Overview

In his famous interpretation of Vincent Van Gogh's painting A Pair of Peasant's Shoes (1886), Heidegger argues that shoes tell us all we need to know about the world of the person who walks in them. In the case of Van Gogh's painting, we learn this not through a description of the pair of shoes, nor by a report on how to make shoes, but by looking at the shoes. Heidegger thus gestures towards the power of the visual arts to show us human truths through images of footwear and the feet they conceal or reveal, a power that finds its fullest expression in the cinema. From Chaplin's meal of boots (The Gold Rush, 1925), through Powell and Pressburger's Red Shoes (1948) and Dorothy's ruby slippers (The Wizard of Oz, 1939), to Julia Roberts' pvc thigh-highs (Pretty Woman, 1990), Marty McFly's power-lacing Nikes (Back to the Future, 1985) and the slim, spike-heeled stiletto that graces the poster for The Devil Wears Prada (2006), shoes are not only some of the cinema's most enduring icons; they also serve as characterisations, plot devices, soundtracks, metaphors and philosophical touchpoints. This book anaylses their significnace through a range of approaches drawn from the fields of Film Studies, Philosophy, Cultural History, Fashion, Cultural Studies and Politics.

Full Product Details

Author:   Elizabeth Ezra (Professor of Cinema and Culture, University of Stirling.) ,  Catherine Wheatley (Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, King's College London)
Publisher:   Edinburgh University Press
Imprint:   Edinburgh University Press
Weight:   0.750kg
ISBN:  

9781474451406

ISBN 10:   1474451403
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   05 January 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable  
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Table of Contents

Introduction: Foot Notes 1: Max’s Stylish Shoes, Margaret C. Flinn 2: A Girl and A Shoe: Marcel Fabre’s Amor Pedestre (1941), Malgorzata Bugaj 3: ‘An intensive study of – feet!’ in two films by Lois Weber: Shoes and The Blot, Pamela Hutchinson 4: MAGIC SHOES: Dorothy, Cinderella, Carrie, Elizabeth Ezra 5: The Ruby Slippers at the V&A: An Odyssey, Keith Lodwick 6: Blood-red shoes? Ian Christie 7: The Two Textures of Invisibility: Shoes as Liminal Questionings in Sullivan’s Travels, Kelli Fuery 8: How to See through a Shoe: The Fashion Show Sequence in How to Marry a Millionaire, Ana Salzberg 9: Frenetic Footwear and Lively Lace-Ups: the Spectacle of Shoes in Golden Age Hollywood Animation, Christopher Holliday 10: Ferragamo’s Shoes: From Silent Cinema to the present, Eugenia Paulicelli 11: Feet of Strength: The Sword-and-Sandals Film, Robert A. Rushing 12: Men in Boots: On Spectacular Masculinity and its Desublimation, Louise Wallenberg 13: ‘The brunette with the legs’: the significance of footwear in Marnie, Lucy Bolton 14: The Sole of Africa: Shoes in Three African Films, Rachael Langford 15: Slippers and Heels: In the Mood for Love and Sartorial Investigation, Tyler Parks 16: Sex, Corruption and Killer Heels: Footwear in the Korean Corporate Crime Drama, Kate Taylor-Jones 17: It’s Gotta Be the Shoes: Nike in the Spike-o-sphere, Jeff Scheible 18: ‘Nice Shoes’: Will Smith, Mid-2000s (Post) Racial Discourse and the Symbolic Significance of Shoes in I, Robot (Alex Proyas, 2004) and The Pursuit of Happyness (Gabriele Muccino, 2006), Hannah Hamad 19: ""Whoa! Look at all her Louboutins!"" Girlhood and Shoes in the films of Sofia Coppola, Fiona Handyside 20: Isabelle’s Espadrilles. Or, les chaussures d’Huppert, Catherine Wheatley

Reviews

As the word count of this review illustrates, Ezra and Wheatley's abundant and compelling text brings together studies of dress, film, philosophy, fact and fiction. Suitable for a range of audiences, from the purely interested, to the academic scholar, this rich anthology will be an indispensable tool in explor-ing the widening parameters of cinematic studies.--Dr Cheryl Roberts, Royal College of Art, London ""Studies in Costume & Performance"" This is a fascinating, almost microscopic, take on the materiality of things in cinema, which is all the more unique for considering the cultural significance of shoes (as well as their lack) on screen.--Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton

"As the word count of this review illustrates, Ezra and Wheatley's abundant and compelling text brings together studies of dress, film, philosophy, fact and fiction. Suitable for a range of audiences, from the purely interested, to the academic scholar, this rich anthology will be an indispensable tool in explor-ing the widening parameters of cinematic studies.--Dr Cheryl Roberts, Royal College of Art, London ""Studies in Costume & Performance"" This is a fascinating, almost microscopic, take on the materiality of things in cinema, which is all the more unique for considering the cultural significance of shoes (as well as their lack) on screen.--Shelley Cobb, University of Southampton"

Author Information

Professor Elizabeth Ezra is Professor of Cinema and Culture at the University of Stirling. King’s College London

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