Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
31 used & new from $7.95

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
This Is Spinal Tap (Cultographies)
 
See larger image
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.
 
  

This Is Spinal Tap (Cultographies) (Paperback)

by Ethan de Seife (Author)
2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)

List Price: $15.00
Price: $11.70 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $3.30 (22%)
  Special Offers Available
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Only 3 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Monday, July 13? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
22 new from $8.66 9 used from $7.95

Special Offers and Product Promotions

  • Purchase this entertainment book and get 12 issues to either Rolling Stone, Men's Journal or Us Weekly for $2.95 each. That's less than $0.25 an issue. Here's how (restrictions apply)

Frequently Bought Together

This Is Spinal Tap (Cultographies) + This Is Spinal Tap (Special Edition) + Back from the Dead
Price For All Three: $35.18

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Donnie Darko (Cultographies)

Donnie Darko (Cultographies)

by Geoff King
$11.70
The Official "Spinal Tap" Companion

The Official "Spinal Tap" Companion

by Karl French
3.3 out of 5 stars (3)  $13.17
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Cultographies)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Cultographies)

by Jeffrey Weinstock
$11.25
Back from the Dead

Back from the Dead

~ Spinal Tap
3.9 out of 5 stars (9)  $13.99
No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men

DVD ~ Javier Bardem
3.5 out of 5 stars (708)  $14.99
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A documentary, a mockumentary, indeed a rockumentary& mdash;Rob Reiner's phony road movie following the exploits of a fictitional heavy metal band has long been celebrated as a comedy landmark. This book is the first attempt to provide a sustained critical appraisal of the film's success, addressing general cinephiles and devoted Tapheads alike. The study considers the film within the context of cult cinema, real and mock documentaries, Hollywood comedies and musicals, and the history of rock music. This detailed stylistic and comic analysis offers new insights into the ardent Cult of Tap.



About the Author

Ethan de Seife received his Ph.D. in film studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently working on a book about Frank Tashlin. He also plays stand-up bass in the Kansas City-based combo Four Jacks and a Jill.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 144 pages
  • Publisher: Wallflower Press (September 30, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 190567449X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1905674497
  • Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.4 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #899,255 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below.

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search
No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

 

Customer Reviews

1 Review
5 star:    (0)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Pretentious and ponderous, March 20, 2009
By Dan Amrich (Bay Area CA) - See all my reviews
Nobody can destroy the joy of movies quite like a film professor. For a short book, Ethan de Seife's analysis of This is Spinal Tap feels mind-numbingly long, mostly because it repeats itself. A handful of points (Tap owes a lot to cinema verite; Tap simultaneously uses and breaks the rules of both conventional and documentary filmmaking) get overexplained with new and fancier words, like a grade-school book report stretching to meet its minimum word count with the use of a very large thesaurus (A sample: "The formlessness of alleged actuality is rendered more cinematically palatable by the use of mechanisms of narrative"). There are some interesting insights -- the film's parallel with traditional Hollywood musicals was well presented, and the author does a good job of looking at the rock culture the film lampoons -- but many of the insights from the filmmakers are lifted straight from the DVD commentaries, and better told by them than regurgitated by a stuffy academic. Rarely engaging to the reader, it's simply too overwritten and self-important to be enjoyable.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


   


Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)



Look for Similar Items by Category


Think Green and Use Hand Tools

Think Green and Use Hand Tools
If you're adopting a greener lifestyle, check out our extensive variety of hand tools. Take advantage of great pricing on our full range of hand tools, including clamps, hammers, wrenches, and more.

Shop all hand tools

 

Best Books of 2008

Best of 2008
Find our top 100 editors' picks as well as customers' favorites in dozens of categories in our Best Books of 2008 Store.
 

Buy Three Books, Get a Fourth Free

4-for-3 Books
Order any four eligible books under $10 and get the lowest-price book free in our 4-for-3 Books Store. See more details.
 

Best Books

Best of the Month
See our editors' picks and more of the best new books on our Best of the Month page.
 

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Where's My Stuff?

Shipping & Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue shopping: Top Sellers
Glenn Beck's Common Sense
Glenn Beck's Common Sense
Darkfever
Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan, Sir, 1859-1930 Doyle

Conditions of Use | Privacy Notice © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates