The Dvd Laser Disc Newsletter

Since the mid-eighties, more audiences have been watching Hollywood movies at home than at movie theaters, yet little is known about just how viewers experience film outside of the multiplex. This is the first full-length study of how contemporary entertainment technologies and media—from cable television and VHS to DVD and the Internet—shape our encounters with the movies and affect the aesthetic, cultural, and ideological definitions of cinema. Barbara Klinger explores topics such as home theater, film collecting, classic Hollywood movie reruns, repeat viewings, and Internet film parodies, providing a multifaceted view of the presentation and reception of films in U.S. households. Balancing industry history with theoretical and cultural analysis, she finds that today cinema's powerful social presence cannot be fully grasped without considering its prolific recycling in post-theatrical venues—especially the home.

Doug Pratt is the leading reviewer of DVDs, a contributor to Rolling Stone, and editor and publisher of The DVD-Laserdisc Newsletter. Choice says, "Pratt's writing is amusing, comprehensive and informative." Rolling Stone calls this two-volume set, "the gold standard on all things DVD." The set is unique in giving space to non-feature-film DVDs, the fastest growing area of the market. Not just a reference book, it's also good reading.

Drawing on interviews with producers, directors, and scholars, and examining the DVD's supplementary features, this book explores how the format, at its best, combines the enthusiasm of a fan, cinematic nostalgia, and scholarly insight.

This is an examination of the concepts of spectatorship in the light of historical accounts of audience reception. The book looks at how audiences have historically talked about Hollywood movies, and the ways in which 'word-of-mouth' responses have affected the reception of individual movies.