Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1st Edition
Published on 3. October 2024
104 pages
978-1-83902-578-5 (ISBN)
Description
Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) is a film very much of its cinematic moment, combining the gritty realism of entrapment in the everyday with furtive dreams of escape.
Dana Polan's compelling study of the film examines its significance to New Hollywood cinema and the science fiction genre. He argues that Close Encounters is a film that is an allegory of the cinematic experience overall; it both narrates a tale of visual seduction and plays it out viscerally for the spectator who shares the amazement of the protagonist Roy Neary as his mundane reality is transformed into something awe-inspiring.
Providing an in-depth look into the film's production history, including all three different versions, Polan situates Close Encounters within Spielberg's repertoire. He argues that despite the film's popular success, it is in fact a rejection of several entrenched American values, including family, home and marriage. It offers, through its visual fascination, alternative understandings of masculinity and morality, familial responsibility, and what it means to follow the 'American Dream'.
Dana Polan's compelling study of the film examines its significance to New Hollywood cinema and the science fiction genre. He argues that Close Encounters is a film that is an allegory of the cinematic experience overall; it both narrates a tale of visual seduction and plays it out viscerally for the spectator who shares the amazement of the protagonist Roy Neary as his mundane reality is transformed into something awe-inspiring.
Providing an in-depth look into the film's production history, including all three different versions, Polan situates Close Encounters within Spielberg's repertoire. He argues that despite the film's popular success, it is in fact a rejection of several entrenched American values, including family, home and marriage. It offers, through its visual fascination, alternative understandings of masculinity and morality, familial responsibility, and what it means to follow the 'American Dream'.
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
60 colour illus
ISBN-13
978-1-83902-578-5 (9781839025785)
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 Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Dana Polan is Martin Scorsese Professor of Cinema Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, USA. His books include Power and Paranoia: History, Narrative, and the American Cinema, 1940-1950 (1986), In a Lonely Place (BFI Film Classics, 1993), Pulp Fiction (BFI Film Classics, 2000) and Dreams of Flight: The Great Escape in American Film and Culture (2021).
Content
Overture
Plot
Setting the Scene: A Study in Modern American Culture
The Ultimate Trip (?)
Whoosh
'Are you seeing what I'm seeing?'
Ways of Seeing
The Sound of Hands Clapping
Cocoons of Sound
The Cinema of 1977
Seventies 'New - ' and 'Newer' - Hollywood
Making a New Hollywood Movie
Portraits of the Artist
Responses
Spin-Offs, Ancillary Items, and 'Sequels'
Continuing Encounters with Close Encounters
Notes
Credits
Plot
Setting the Scene: A Study in Modern American Culture
The Ultimate Trip (?)
Whoosh
'Are you seeing what I'm seeing?'
Ways of Seeing
The Sound of Hands Clapping
Cocoons of Sound
The Cinema of 1977
Seventies 'New - ' and 'Newer' - Hollywood
Making a New Hollywood Movie
Portraits of the Artist
Responses
Spin-Offs, Ancillary Items, and 'Sequels'
Continuing Encounters with Close Encounters
Notes
Credits
