Ghosts in the Machine: The Dark Heart of Pop Cinema (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: repo man, pop biopics, film blanc, Film Comment, Beach Red, Stille Nacht (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Looking back on a century that witnessed the emergence of motion pictures to become, almost immediately, a dominant cultural force in our lives, this penetrating and provocative book argues that "movies (like cathedrals) cannot help but display the subconscious impulses oftheir society." From D.W. Griffith to the Marx Brothers to film noir, "what are conceived and consumed as innocent pop movies ... are in fact manifestations of wild horror, superstitious ignorance, fatalistic dread and bigoted savagery."

About the Author

Michael Atkinson

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Limelight Editions; 1st Limelight Ed edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879102853
• ISBN-13: 978-0879102852
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #722,921 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Must" reading for students of film history & pop culture., May 8, 2000

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Ghosts In The Machine: Speculating On The Dark Heart Of Pop Cinema is a compilation of diverse essays exploring movies as the modern equivalent of medieval folktales and antiquarian mythologies with respect to their influence on shaping contemporary language, cultural mores, and social expectations. Michael Atkinson draws upon his considerable expertise as a young film scholar and critic in drawing together his essays on "The Planet of the Apes" film cycle; the work of Cornell Wilde, road movies, film noir, rock biopics, live-action cartoons, the contributions of Ray Harryhausen, and a great deal more. Ghosts In The Machine is "must" reading for all students of film history, cinematic pop culture, and anyone else who has ever sat in a darkened theater absorbing the values, mores, customs, and ideas embedded in those flicking images up on the screen.