The Erotic Thriller In Contemporary Cinema

This bold and original book examines in detail a relatively new genre of film--the erotic thriller. Linda Ruth Williams traces the genre's exploitation of pornography and noir, discusses mainstream stars (including Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone) as well as genre-branded direct-to-video stars, charts the work of key producers and directors, and considers home videos as a distinct form of viewing pleasure. She maps the history of the genre, analyzing hundreds of movies from blockbusters such as Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, and In the Cut to straight-to-video film titles such as Carnal Crimes, Sins of Desire, and Night Eyes. Williams's witty and illuminating readings tell the story of this sensational genre and contribute to the analysis of mainstream screen sex--and its censorship--at the beginning of the 21st century. She shows that as the erotic thriller plays out the sexual fantasies of contemporary America, it also provides a vehicle for marketing those fantasies globally.

This bold and original book examines in detail a relatively new genre of film--the erotic thriller. Linda Ruth Williams traces the genre's exploitation of pornography and noir, discusses mainstream stars (including Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone) as well as genre-branded direct-to-video stars, charts the work of key producers and directors, and considers home videos as a distinct form of viewing pleasure. She maps the history of the genre, analyzing hundreds of movies from blockbusters such as Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, and In the Cut to straight-to-video film titles such as Carnal Crimes, Sins of Desire, and Night Eyes. Williams's witty and illuminating readings tell the story of this sensational genre and contribute to the analysis of mainstream screen sex--and its censorship--at the beginning of the 21st century. She shows that as the erotic thriller plays out the sexual fantasies of contemporary America, it also provides a vehicle for marketing those fantasies globally.

Publisher description

This is a comprehensive introduction to post-classical American film. Covering American cinema since 1960, the text looks at both Hollywood and non-mainstream cinema.

Sex and Film is a frank, comprehensive analysis of the cinema's love affair with the erotic. Forshaw's lively study moves from the sexual abandon of the 1930s to filmmakers' circumvention of censorship, the demolition of taboos by arthouse directors and pornographic films, and an examination of how explicit imagery invaded modern mainstream cinema.

Drawing upon contemporary film and fiction, The Body's Perilous Pleasures is an investigation of the nature of the body and the manner in which it figures in transvestism, cyborgs and female desire, body piercing, AIDS and reincarnation.

Extreme Cinema examines the highly stylized treatment of sex and violence in post-millennial transnational cinema, where the governing convention is not the narrative but the spectacle. Using profound experiments in form and composition, including jarring editing, extreme close-ups, visual disorientation and sounds that straddle the boundary between non-diegetic and diegetic registers, this mode of cinema dwells instead on the exhibition of intense violence and an acute intimacy with the sexual body. Interrogating works such as Wetlands and A Serbian Film, as well as the sub-culture of YouTube 'reaction videos', Aaron Michael Kerner and Jonathan L. Knapp demonstrate the way content and form combine in extreme cinema to affectively manipulate the viewing body.

“One of the rare collections I would recommend for use in undergraduate teaching – the chapters are lucid without being oversimplified and the contributors are adept at analyzing the key industrial, technological and ideological features of contemporary U.S. cinema.” Diane Negra, University of East Anglia, UK. “Contemporary American Cinema offers a fresh and sometimes revisionist look at developments in the American film industry from the 1960s to the present … Readers will find it lively and provocative.” Chuck Maland, University of Tennessee, USA. “Contemporary American Cinema is the book on the subject that undergraduate classes have been waiting for … Comprehensive, detailed, and intelligently organized [and] written in accessible and compelling prose … Contemporary American Cinema will be embraced by instructors and students alike.” Charlie Keil, Director, Cinema Studies Program, University of Toronto, Canada. “Contemporary American Cinema usefully gathers together a range of materials that provide a valuable resource for students and scholars. It is also a pleasure to read.” Hilary Radner, University of Otago, New Zealand. “Contemporary American Cinema deepens our knowledge of American cinema since the 1960s. … This is an important collection that will be widely used in university classrooms.” Lee Grieveson, University College London, UK. “Contemporary American Cinema is a clear-sighted and tremendously readable anthology, mapping the terrain of post-sixties US cinema with breadth and critical verve.” Paul Grainge, University of Nottingham, UK. “This collection of freshly written essays by leading specialists in the field will most likely be one of the most important works of reference for students and film scholars for years to come.” Liv Hausken, University of Oslo, Norway. Contemporary American Cinema is the first comprehensive introduction to American cinema since 1960. The book is unique in its treatment of both Hollywood, alternative and non-mainstream cinema. Critical essays from leading film scholars are supplemented by boxed profiles of key directors, producers and actors; key films and key genres; and statistics from the cinema industry. Illustrated in colour and black and white with film stills, posters and production images, the book has two tables of contents allowing students to use the book chronologically, decade-by-decade, or thematically by subject. Designed especially for courses in cinema studies and film studies, cultural studies and American studies, Contemporary American Cinema features a glossary of key terms, fully referenced resources and suggestions for further reading, questions for class discussion, and a comprehensive filmography. Individual chapters include: The decline of the studio system The rise of American new wave cinema The history of the blockbuster The parallel histories of independent and underground film Black cinema from blaxploitation to the 1990s Changing audiences The effects of new technology Comprehensive overview of US documentary from 1960 to the present Contributors include: Stephen Prince, Steve Neale, Susan Jeffords,Yvonne Tasker, Barbara Klinger, Jim Hillier, Peter Kramer, Mark Shiel,Sheldon Hall, Eithne Quinn, Michele Aaron, Jonathan Munby.