ABSTRACT

 This collection of essays examines the ways in which writing and cinema can be studied in relation to each other. A wide range of material is presented, from essays which look at particular films, including The Piano and The English Patient, to discussions of the latest developments in film studies including psychoanalytic film theory and the cultural study of film audiences. Specific topics that the essays address also include: the kinds of writing produced for the cinema industry, advertising, film adaptations of written texts and theatre plays from nineteenth century 'classic' novels to recent cyberpunk science fiction such as Blade Runner and Starship Troopers. The essays deal with existing areas of debate, like questions of authorship and audience, and also break new ground, for example in proposing approaches to the study of writing on the cinema screen. The book includes a select bibliography, and a documents section gives details of a range of films for further study.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

ByJonathan Bignell

part Part One|48 pages

Writing for Cinema

chapter 1|18 pages

‘Whose stories you tell’: writing ‘Ken Loach’

ByJohn Tulloch, Rona Munro

chapter 2|14 pages

Questions of authorship: Samuel Beckett and Film

ByJonathan Bignell

part Part Two|45 pages

Writing in Cinema

chapter 4|15 pages

Preliminaries for a taxonomy and rhetoric of on-screen writing

BySean Cubitt

chapter 6|14 pages

Inscription in The Piano

ByLib Taylor

part Part Three|90 pages

Writing into Cinema

chapter 7|14 pages

The mutinies on HMS Bounty

ByRobert Giddings

chapter 8|15 pages

Three Madame Bovarys: Renoir, Minnelli, Chabrol

ByAlain J.-J. Cohen

chapter 12|14 pages

From SF to sci-fi: Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers

ByI.Q. Hunter

part Part Four|46 pages

Writing about Cinema

chapter 13|15 pages

Writing and reputation: The Searchers 1956–1976

ByDouglas Pye

chapter 14|14 pages

Writing on film: practical propositions

ByReynold Humphries

chapter 15|15 pages

Writing about specularity and Modernity: the case of Dancing Lady

ByLeighton Grist, David Lusted

part Part Five|12 pages

Audio-visual Resources