Matters of Gravity

Special Effects and Supermen in the 20th Century

Auteur: Bukatman, Scott
Éditeur: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822331322
eISBN Pdf: 9780822384892
Lieu de publication: Durham , United States
Année de publication électronique: 2003
Mois : Juillet
Pages: 296
DDC: 303.48/3/0973
Langue: Anglais

Légende

The headlong rush, the rapid montage, the soaring superhero, the plunging roller coaster—Matters of Gravity focuses on the experience of technological spectacle in American popular culture over the past century. In these essays, leading media and cultural theorist Scott Bukatman reveals how popular culture tames the threats posed by technology and urban modernity by immersing people in delirious kinetic environments like those traversed by Plastic Man, Superman, and the careening astronauts of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Right Stuff. He argues that as advanced technologies have proliferated, popular culture has turned the attendant fear of instability into the thrill of topsy-turvydom, often by presenting images and experiences of weightless escape from controlled space.

Considering theme parks, cyberspace, cinematic special effects, superhero comics, and musical films, Matters of Gravity highlights phenomena that make technology spectacular, permit unfettered flights of fantasy, and free us momentarily from the weight of gravity and history, of past and present. Bukatman delves into the dynamic ways pop culture imagines that apotheosis of modernity: the urban metropolis. He points to two genres, musical films and superhero comics, that turn the city into a unique site of transformative power. Leaping in single bounds from lively descriptions to sharp theoretical insights, Matters of Gravity is a deft, exhilarating celebration of the liberatory effects of popular culture.

CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
ONE: Remembering Cyberspace
- 1. There’s Always . . . Tomorrowland: Disney and the Hypercinematic Experience
- 2. Gibson’s Typewriter
- 3. X-Bodies: The Torment of the Mutant Superhero (1994)
TWO: Kaleidoscopic Perceptions
- 4. The Artificial Infinite: On Special Effects and the Sublime
- 5. The Ultimate Trip: Special Effects and Kaleidoscopic Perception
THREE: The Grace of Beings
- 6. Taking Shape: Morphing and the Performance of Self
- 7. Syncopated City: New York in Musical Film (1929–1961)
- 8. The Boys in the Hoods: A Song of the Urban Superhero (2000)
Notes
Bibliography
Index