Melissa Croteau

Reel Histories: Studies in American Film Melissa Croteau

Reel Histories: Studies in American Film is an essay collection that extends the academic dialogue concerning the holy trinity of race, social class, and gender as they are constructed on the screen while also examining aspects of the film industry that are often ignored: the means and politics of film production and distribution, audience reception, the role and influence of film criticism, film's intersections with other media, and many other modes of approach stemming from particularities of historical, sociological, and cultural situation. Nine scholars, analyzing such films as From Here to Eternity, A Raisin in the Sun, Midnight Cowboy, Magnolia, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, The X Files, and Saving Private Ryan, go far beyond close readings approaching the films as matrices of intersecting voices located in particular socio-cultural moments participating in significant historical trajectories. These essays insightfully examine how specific films have functioned in American history, their provenance and their subsequent effects, both actual and potential.