Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood [Hardcover]

Lauren Greenfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 1997

Photographer Lauren Greenfield capures often shocking, always startling images of children at school, at play, or at home in the precocious city of Los Angeles. The stunning color photographs range from the children of the gang culture of South Central and East L.A. to the affluent, often show-business world of the Westside. Underlying is the overwhelming importance of image and celebrity, with its materialistic trappings of fast cars and expensive clothes. 80 full-color photos.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A 13-year-old girl works out at the track with her personal trainer. Two 17-year-olds caress their newborn. A 7-year-old pauses on the red carpet outside the Shrine Auditorium on her way into the Academy Awards ceremony. A 16-year-old lifts his shirt to reveal a hairless chest wreathed in tattoos. These are but a few of the provocative images that fill the pages of Fast Forward, a collection of portraits capturing children from East L.A. to Bel-Air. Many of these photos are accompanied by the kids' own words about their lives and the world around them, often revealing a wisdom beyond their years and a naiveness--a failure to understand the values in which they are immersed. What emerges from these images and words is an alluring, if at times disturbing, portrait of a generation perhaps too quick to leave its innocence behind. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Photographer Lauren Greenfield capures often shocking, always startling images of children at school, at play, or at home in the precocious city of Los Angeles. The stunning color photographs range from the children of the gang culture of South Central and East L.A. to the affluent, often show-business world of the Westside. Underlying is the overwhelming importance of image and celebrity, with its materialistic trappings of fast cars and expensive clothes. 80 full-color photos.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 127 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (September 2, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0676549101
• ISBN-13: 978-0676549102
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,362,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A comment from one of those kids, August 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood (Hardcover)

Well if you open this book you'll see my friends and classmates . . . Although I wonder why the pictures in this book are considerably older than the copyright date, this book does and excellent job of profiling the kids of LA in the early nineties not 1997. California experienced quite an economic uproar since since those Bar Mitzah days! Also, I wonder why this book is entitled "Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood." As one of those "shadowed" youths ( I attended the Harvard-Westlake School whose prom clad students appear in the beginning of the book), I can assure you that Hollywood is neither the mainstay of the Beverly Hills culture nor is it the mainstay of the South Central culture, both which are depicted in this book. Nevertheless, this book creates a realistic picture of life in 90210, 90077, and the all the other 90000's . .

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beverly Hills 90201 meets Village of the Damned, July 22, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood (Hardcover)

The only thing scarier than some of the pictures in this chronicle of teenage LA, is knowing that it's only the tip of the iceberg. From the rich brats to the gangsters and their wannabe imitations, Greenfield does a great job of capturing the shallow lives of these kids. Almost Jacob Riis-like in its literal illumination of the subject

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but expected more, December 6, 2007

By 

Deborah L. Habora (Vero Beach, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood (Hardcover)

I bought this book after buying Lauren's other book, Girl Culture. I personally enjoyed Girl Culture more than this one. This book has a lot of photos from various proms and gangster life, and overall, I couldn't relate to a lot of it or really understand their stories as well as I did the ones in Girl Culture. I am a 21 year old woman so maybe that's why I related to that book more than this one. Overall, it is a good book, but I expected more out of it.