The Films of Tim Burton by Alison Mcmahan
Most Tim Burton films are huge box-office successes, and several are already classics. The director's mysterious and eccentric public persona attracts a lot of attention, while the films themselves have been somewhat overlooked. Here, Alison McMahan redresses this imbalance through a close analysis of Burton's key films () and their industrial context. She argues that Burton has been a crucial figure behind many of the transformations taking place in horror, fantasy, and sci-fi films over the last two decades, and demonstrates how his own work draws on a huge range of artistic influences: the films of George Melies, surrealism, installation art, computer games, and many more. The Films of Tim Burton is the most in-depth analysis so far of the work of this unusual filmmaker - a director who has shown repeatedly that it is possible to reject mainstream Hollywood contentions while maintaining critical popularrity and commercial success.
"McMahan's verbal lucidity is as impressive as the visual designs of Burton's films, and much more accessibleFrom Burton's early campy stop-action tribute to Vincent Price (Vincent) through his blockbuster films like Batman, the author paints this director's oeuvre as an intertextual, idiosyncratic, and fascinating set of projects. However, what is unique about McMahan's approach is her larger cultural and contextual concerns with "animating live action in contemporary Hollywood," considerations that inform and direct her lively analysis. She is as interested in narrative, marketing, mythmaking, CGI and SFX, and the music of Danny Elfman as she is in the individual films. She closes with an invitation to consider other alternative postmodern directors such as Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black). Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers; all levels." - Choice, January 2006 -- T. Lindvall * Choice *
Alison McMahan is an award-winning screenwriter, author, and filmmaker. She was the president of Homunculus Productions, LLC, from 2006 to 2025. Her best known film is Bare Hands and Wooden Limbs (2010) narrated by Sam Waterston. McMahan is a two-time Derringer Award nominee and an "Other Distinguished Mystery Stories" author in Best American Mystery Stories of 2018. Her short mysteries have appeared in numerous mystery anthologies and ThrillRide magazine. One of her non-fiction books, Alice Guy Blaché, Lost Visionary of the Cinema (Bloomsbury 2002) was translated into Japanese and Spanish and adapted into the documentary, Be Natural (2018).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780826415677 |
| ISBN 10 | 0826415679 |
| Title | The Films of Tim Burton |
| Author | Alison Mcmahan |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 2005-07-01 |
| Number of pages | 278 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |