Overview
The American city and the American movie industry grew up together in the early decades of the twentieth century, making film an ideal medium through which to better understand urban life. Exploiting the increasing popularity of large metropolitan cities and urban lifestyle, movies chronicled the city and the stories it generated. In this volume, urbanist James A. Clapp explores the reciprocal relationship between the city and the cinema within the dimensions of time and space. A variety of themes and actualizations have been repeated throughout the history of the cinema, including the roles of immigrants, women, small towns, family farms, and suburbia; and urban childhoods, family values, violent crime, politics, and dystopic futures. Clapp examines the different ways in which the city has been characterized as well as how it has been portrayed as a ""character"" itself. Some of the films discussed include Metropolis, King Kong, West Side Story, It's a Wonderful Life, American Beauty, Rebel without a Cause, American Graffiti, Blade Runner, Gangs of New York, The Untouchables, LA Confidential, Sunrise, Crash, American History X, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Deer Hunter, and many more. This work will be enjoyed by urban specialists, moviegoers, and those interested in American, cultural, and film studies.
Full Product Details
Author: James A. Clapp
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Inc
Imprint: Routledge
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.20cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.840kg
ISBN: 9781412851480
ISBN 10: 1412851483
Pages: 370
Publication Date: 30 July 2013
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.
Reviews
<p> <p> James Clapp provides a refreshing perspective of the relationship between cinema and the city. Those wanting a poststructural or globalization journey look elsewhere. This is an engaging grounded research that looks at the power of place and image making practices in present, past, and future American urban landscape. Clapp takes us on a tour through the rural, small towns, suburbs, and mean streets all the while engaging important topics such as immigration, family values, politics, alienation, race, class, ethnicity, and gender. This is a timely tome and a must read for those interested in the cinematic city. <p> --Chris Lukinbeal, editor and author, The Geography of Cinema--A Cinematic World andPlace, Television, and the Real Orange County <p> Jim Clapp provides a comprehensive look at American culture in and through cinema: from the often unheralded context of many movies--the city itself--to the values that Americans bring to their urban spaces and how those spaces in turn mold our society. A wonderfully readable text, the book deals with the classic and most influential movies interwoven with the important urban issues of our times. <p> --Stuart C. Aitken, chair, department of geography, San Diego State University
James Clapp provides a refreshing perspective of the relationship between cinema and the city. Those wanting a poststructural or globalization journey look elsewhere. This is an engaging grounded research that looks at the power of place and image making practices in present, past, and future American urban landscape. Clapp takes us on a tour through the rural, small towns, suburbs, and mean streets all the while engaging important topics such as immigration, family values, politics, alienation, race, class, ethnicity, and gender. This is a timely tome and a must read for those interested in the cinematic city. --Chris Lukinbeal, editor and author, The Geography of Cinema--A Cinematic World andPlace, Television, and the Real Orange County Jim Clapp provides a comprehensive look at American culture in and through cinema: from the often unheralded context of many movies--the city itself--to the values that Americans bring to their urban spaces and how those spaces in turn mold our society. A wonderfully readable text, the book deals with the classic and most influential movies interwoven with the important urban issues of our times. --Stuart C. Aitken, chair, department of geography, San Diego State University
-James Clapp provides a refreshing perspective of the relationship between cinema and the city. Those wanting a poststructural or globalization journey look elsewhere. This is an engaging grounded research that looks at the power of place and image making practices in present, past, and future American urban landscape. Clapp takes us on a tour through the rural, small towns, suburbs, and mean streets all the while engaging important topics such as immigration, family values, politics, alienation, race, class, ethnicity, and gender. This is a timely tome and a must read for those interested in the cinematic city.- --Chris Lukinbeal, editor and author, The Geography of Cinema--A Cinematic World andPlace, Television, and the Real Orange County -Jim Clapp provides a comprehensive look at American culture in and through cinema: from the often unheralded context of many movies--the city itself--to the values that Americans bring to their urban spaces and how those spaces in turn mold our society. A wonderfully readable text, the book deals with the classic and most influential movies interwoven with the important urban issues of our times.- --Stuart C. Aitken, chair, department of geography, San Diego State University
Author Information
James A. Clapp is emeritus professor of planning and urban affairs at San Diego State University in California, USA. He is the author of over one hundred articles, book chapters, and reviews. His books include New Towns and Urban Policy, The City, and This Urban Life.
