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Arguably, excess is at the heart of Dawn of the Dead, integral to its meaning: not only in its scenes of gore, its in-your-face social satire and its gaudy pop-kitsch style but in the production history of the film itself. This Devil’s Advocate explores the various ways in which Romero took Dawn of the Dead into areas of extremity during its scripting, production and distribution; and the responses of industry, censorship bodies, reviewers and audiences of the time to the film’s excesses. Taking the approach of a micro-historical study, Jon Towlson offers a close analysis of the film’s production context to explore the cultural significance of Dawn of the Dead as a ‘rebel text’ and an example of oppositional cinema.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49744437444881,"sku":"NGR9781800856387","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50163153568017,"sku":"GOR013877103","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1800856385.jpg?v=1750833230"},{"product_id":"midnight-cowboy-book-jon-towlson-9780228017011","title":"Midnight Cowboy","description":"Midnight Cowboy - the story of a small-town stud's attempt to make it big as a hustler on the streets of 1960s New York - is an indisputably iconic film. Though recognized in terms of its early adoption of Nouvelle Vague cinematography and editing techniques, and renowned for the on Oscar win in spite of controversy over its X-rating, Midnight Cowboy has yet to be understood as a classic of queer cinema. Jon Towlson reclaims Midnight Cowboy as a queer text by addressing John Schlesinger as a gay author and filmmaker and providing a fresh perspective on the film's relationship to the 1965 James Leo Herlihy novel from which it was adapted. Offering a nuanced and personal view of the film's relevance to queer experience and queer friendship, Towlson also considers Midnight Cowboy's production and reception and its place in Schlesinger's filmography. Depictions of sixties New York counterculture and 42nd Street hustlers offer an opportunity for reassessment, particularly in the film's relationship to male prostitution, male relationships, and sexual identity. By shifting the perspective away from previous interpretations of Midnight Cowboy as homophobic and problematic, Towlson argues for a new interpretation of the film as a proto-queer buddy movie and a critical forerunner to films such as My Own Private Idaho and Brokeback Mountain.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49752645468433,"sku":"NGR9780228017011","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":52888877498641,"sku":"CIN0228017017LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0228017017.jpg?v=1761990804"},{"product_id":"close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-book-jon-towlson-9781911325079","title":"Close Encounters of the Third Kind","description":"For many, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (CE3K) is not so much a movie as a religious experience. On its release in 1977, CE3K virtually redefined the science fiction film, shifting it away from spaceships, laser guns, and bug-eyed monsters into a modified form of science fiction that John Wyndham once called 'logical fantasy'. What would it be like if extra-terrestrials made contact with people on Earth? How would it feel? Like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Steven Spielberg's primary inspiration, CE3K is concerned with mankind's evolution towards the stars, towards a state of transcendence. But Spielberg's vision hinges not so much on cool scientific intellect being the key to our next stage of evolution, as on the necessary development of emotional intelligence. To that end, we must regain our childlike curiosity for what lies beyond the skies, we must recover our capacity to experience wonder. Intensity of emotion is inherent to the film's meaning, and the aim of this book is to explore this in detail. Along the way it delves into the film's production history, explores Spielberg's remarkable cinematic realization of the film (including a comparison study of the three different release versions), and considers in detail how CE3K fits into the Spielberg oeuvre.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51514023575825,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51514023641361,"sku":"GOR009023574","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1911325078.jpg?v=1751250742"},{"product_id":"40-cult-movies-from-alice-sweet-alice-to-zombies-of-mora-tau-book-jon-towlson-9798857160145","title":"40 Cult Movies: From Alice, Sweet Alice to Zombies of Mora Tau","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51609507627281,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51609507725585,"sku":"GOR014290605","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/B0CKLR41KW.jpg?v=1751255986"},{"product_id":"subversive-horror-cinema-book-jon-towlson-9780786474691","title":"Subversive Horror Cinema","description":"Horror cinema flourishes in times of ideological crisis and national trauma--the Great Depression, the Cold War, the Vietnam era, post-9\/11--and this critical text argues that a succession of filmmakers working in horror--from James Whale to Jen and Sylvia Soska--have used the genre, and the shock value it affords, to challenge the status quo during these times. Spanning the decades from the 1930s onward it examines the work of producers and directors as varied as George A. Romero, Pete Walker, Michael Reeves, Herman Cohen, Wes Craven and Brian Yuzna and the ways in which films like Frankenstein (1931), Cat People (1942), The Woman (2011) and American Mary (2012) can be considered \"subversive.\"","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51799183622417,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51799183851793,"sku":"GOR008756980","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52691438534929,"sku":"NLS9780786474691","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780786474691.jpg?v=1752188386"},{"product_id":"40-cult-movies-from-alice-sweet-alice-to-zombies-of-mora-tau-book-jon-towlson-9798864931332","title":"40 Cult Movies: From Alice, Sweet Alice to Zombies of Mora Tau","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51897762808081,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51897762873617,"sku":"GOR014452806","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9798864931332.jpg?v=1754988779"},{"product_id":"global-horror-cinema-today-book-jon-towlson-9781476671536","title":"Global Horror Cinema Today","description":"The horror film is thriving worldwide. 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Each chapter focuses on a different country, analyzing what frightens the people of these various nations and the ways in which horror crosses over to international audiences.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52128109003025,"sku":"NLS9781476671536","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781476671536.jpg?v=1757489535"},{"product_id":"turn-to-gruesomeness-in-american-horror-films-1931-1936-book-jon-towlson-9780786494743","title":"The Turn to Gruesomeness in American Horror Films, 1931-1936","description":"Taking a fresh look at the horror genre from 1931 to 1936, this critical study examines happy ending horror in relation to industry practices and censorship. Early works like Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) and The Raven (1935) may be more akin to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (2003) and Saw (2004) than many critics believe.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52680988819729,"sku":"NLS9780786494743","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780786494743.jpg?v=1762314466"},{"product_id":"midnight-cowboy-book-jon-towlson-9780228017004","title":"Midnight Cowboy","description":"Midnight Cowboy - the story of a small-town stud's attempt to make it big as a hustler on the streets of 1960s New York - is an indisputably iconic film. Though recognized in terms of its early adoption of Nouvelle Vague cinematography and editing techniques, and renowned for the on Oscar win in spite of controversy over its X-rating, Midnight Cowboy has yet to be understood as a classic of queer cinema. Jon Towlson reclaims Midnight Cowboy as a queer text by addressing John Schlesinger as a gay author and filmmaker and providing a fresh perspective on the film's relationship to the 1965 James Leo Herlihy novel from which it was adapted. Offering a nuanced and personal view of the film's relevance to queer experience and queer friendship, Towlson also considers Midnight Cowboy's production and reception and its place in Schlesinger's filmography. Depictions of sixties New York counterculture and 42nd Street hustlers offer an opportunity for reassessment, particularly in the film's relationship to male prostitution, male relationships, and sexual identity. 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