The Many Faces of Weimar Cinema: Rediscovering Germany's Filmic Legacy (Screen Cultures: German Film and the Visual) - Hardcover

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9781571134295: The Many Faces of Weimar Cinema: Rediscovering Germany's Filmic Legacy (Screen Cultures: German Film and the Visual)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1571134298 ISBN 13: 9781571134295

Publisher: Camden House, 2010

Traditionally, Weimar cinema has been equated with the work of a handful of auteurist filmmakers and a limited number of canonical films. Often a single, limited phenomenon, "expressionist film," has been taken as synonymous with the cinema of the entire period. But in recent decades, such reductive assessments have been challenged by developments in film theory and archival research that highlight the tremendous richness and diversity of Weimar cinema. This widening of focus has brought attention to issues such as film as commodity; questions of technology and genre; transnational collaborations and national identity; effects of changes in socioeconomics and gender roles on film spectatorship; and connections between film and other arts and media. Such shifts have been accompanied by archival research that has made a cornucopia of new information available, now augmented by the increased availability of films from the period on DVD. This wealth of new source material calls for a re-evaluation of Weimar cinema that considers the legacies of lesser-known directors and producers, popular genres, experiments of the artistic avant-garde, and nonfiction films, all of which are aspects attended to by the essays in this volume. Contributors: Ofer Ashkenazi, Jaimey Fisher, Veronika Fuechtner, Joseph Garncarz, Barbara Hales, Anjeana Hans, Richard W. McCormick, Nancy P. Nenno, Elizabeth Otto, Mihaela Petrescu, Theodore F. Rippey, Christian Rogowski, Jill Smith, Philipp Stiasny, Chris Wahl, Cynthia Walk, Valerie Weinstein, Joel Westerdale. Christian Rogowski is Professor of German at Amherst College.

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About the Author:

Contributors: Ofer Ashkenazi, Jaimey Fisher, Veronika Fuechtner, Joseph Garncarz, Barbara Hales, Anjeana Hans, Richard W. McCormick, Nancy P. Nenno, Elizabeth Otto, Mihaela Petrescu, Theodore F. Rippey, Christian Rogowski, Jill Smith, Philipp Stiasny, Chris Wahl, Cynthia Walk, Valerie Weinstein, Joel Westerdale.

Christian Rogowski is Professor of German at Amherst College.

Review:

An important contribution to the literature on Weimar cinema. . . . The editor, Christian Rogowski . . . places in focus not the canonical films of the time like Caligari, Nosferatu, or Metropolis, but instead important films of the "second rank" and specific thematic connections. . . . Almost all the essays are conceived and formulated at a high level and make visible connections between film and society in the Weimar period. The approximately sixty images are helpful to the reader. . . . HANS-HELMUT PRINZLER, WWW.HHPRINZLER.DE (A)n enormously important and didactically helpful intervention . . . . (The book) lives up to the promise of its title and should soon become mandatory reading for everyone interested in new perspectives on Weimar Cinema. FILMBLATT Goes beyond a mere reevaluation of film classics in matters of film and topic selection. . . . offer(s) readers fresh perspectives on . . . a cornucopia of undiscovered or relatively unknown filmic gems, paired with long overdue approaches of media studies . . . . keeps its promise as claimed in the subtitle, as it genuinely rediscovers Germany's filmic legacy. GERMAN STUDIES REVIEWBR> (T)he scholars' excitement about exploring this hitherto uncharted territory is palpable and infectious. The balance of theoretical scaffolding and ambitious storytelling make the articles . . . perfectly suited for undergraduates and should find ample use in film classes . . .(and) inspire more classes on the early years of German cinema. WOMEN IN GERMAN NEWSLETTER Rogowski's outstanding collection moves beyond the familiar canon to reevaluate the diverse legacy of Weimar film . . . provide(s) new social, historical, and aesthetic contexts for understanding Weimar cinema and introduce(s) readers to less-familiar popular, abstract, documentary, and genre films. CHOICE A bold attempt at expanding the field and revising the standard literature. . . . (Its) main achievement is the emphasis it places on a formerly neglected set of films and topics. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

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