JOHN HUGHES AND EIGHTIES CINEMA
John Hughes is the acclaimed writer and director of Ferris Bueller¿s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink and many other classic movies of the 1980s.
This book is the first full-length analysis of all of John Hughes¿s films throughout the 1980s; not only the features that he directed, but also those for which he provided the screenplay. By analysing these pictures and discussing their social and cultural significance in the wider context of the decade, Hughes¿s importance as a filmmaker will be considered, and his prominent contribution to cinema assessed. The book concludes with a detailed analysis of Ferris Bueller¿s Day Off, a film which is considered to be among Hughes¿s most critically successful works and also one of his most structurally refined.
EXTRACT FROM THE INTRODUCTION
Think of the American cinema of the 1980s, and your mind is instantly bombarded by dozens and dozens of flamboyant moving images from this most distinctive of cinematic decades. You might be thinking of films which became classics such as Irvin Kershner¿s The Empire Strikes (1980), Steven Spielberg¿s Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Robert Zemeckis¿s Back to the Future (1985), or possibly even Tim Burton¿s Batman (1989). It was a decade that gave birth to some film franchises ¿ one need only call to mind John Rambös explosive first appearance in Ted Kotcheff¿s First Blood (1982), the harrowing exploits of Officer Murphy in Paul Verhoeven¿s RoboCop (1987), or even the improbably long-running knockabout antics of Cadet Mahoney and his fellow recruits which began with Hugh Wilson¿s Police Academy (1984).
It was against this creatively abundant background of the Eighties film world that audiences were first introduced to the work of influential director and screenwriter John Hughes (1950-2009). Today he is just as well known for the scripts he created for hugely popular family films throughout the 1990s, including Chris Columbus¿s blockbuster Home Alone (1990), Brian Levant¿s Beethoven (1992) and Nick Castle¿s Dennis the Menace (1993), written under his pen-name of Edmond Dantès. But even these accomplishments couldn¿t compare to the artistic diversity of his output throughout the eighties. Although it is easy to remember Hughes for his meteorically successful teen movies right the way through the including The Breakfast Club (1985) and Ferris Bueller¿s Day (1986), he was every bit as adroit in his handling of suburban satires such as Mr Mom (1983) and Uncle Buck (1989), his wry observations of the great American holiday in National Lampoon¿s Vacation (1983) and The Great Outdoors (1988), the trials of an exasperated everyman commuter in Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), and the expectation of anxious new parents in She¿s Having a Baby (1988). Throughout the course of Hughes¿s career, there has rarely been a lack of variety in his choice of subject matter.
Sprache
Verlagsort
Produkt-Hinweis
Illustrationen
black & white illustrations
Maße
Höhe: 234 mm
Breite: 156 mm
Dicke: 17 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-86171-264-6 (9781861712646)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Dr Thomas A. Christie is a Scottish author with research interests in popular culture, literary analysis, interactive fiction and modern cinema. He has many years of experience as a literary and publishing professional, working in collaboration with several publishing companies on both sides of the Atlantic including Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Applause Books, Crescent Moon Publishing and Robert Greene Publishing. His full-length works to date have focused upon subjects such as cinema history and literary criticism, as well as the production of original prose fiction.His work has featured at international venues including at the Centre Pompidou in Paris as part of a major exhibition focusing on the filmography of award-winning director Richard Linklater in December 2019, and in conjunction with the Banco do Brasil Cultural Centre in Rio de Janeiro relating to an extensive exhibition on the life and films of cinematic polymath Mel Brooks in February 2020. He and his books have featured in many publications including The Smithsonian Magazine, Books from Scotland, Vice, The Digital Bits, Le Temps, Dwell, The Media Education Journal, History Scotland and Retro Gamer. He has also spoken about his research in interviews and on radio - including on BBC Radio Scotland, Newstalk and Times Radio.¿A passionate advocate of the written word and literary arts, Tom was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2018. Fellowship to this learned society is only awarded to those who can demonstrate that they have made significant contributions to social change, progress and development, and who support the RSA's mission to find practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA Fellowship is a community of leaders in the fields of art, literature, journalism and business who have made noteworthy contributions to society, culture or the arts.Tom is also a member of the Royal Society of Literature, the Society of Authors, the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society and the Federation of Writers Scotland. Over the years he has produced original writing for respected organisations such as the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum and the Dementia Services Development Centre, a leading independent higher education research unit based at the University of Stirling. Additionally, he is regularly involved in public speaking events and has delivered guest lectures and presentations about his work at many locations around the United Kingdom.Tom holds a PhD in English Studies, on the subject of Scottish Literature, from the University of Stirling. He has also been awarded a first-class Honours degree in Literature and a Master's degree in Humanities, specialising with distinction in British cinema history, from the Open University in Milton Keynes. He is currently an associate lecturer with Forth Valley College's Stirling Campus.For enquiries related to the commissioning of new work from Tom, his literary agent is Professor Robert Lecker of the Robert Lecker Agency in Montreal, Canada.For more details about Tom and his work, please visit his website at www.tomchristiebooks.co.uk.
