American Eccentric Cinema

Description

Since the late 1990s a new language has emerged in film scholarship and criticism in response to the popularity of American directors such as Wes Anderson, Charlie Kaufman, and David O. Russell. Increasingly, adjectives like ‘quirky’, ‘cute’, and ‘smart’ are used to describe these American films, with a focus on their ironic (and sometimes deliberately comical) stories, character situations and tones. Kim Wilkins argues that, beyond the seemingly superficial descriptions, ‘American eccentric cinema’ presents a formal and thematic eccentricity that is distinct to the American context. She distinguishes these films from mainstream Hollywood cinema as they exhibit irregularities in characterization, tone, and setting, and deviate from established generic conventions. Each chapter builds a case for this position through detailed film analyses and comparisons to earlier American traditions, such as the New Hollywood cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. American Eccentric Cinema promises to challenge the notion of irony in American contemporary cinema, and questions the relationship of irony to a complex national and individual identity. Cover Half title Title Copyrights Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Neoliberal citizenship and the eccentric Locating the eccentric in cinema New Hollywood and eccentric connections Notes 1 Defining American Eccentricity Indie and eccentricity American eccentricity and irony Anxiety Eccentricity Notes 2 Road Films and National Identity American eccentricity and genre The eccentric road film: From Easy Rider to The Darjeeling Limited The road and Kaufman’s mind trips Notes 3 Overtly Cinematic Characterization Overtly cinematic characters and audience identification Wes Anderson and overtly cinematic characterization Eccentric or “smart” characterization? Wes Anderson’s eccentric characters Notes 4 Hyper-Dialogue and the Eccentric Manner The shift from New Hollywood naturalism to eccentric hyper-dialogue Dialogue and convention Hyper-dialogue and performance Hyper-dialogue as dramatic function Hyper-dialogue and sincerity Notes 5 Eccentric Worlds Eccentric deviations from realism Eccentricity and the intertextual world Eccentric cities: Magnolia Notes Conclusion: Beyond Eccentricity Ripples of eccentricity Outside the box Notes Filmography Bibliography Index