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Clint Eastwood A Cultural Production Paul Smith |
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The first full-length study of Clint Eastwood (or any contemporary figure in film) that not only interprets and critiques his films but demonstrates their complex and problematic relationship to American culture. "Paul Smith's Clint Eastwood: A Cultural Production is not a biography (it is basically a critical analysis of Eastwood's films) but it offers many insights into the relationship between the man (especially his political beliefs) and his films. Here is the first in-depth examination of the conflicting political messages of Eastwood's body of work-a strange blend of progressive and reactionary sentiments often contained within the same film." —Variety "Subtly probes the interplay between what Smith calls the cultural verisimilitudes and the world of the films. Convincingly yet delicately lays bare the ideological underpinnings of this quintessential American product." —Wilson Library Bulletin "Smith's book constitutes a major effort to treat a star seriously in the light of contemporary studies of the representation of the body and the contrast between the 'real' body of the actor and 'reel' body on the screen. Smith breaks new ground not only through the depth and extent of his serious study of Eastwood but also through this method of connecting a broad range of cultural experiences: the cinematic presentation of Eastwood, the impact of the 'tributary media' of television, advertising, and the press, the treatment of 'aesthetic ideologies' that relate belief, art, and entertainment, and the dialectic between the audience and the culture industry." —College Literature "Smith examines the ways in which this exceedingly popular actor exemplifies a broad cultural construction, while at the same time contributing to the cultural construction of masculinity. Smith's book is an excellent text for any course designed to develop critical thinking. The subtlety of Smith's analysis, coupled with the popularity of his subject, provides an ideal opportunity for students to understand the ways in which any cultural creation exists in a broad social and political context." —Modern Fiction Studies Paul Smith is professor of cultural studies at George Mason University and the author of numerous books, including Primitive America: The Ideology of Capitalist Democracy and Discerning the Subject. 256 pages | 1993 |
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$60.00 cloth