionist films about turn-of-the-century Palestine. She offers a deconstructionist reading of Zionism, viewing the cinema as itself participating in the 'invention' of the nation. Unthinking the Eurocentric imaginary of 'East versus West', Shohat highlights the paradoxes of an anomalous national/colonial project through a number of salient issues, including the Sabra figure as a negation of the 'Diaspora Jew', the iconography of the land of Israel as a denial of Palestine, and the narrative role of 'the good Arab'. The new postscript examines the emergence of a richly multiperspectival cinematic space that transcends earlier dichotomies through a palimpsestic and cross-border approach to Israel/Palestine.

About this title

About the Author:

Ella Shohat is Professor of Cultural Studies at New York University. Her books include 'Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices', 'Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age', and with Robert Stam 'Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media' and 'Flagging Patriotism: Crises of Narcissism and Anti-Americanism'.

Review:

'''Israeli Cinema is a tour-de-force. Not only is it theoretically sophisticated, it is also deeply rooted in the changing politics and perceptions of the Israeli predicament as they bear upon Israeli films.""--Edward Said ""A new edition of Israeli Cinema with a substantial postcript that reflects on the book's initial reception and points to exciting current trends in the cinematic representation of Israel and Palestine."" -- Sight and Sound

“Ella Shohat’s Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation should prove a milestone in the area of national film studies. Her discussion of major movements within Israeli cinema is far-reaching, while the analyses of individual works are never less than fresh and provocative.” -- Richard Peña, Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center ""The book provides the reader with deep insight into Israeli mentality while tackling the question of displacement in Palestine as a common experience of different groups on different grounds...In the 2010 edition of her book, Shohat adds some important annotations about the last 20 years of events as filtered by art and cinema."" -- Medarabnews.com “Shohat’s book played a large part in shaping the cultural and intellectual debates, forcing into the open disquieting realities about Israeli society and promoting a new critical narrative. Shohat’s book has since become vital historical documentation.” – Nana Asfour, Cineaste Magazine

About this edition

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1845113136
• ISBN 13: 9781845113131
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 392