ABSTRACT

The American independent sector has attracted much attention in recent years, an upsurge of academic work on the subject being accompanied by wider public debate. But many questions remain about how exactly independence should be defined and how its relationship might be understood with other parts of the cinematic landscape, most notably the Hollywood studios. Edited and written by leading authors in the field, American Independent Cinema: indie, indiewood and beyond offers an examination of the field through four sections that range in focus from broad definitions to close focus on particular manifestations of independence. A wide variety of examples are included but within a framework that offers insights into how these are related to one another.

More specifically this collection offers:

  • an account of recent developments as well as reviewing, reassessing and revising a number of central positions, approaches and arguments relating to various parts of the independent and/or indie sector.
  • Individual case studies that range from the distinctive qualities of the work of established ‘quality’ filmmakers such as Wes Anderson, Steven Soderbergh and Rebecca Miller to studies of horror genre production at the more ‘disreputable’ end of the independent spectrum.
  • Examples of the limits of independence available in some cases within Hollywood, including studies of the work of Stanley Kubrick and Hal Ashby.
  • Case studies of under-researched areas in the margins of American independent cinema, including the Disney nature films and Christian evangelical filmmaking.
  • A number of wider overview chapters that examine contemporary American independent cinema from a number of perspectives.

Together, the chapters in the collection offer a unique contribution to the study of independent film in the United States.

Contributors: Warren Buckland, Philip Drake, Mark Gallagher, Geoff King, Peter Krämer, Novotny Lawrence, James MacDowell, Claire Molloy, Michael Z. Newman, Alisa Perren, James Russell, Thomas Schatz, Michele Schreiber, Janet Staiger, Yannis Tzioumakis, Sarah Wharton

part |56 pages

Approaching independence

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

chapter |13 pages

Independent of what?

Sorting out differences from Hollywood

chapter |13 pages

‘Independent', ‘Indie' and ‘Indiewood’

Towards a periodisation of contemporary (post-1980) American independent cinema

chapter |12 pages

Thriving or in Permanent Crisis?

Discourses on the state of indie cinema

chapter |12 pages

Quirky

Buzzword or sensibility?

part |56 pages

Indie manifestations

chapter |3 pages

Introduction

chapter |13 pages

Discerning Independents

Steven Soderbergh and transhistorical taste cultures

chapter |12 pages

Their Own Personal Velocity

Women directors and contemporary independent cinema

chapter |13 pages

Last Indie Standing

The special case of Lions Gate in the new millennium

part |57 pages

Independence and Hollywood

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

chapter |12 pages

The Limits of Autonomy

Stanley Kubrick, Hollywood and independent filmmaking, 1950–53

chapter |13 pages

Independent Nature

Wildlife films between Hollywood and indiewood

part |59 pages

Beyond indie

chapter |3 pages

Introduction

chapter |13 pages

In Hollywood, but not of Hollywood

Independent Christian filmmaking 1

chapter |12 pages

Welcome to the (Neo) Grindhouse!

Sex, violence and the indie film

chapter |14 pages

Faux Real?

C.S.A. The Confederate States of America as the response to The Birth of a Nation

chapter |14 pages

Measuring Online Word-of-Mouth

The Initial Reception of Inland Empire (2006) on the Web