Early Cinema by Thomas Elsaesser

Early Cinema by Thomas Elsaesser

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Summary

In the twenty years preceding the First World War, cinema rapidly developed from a fairground curiosity into a major industry and social institution, a source of information and entertainment for millions of people.

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Early Cinema by Thomas Elsaesser

In the twenty years preceding the First World War, cinema rapidly developed from a fairground curiosity into a major industry and social institution, a source of information and entertainment for millions of people. Only recently have film scholars and historians begun to study these early years of cinema in their own right and not simply as first steps towards the classical narrative cinema we now associate with Hollywood. The essays in this collection trace the fascinating history of how the cinema developed its forms of storytelling and representation and how it evolved into a complex industry with Hollywood rapidly acquiring a dominant role. These issues can be seen to arise from new readings of the so-called pioneers - Melies, Lumiere, Porter, and Griffith - while also suggesting new perspectives on major European filmmakers of the 1910s and 20s. Editor Thomas Elsaesser complements the contributions from leading British, American, and European scholars with introductory essays of his own that provide a comprehensive overview of the field. The volume is the most authoritative survey to date of a key area of contemporary film research, invaluable to historians as well as to students of cinema.

Thomas Elsaesser teaches Film and English at the University of East Anglia and is the author of the prizewinning New German Cinema: A History (1989).

Adam Barker is series producer on Channel Four's The Media Show and has written about the economics and aesthetics of cinema for Screen Finance, Sight and Sound and other journals.

SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780851702452
ISBN 10 0851702457
Title Early Cinema
Author Thomas Elsaesser
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Year published 1990-10-01
Number of pages 432
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.