Blockbuster Performances: How Actors Contribute to Cinema’s Biggest Hits
This book examines performances in the American film industry’s highest-earning and most influential films. Countering decades of discourse and the conventional notion that special effects are the real stars of Hollywood blockbusters, this book finds that the acting performances in these big-budget...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subito Delivery Service: | Order now. |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| WorldCat: | WorldCat |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
London
Palgrave Macmillan UK
2018
|
| In: | Year: 2018 |
| Series/Journal: | Palgrave Studies in Screen Industries and Performance
SpringerLink Bücher |
| Further subjects: | B
Motion picture acting
B Motion pictures-United States B Screen Performance |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
Printed edition: 9781137518781 Printed edition: 9781349704576 Printed edition: 9781349704569 |
| Summary: | This book examines performances in the American film industry’s highest-earning and most influential films. Countering decades of discourse and the conventional notion that special effects are the real stars of Hollywood blockbusters, this book finds that the acting performances in these big-budget action movies are actually better, and more genre-appropriate, than reputed. It argues that while blockbusters are often edited for speed, thrills, and simplicity, and performances are sometimes tailored to this style, most major productions feature more scenes of stage-like acting than hyper-kinetic action. Knowing this, producers of the world’s highest-budgeted motion pictures usually cast strong or generically appropriate actors. With chapters offering unique readings of some of cinema’s biggest hits, such as The Dark Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars, Iron Man and The Hunger Games, this unprecedented study sheds new light on the importance of performance in the Hollywood blockbuster 1. Introduction: Why Do Critics and Scholars Dismiss Blockbuster Performances? -- 2. Historical Epic Blockbusters: Are You Not Entertained…By Actors? -- 3. Magic Fantasy Blockbusters: One Whimsy to Rule Them All -- 4. Superhero Blockbusters: Actors Ahead of the Curve -- 5. Crime Action Blockbusters: Performing Shaken, Not Stirred -- 6. Male-Led Science Fiction Blockbusters: Performing “Faster, More Intense” -- 7. Female-Led Science Fiction Blockbusters: Performing “Stop Taking My Hand!” -- 8. Conclusion: Once More Around the Blockbuster |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | Online-Ressource (XIV, 211 p. 22 illus. in color, online resource) |
| ISBN: | 978-1-137-51879-8 |
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-51879-8 |
