Film and the Anarchist Imagination - Softcover

Porton, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1859842615 ISBN 13: 9781859842614

Publisher: Verso, 1999

Synopsis

Bearded bomb-throwers, self-indulgent nihilists, dangerous subversives—these characteristic clichés of anarchists in the popular imagination are often reproduced in the cinema. In Film and the Anarchist Imagination, the first comprehensive survey of anarchism in film, Richard Porton deconstructs such stereotypes while offering an authoritative account of films featuring anarchist characters and motifs.

From the early cinema of Griffith and René Clair, to the work of Godard, Lina Wertmüller, Lizzie Borden and Ken Loach, Porton analyzes portrayals of anarchism in film, presenting commentaries and critiques of such classics as Zéro de Conduite, Tout Va Bien, and Love and Anarchy. In addition, he provides an excellent guide to the complex traditions of anarchist thought, from Bakunin and Kropotkin to Emma Goldman and Murray Bookchin, disclosing a rich historical legacy that encompasses the Paris Commune, the Haymarket martyrs, the anarcho-syndicalists of the Spanish Civil War, as well as more familiar contemporary avatars like the Situationists and the enragés of May 1968.

About this title

From the Author:

The first full-length study of film and anarchism. Film and the Anarchist Imagination is the first full-length study in English of the relationship of film and anarchism. The book begins with a survey of anarchist stereotypes from D.W. Griffith to Hal Hartley, but does not confine itself to critiquing "negative images." The subsequent chapters deal with the intersection of film and important currents within anarchist theory and practice--e.g.anti-authoritarian pedagogy and the "revolt against work--and also examines cinematic portraits of major anti-authoritarian figures such as Joe Hill and Sacco and Vanzetti, as well as films spawned by the Spanish Civil War (or what anarchists refer to as the Spanish Revolution) of the 1930s. The book concludes with a consideration of affinities between cinema and what is termed "the elusive anarchist aesthetic." The work of major directors such as Ken Loach, Jean Vigo, Jean-Luc Godard, Elio Petri, Lina Wertmuller is discussed.

About the Author:

Richard Porton is editor at Cineaste and has taught film studies at the College of Staten Island, Hunter College, Rutgers University, and New York University. He has written on film for a variety of publications including Cinema Scope, In These Times, and Moving Image Source. He is the author of Film and the Anarchist Imagination.

About this edition

• Publisher: Verso
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1859842615
• ISBN 13: 9781859842614
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320