Interpreting Films: Studies in the Historical Reception of American Cinema

by Janet Staiger

Book Overview

Employing a wide range of examples from Uncle Tom's Cabin and Birth of a Nation to Zelig and Personal Best, Janet Staiger argues that a historical examination of spectators' responses to films can make a valuable contribution to the history, criticism, and philosophy of cultural products. She maintains that as artifacts, films do not contain immanent meanings, that differences among interpretations have historical bases, and that these variations...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691006164
• ISBN13: 9780691006161
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"