World Cinema Through Global Genres - by William V Costanzo (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

World Cinema through Global Genres introduces the complex forces of global filmmaking using the popular concept of film genre. The cluster-based organization allows students to acquire a clear understanding of core issues that apply to all films around the world.

• Innovative pedagogical approach that uses genres to teach the more unfamiliar subject of world cinema
• A cluster-based organization provides a solid framework for students to acquire a sharper understanding of core issues that apply to all films around the world
• A "deep focus" section in each chapter gives students information and insights about important regions of filmmaking (India, China, Japan, and Latin America) that tend to be underrepresented in world cinema classes
• Case studies allow students to focus on important and accessible individual films that exemplify significant traditions and trends
• A strong foundation chapter reviews key concepts and vocabulary for understanding film as an art form, a technology, a business, an index of culture, a social barometer, and a political force.
• The engaging style and organization of the book make it a compelling text for both world cinema and film genre courses

From the Back Cover

"A wonderful textbook as well as a scholarly tour-de-force. Costanzo brings new meaning to the concept of global genres and offers up examples that convincingly demonstrate cinematic border crossings and cultural connections amongst far-flung places."
--David Desser, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

"Costanzo revitalizes both world cinema and genre studies with his stimulating, insightful cross cultural approach to warrior heroes, wedding films, horror and road movies. It's a well-written, scholarly work that's as inventive as it is enjoyable."
--Diane Carson, Past President, University Film and Video Association (UFVA)

"William Costanzo has cut the clearest path yet through the forest of World Cinema. Key genres take us confidently place to place, era to era; while maps, timelines, and surveys of national industries position a rich array of films, many analyzed with real mastery."
--Dudley Andrew, Professor of Film and Comparative Literature, Yale University, USA

World Cinema through Global Genres offers a new response to recent trends in internationalism that shape the increasingly global character of movies. Costanzo is able to render the complex forces of global filmmaking accessible to students; instead of tracing the long histories of cinema country by country, this innovative textbook uses engaging, recent films like Hero (China), Monsoon Wedding (India), and Central Station (Brazil) as entry points, linking them to comparable American and European films. The book's cluster-based organization allows students to acquire a progressively sharper understanding of core issues about genre, aesthetics, industry, culture, history, film theory, and representation that apply to all films around the world.

Students are empowered to look through the lens of genre for reasons behind the similarities and differences among movies made at home and abroad. They come to understand how today's films are part of a dynamic world phenomenon, drawing on local traditions and foreign influences to meet the needs and desires of an increasingly multicultural, globally conscious audience. By studying the cultural flows and cross-currents shaping global genres, readers form a deeper appreciation not only of the films and their stories, but also of the people, societies, and beliefs behind these films.

Online resources for instructors, including sample syllabi, lesson plans, student assignments and filmographies, can be found at www.wiley.com/go/costanzo.

Review Quotes

US & CANADA: (Processed July 2013)"requested by the author"Cinema JournalCamera ObscuraFilm CommentJournal of Film and VideoJournal of Popular CultureThe Journal of Media Literacy Education (Journal of NAMLE, http: //jmle.org/index.php/JMLE/index)Columbia College Today

Framework: The Journal of Cinema and MediaCinema ScopeCineastesThe Velvet Light TrapWide Angle

UK & RoW: (Processed July 2013)Cahiers du CinemaFilm-PhilosophyNew Review of Film and Television StudiesScopeSenses of CinemaTHETLS

US & CANADA: "requested by the author"Cinema JournalCamera ObscuraFilm CommentJournal of Film and VideoJournal of Popular CultureThe Journal of Media Literacy Education (Journal of NAMLE, http: //jmle.org/index.php/JMLE/index)Columbia College Today

Framework: The Journal of Cinema and MediaCinema ScopeCineastesThe Velvet Light TrapWide Angle

UK & RoW: Cahiers du CinemaFilm-PhilosophyNew Review of Film and Television StudiesScopeSenses of CinemaTHETLS

About the Author

William V. Costanzo is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of English and Film at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York, where he teaches courses in writing, literature, and film studies. Dr. Costanzo has previously published five books on film, writing, and computers, including Reading the Movies (1992), Great Films and How to Teach Them (2004), and The Writer's Eye (2008). He currently serves on the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Teaching Committee.