[audiobook] The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States (Architecture; Landscape and Amer Culture) by Carla Yanni in Arts-Photography

Description

An authoritative and comprehensive guide to cinemarsquo;s first true blockbuster.ldquo;Best moving pictures I ever saw.rdquo; Thus did one Vaudeville theater manager describe Georges Meacute;liegrave;srsquo;s A Trip to the Moon [Le Voyage dans la lune]; after it was screened for enthusiastic audiences in October 1902. Cinemarsquo;s first true blockbuster; A Trip to the Moon still inspires such superlatives and continues to be widely viewed on DVD; on the Internet; and in countless film courses. In Fantastic Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination; leading film scholars examine Meacute;liegrave;srsquo;s landmark film in detail; demonstrating its many crucial connecions to literature; popular culture; and visual culture of the time; as well as its long ldquo;afterliferdquo; in more recent films; television; and music videos. Together; these essays make clear that Meacute;liegrave;s was not only a major filmmaker but also a key figure in the emergence of modern spectacle and the birth of the modern cinematic imagination; and by bringing interdisciplinary methodologies of early cinema studies to bear on A Trip to the Moon; the contributors also open up much larger questions about aesthetics; media; and modernity.In his introduction; Matthew Solomon traces the convoluted provenance of the filmrsquo;s multiple versions and its key place in the historiography of cinema; and an appendix contains a useful dossier of primary-source documents that contextualize the filmrsquo;s production; along with translations of two major articles written by Meacute;liegrave;s himself. Included with the book is a critical edition DVD containing two versions of the film: a reconstructed version (finally presented at the speed specified in Meacute;liegrave;srsquo;s catalogs) accompanied by an original 1903 score and a recently rediscovered color-tinted version; both have optional audio commentaries by the editor.ldquo;Matthew Solomon hellip; deserves much credit for making the point that the study of an individual film by a range of scholars ought to find a larger place among the more traditional auteur and genre studies.rdquo; mdash; Film Historyldquo;This superbly conceived collection enhances understanding of a keystone film hellip; Excellent early-cinema scholars hellip; illuminate [Meacute;liegrave;srsquo;s] articulate artistic credo and his meticulous and inventive practice of the new art form hellip; A necessary addition to comprehensive film collections.rdquo; mdash; CHOICEldquo;This is a welcome addition to the field of early film history. It does that wonderful thing that the best film histories domdash;it points out the relevance of its subject to areas beyond cinema studies. In this case the focus on one filmmaker affords a deeper understanding of not only Meacute;liegrave;s and the context of his work; but also its impact on aesthetic and critical debates ranging from the avant-garde of the early twentieth century to those concerning technology and vision in the twenty-first century.rdquo; mdash; Michael Hammond; author of The Big Show: British Cinema Culture in the Great War; 1914ndash;1918ldquo;While focusing on A Trip to the Moon; the book highlights such diverse issues as the filmrsquo;s artistic sources; its historical reception over time; its place within the career of Meacute;liegrave;s; and its relation to other works of cinema.rdquo; mdash; Lucy Fischer; author of Designing Women: Cinema; Art Deco; and the Female FormMatthew Solomon is Associate Professor of Cinema Studies at the College of Staten Island; City University of New York. He is the author of Disappearing Tricks: Silent Films; Houdini; and the New Magic of the Twentieth Century.