Reviews
"Veronica Pravadelli looks back at the classical Hollywood cinema with a powerful magnifying glass. What comes into full view are not only new details, but an entire new geography. Trends, dividing lines, stylistic choices, plots, questions of gender, become much clearer. The result is a cutting edge analysis, surprising and convincing." --Francesco Casetti, author of Eye of the Century: Film, Experience, Modernity, "Panoramic overviews alternate with convincing close readings of dozens of well-known films. . . . In confronting and developing these classic film texts, Pravadelli has produced her own outstanding reading of Hollywood classical style. Highly Recommended."-- Choice, ""Veronica Pravadelli looks back at the classical Hollywood cinema with a powerful magnifying glass. What comes into full view are not only new details, but an entire new geography. Trends, dividing lines, stylistic choices, plots, questions of gender, become much clearer. The result is a cutting-edge analysis, surprising and convincing.""--Francesco Casetti, author of Eye of the Century: Film, Experience, Modernity ""Pravadelli has surprising and provocative things to say about genres, and she makes interesting arguments about how certain genres or film cycles can be periodized. Another important aspect of her ambitious book is the feminist perspective she brings to Hollywood history.""--James Naremore, author of More than Night: Film Noir and Its Contexts ""One of those books that makes big claims that stretch over time. Pravadelli has read and absorbed a huge archive of feminist film theory. The degree of her knowledge of this archive from the 1980s through the millennium is impressive. What she has done, and is also impressive, is to offer a certain slant on this research. Another virtue is the way in which she incorporates interdisciplinary work in feminist studies giving more attention than is often given to changes in women's lives.""--E. Ann Kaplan, author of Trauma Culture: The Politics of Terror and Loss in Media and Literature, "Panoramic overviews alternate with convincing close readings of dozens of well-known films. . . . In confronting and developing these classic film texts, Pravadelli has produced her own outstanding reading of Hollywood classical style. Highly Recommended."-- Choice "Exceptionally well-argued and absorbing." -- Screen, "Panoramic overviews alternate with convincing close readings of dozens of well-known films. . . . In confronting and developing these classic film texts, Pravadelli has produced her own outstanding reading of Hollywood classical style. Highly Recommended."-- Choice , "Pravadelli has surprising and provocative things to say about genres, and she makes interesting arguments about how certain genres or film cycles can be periodized. Another important aspect of her ambitious book is the feminist perspective she brings to Hollywood history."--James Naremore, author of More than Night: Film Noir and Its Contexts, "Pravadelli's examination and contextualization of on-screen gender dynamics of the 1930s-1960s makes a valuable contribution to film studies."-- Journalism History, "One of those books that makes big claims that stretch over time. Pravadelli has read and absorbed a huge archive of feminist film theory. The degree of her knowledge of this archive from the 1980s through the millennium is impressive. What she has done, and is also impressive, is to offer a certain slant on this research. Another virtue is the way in which she incorporates interdisciplinary work in feminist studies giving more attention than is often given to changes in women's lives."--E. Ann Kaplan, author of Trauma Culture: The Politics of Terror and Loss in Media and Literature, "Veronica Pravadelli looks back at the classical Hollywood cinema with a powerful magnifying glass. What comes into full view are not only new details, but an entire new geography. Trends, dividing lines, stylistic choices, plots, questions of gender, become much clearer. The result is a cutting edge analysis, surprising and convincing." --Francesco Casetti, author of Eye of the Century: Film, Experience, Modernity "[An] exceptionally well-argued and absorbing book." -- Screen
