| Screening the Gothic Contributor(s): Hopkins, Lisa (Author) |
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ISBN: 0292706464 ISBN-13: 9780292706460 Publisher: University of Texas Press OUR PRICE: $19.75 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2005 Annotation: "Hopkins offers a remarkably fresh perspective on Gothic trends in both early modern and postmodern culture. . . . [H]er exploration of what constitutes 'the Gothic' has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about a genre that has too often been associated with horror." -- Courtney Lehmann, Associate Professor of English, University of the Pacific Filmmakers have long been drawn to the Gothic with its eerie settings and promise of horror lurking beneath the surface. Moreover, the Gothic allows filmmakers to hold a mirror up to their own age and reveal society's deepest fears. Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre, Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet are just a few examples of film adaptations of literary Gothic texts. In this ground-breaking study, Lisa Hopkins explores how the Gothic has been deployed in these and other contemporary films and comes to some surprising conclusions. For instance, in a brilliant chapter on films geared to children, Hopkins finds that horror resides not in the trolls, wizards, and goblins that abound in Harry Potter, but in the heart of the family. Screening the Gothic offers a radical new way of understanding the relationship between film and the Gothic as it surveys a wide range of films, many of which have received scant critical attention. Its central claim is that, paradoxically, those texts whose affiliations with the Gothic were the clearest became the least Gothic when filmed. Thus, Hopkins surprises readers by revealing Gothic elements in films such as Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park, as well as exploring more obviously Gothic films like The Mummy and The Fellowship of the Ring. Written inan accessible and engaging manner, Screening the Gothic will be of interest to film lovers as well as students and scholars. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Performing Arts | Film - History & Criticism - Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh |
| Dewey: 820.911 |
| LCCN: 2004024535 |
| Physical Information: 0.52" H x 6.03" W x 8.97" (0.69 lbs) 170 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - British Isles |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Filmmakers have long been drawn to the Gothic with its eerie settings and promise of horror lurking beneath the surface. Moreover, the Gothic allows filmmakers to hold a mirror up to their own age and reveal society's deepest fears. Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre, Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet are just a few examples of film adaptations of literary Gothic texts. In this ground-breaking study, Lisa Hopkins explores how the Gothic has been deployed in these and other contemporary films and comes to some surprising conclusions. For instance, in a brilliant chapter on films geared to children, Hopkins finds that horror resides not in the trolls, wizards, and goblins that abound in Harry Potter, but in the heart of the family. Screening the Gothic offers a radical new way of understanding the relationship between film and the Gothic as it surveys a wide range of films, many of which have received scant critical attention. Its central claim is that, paradoxically, those texts whose affiliations with the Gothic were the clearest became the least Gothic when filmed. Thus, Hopkins surprises readers by revealing Gothic elements in films such as Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park, as well as exploring more obviously Gothic films like The Mummy and The Fellowship of the Ring. Written in an accessible and engaging manner, Screening the Gothic will be of interest to film lovers as well as students and scholars. |
Contributor Bio(s): Hopkins, Lisa: - LISA HOPKINS is Professor of English at Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England. |