'Middlebrow Cinema' is the first book to be published in Routledge's brand new Film Studies series.
New book by Professor Sally Faulkner exploring ‘middlebrow cinema’ published.
Professor Faulkner’s latest publication, which is the first study of its kind, comprises of eleven original essays that explore the term ‘middlebrow’ across a range of cultures including Europe, Asia and the Americas from the 1930’s up until the present day.
Professor Faulkner explains, 'In exploring the concept of the middlebrow, the book looks closely at films that were widely meaningful to contemporary audiences, yet were often overlooked by critics interested in popular and arthouse extremes. It also addresses the question of socially-mobile audiences, who might express their aspirations through film-watching; and traces the cultural consequences of the movement of films across borders and between institutions.' She adds, 'One of the great pleasures of editing this book was working so closely with the excellent authors of the individual chapters. These include Exeter's Professors Susan Hayward and Will Higbee and Dr Ting Guo, with whom I worked on French and Chinese middlebrow cinemas.'
Professor Rob Stone, Chair of European Film at the University of Birmingham comments, “The Remapping World Cinema series is a major undertaking that is intended to deliver touchstone publications for a crucial moment, when the industry, ideas and functions of film are in tremendous flux, not just from the effects of digital technologies and new screen media, but from economic and political changes that prompt us to question the very utility of the terms ‘world cinema’ and ‘film’. The series is a collaboration between Routledge and the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds and Kent and has an advisory board of over 50 internationally renowned scholars.
The editorial board are delighted to launch the series with Professor Sally Faulkner's original, dynamic and rigorous book on Middlebrow Cinema. This edited volume hits the series' target dead-on with its vital attempt at remapping the territories of world cinema and contemporary film studies in relation to its subject in order to understand its history, enhance awareness of its current condition and plot trajectories for its development.'
Sally Faulkner’s previous works include Literary Adaptations in Spanish Cinema (2004), A Cinema of Contradiction: Spanish Film in the 1960s (2006), A History of Spanish Film: Cinema and Society 1910-2010 (2013) and History of Spanish Film: Cinema and Society 1910-2010 (2013, forthcoming in Spanish translation with Iberoamericana-Vervuert).
Date: 21 April 2016