Reframing Cult Westerns

Once one of the most popular film genres and a key player in the birth of early narrative cinema, the Western has experienced a rebirth in the era of post-classical filmmaking with a small but noteworthy selection of Westerns being produced long after the genre's 1950s heyday. Thanks to regular repertory cinema and television screenings, home video releases and critical reappraisals by cultural gatekeepers such as Quentin Tarantino, an ever-increasing number of these Westerns have become cult films. Be they star-laden, stylish, violent, bizarre or simply little heard-of obscurities, Reframing Cult Westerns offers a multitude of new critical insights into a truly eclectic selection of cult Western films. These twelve essays present a wide-ranging methodological scope, from industrial histories to ecocritical approaches, auteurist analysis to queer and other ideological angles. With a thorough analysis of the genre from international perspectives, Reframing Cult Westerns offers fresh insight on the Western as a global phenomenon.

Once one of the most popular film genres and a key player in the birth of early narrative cinema, the Western has experienced a rebirth in the era of post-classical filmmaking with a small but noteworthy selection of Westerns being produced long after the genre's 1950s heyday. Thanks to regular repertory cinema and television screenings, home video releases and critical reappraisals by cultural gatekeepers such as Quentin Tarantino, an ever-increasing number of these Westerns have become cult films. Be they star-laden, stylish, violent, bizarre or simply little heard-of obscurities, Reframing Cult Westerns offers a multitude of new critical insights into a truly eclectic selection of cult Western films. These twelve essays present a wide-ranging methodological scope, from industrial histories to ecocritical approaches, auteurist analysis to queer and other ideological angles. With a thorough analysis of the genre from international perspectives, Reframing Cult Westerns offers fresh insight on the Western as a global phenomenon.

The Western has always been inextricably linked to the USA, and studies have continually sought to connect its historical development to changes in American society and Hollywood innovations. Focusing new critical attention on films produced in Germany, Italy and Britain, this timely book offers a radical rereading of the evolutionary history of the Western and brings a vital international dimension to its study. Lee Broughton argues not only that European films possess a special significance in terms of the genre's global development, but also that many offered groundbreaking and progressive representations of traditional Wild West 'Others': Native Americans, African Americans and so-called 'strong women'. European Westerns investigates how the histories of Germany, Italy and Britain - and the idiosyncrasies of their respective national film industries - influenced representations of the self and 'Other', shedding light on the broader cultural, historical and political contexts that shaped European engagement with the genre.

Identifies key – and in some cases previously overlooked – cult horror films from around the world and reappraises them by approaching and interrogating them in new ways. New productions in the horror genre occupy a prominent space within the cinematic landscape of the 21st century, but the genre's back catalogue of older films refuses to be consigned to the motion picture graveyard just yet. Interest in older horror films remains high, and an ever-increasing number of these films have enjoyed an afterlife as cult movies thanks to regular film festival screenings, television broadcasts and home video releases. Similarly, academic interest in the horror genre has remained high. The frameworks applied by contributors to the collection include genre studies, narrative theory, socio-political readings, aspects of cultural studies, gendered readings, archival research, fan culture work, interviews with filmmakers, aspects of film historiography, spatial theory and cult film theory. Covering a corpus of films that ranges from recognised cult horror classics such as The Wicker Man, The Shining and Candyman to more obscure films like Daughters of Darkness, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, Shivers, Howling III: The Marsupials and Inside, Broughton has curated an international selection of case studies that show the diverse nature of the cult horror subgenre. Be they star-laden, stylish, violent, bizarre or simply little heard-of obscurities, this book offers a multitude of new critical insights into a truly eclectic selection of cult horror films.

While Western films can be seen as a mode of American exceptionalism, they have also become a global genre. Around the world, Westerns exemplify colonial cinema, driven by the exploration of racial and gender hierarchies and the progress and violence shaped by imperialism. Transnationalism and Imperialism: Endurance of the Global Western Film traces the Western from the silent era to present day as the genre has circulated the world. Contributors examine the reception and production of American Westerns outside the US alongside the transnational aspects of American productions, and they consider the work of minority directors who use the genre to interrogate a visual history of oppression. By viewing Western films through a transnational lens and focusing on the reinterpretations, appropriations, and parallel developments of the genre outside the US, editors Hervé Mayer and David Roche contribute to a growing body of literature that debunks the pervasive correlation between the genre and American identity. Perfect for media studies and political science, Transnationalism and Imperialism reveals that Western films are more than cowboys; they are a critical intersection where issues of power and coloniality are negotiated.

Containing contributions from leading experts in the field, this Handbook explores the many ways gender and violence interact across different contexts and offers a range of disciplinary perspectives. This comprehensive volume connects micro-level interpersonal violence to macro-level structural forms of violence across three discrete but interrelated sections: concepts, representations, and contexts.

Gender and Action Films 1980-2000 offers insights into the intertwined concepts of gender and action, and how their portrayal developed in the Action Movie genre during the final two decades of the twentieth century. A necessity for academics, students and lovers of film and media and those interested in gender studies.

Gothic Heroines on Screen explores the translation of the literary Gothic heroine on screen, the potential consequences of these adaptations, and contemporary interpretations of the form. Each chapter illuminates the significance of this moving image mediation, relating its screen topics to their various historical, social, and geographical moments of production, while maintaining a focus on the key figure of the investigating woman. Many chapters – perhaps inescapably – delve into the point of adaptation: the Bluebeard story and du Maurier’s Rebecca as two key examples. Moving beyond the Old Dark House that frequently forms both the Gothic heroine’s backdrop and her area of investigation, some chapters examine alternative locations and their impact on the Gothic heroine, some leave behind the marital thriller to explore what happens when the Gothic meets other genres, such as comedy, while others travel away from the usual Anglo-American contexts to European ones. Throughout the collection, the Gothic heroine’s representation is explored within the medium, which brings together image, movement, and sound, and this technological fact takes on varied significance. What does remain constant, however, is the emphasis on the longevity, significance, and distinctiveness of the Gothic heroine in screen culture.