Cinema as Weather

Stylistic Screens and Atmospheric Change

Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, General Art, Art Technique, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science
Cover of the book Cinema as Weather by Kristi McKim, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Kristi McKim ISBN: 9781136662096
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: March 5, 2013
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Kristi McKim
ISBN: 9781136662096
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: March 5, 2013
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

How do cinematic portrayals of the weather reflect and affect our experience of the world? While weatherly predictability and surprise can impact our daily experience, the history of cinema attests to the stylistic and narrative significance of snow, rain, wind, sunshine, clouds, and skies. Through analysis of films ranging from The Wizard of Oz to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, from Citizen Kane to In the Mood for Love, Kristi McKim calls our attention to the ways that we read our atmospheres both within and beyond the movies.

Building upon meteorological definitions of weather's dynamism and volatility, this book shows how film weather can reveal character interiority, accelerate plot development, inspire stylistic innovation, comprise a momentary attraction, convey the passage of time, and idealize the world at its greatest meaning-making capacity (unlike our weather, film weather always happens on time, whether for tumultuous, romantic, violent, suspenseful, or melodramatic ends).

Akin to cinema's structuring of ephemera, cinematic weather suggests aesthetic control over what is fleeting, contingent, wildly environmental, and beyond human capacity to tame. This first book-length study of such a meteorological and cinematic affinity casts film weather as a means of artfully and mechanically conquering contingency through contingency, of taming weather through a medium itself ephemeral and enduring.

Using film theory, history, formalist/phenomenological analysis, and eco-criticism, this book casts cinema as weather, insofar as our skies and screens become readable through our interpretation of changing phenomena.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

How do cinematic portrayals of the weather reflect and affect our experience of the world? While weatherly predictability and surprise can impact our daily experience, the history of cinema attests to the stylistic and narrative significance of snow, rain, wind, sunshine, clouds, and skies. Through analysis of films ranging from The Wizard of Oz to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, from Citizen Kane to In the Mood for Love, Kristi McKim calls our attention to the ways that we read our atmospheres both within and beyond the movies.

Building upon meteorological definitions of weather's dynamism and volatility, this book shows how film weather can reveal character interiority, accelerate plot development, inspire stylistic innovation, comprise a momentary attraction, convey the passage of time, and idealize the world at its greatest meaning-making capacity (unlike our weather, film weather always happens on time, whether for tumultuous, romantic, violent, suspenseful, or melodramatic ends).

Akin to cinema's structuring of ephemera, cinematic weather suggests aesthetic control over what is fleeting, contingent, wildly environmental, and beyond human capacity to tame. This first book-length study of such a meteorological and cinematic affinity casts film weather as a means of artfully and mechanically conquering contingency through contingency, of taming weather through a medium itself ephemeral and enduring.

Using film theory, history, formalist/phenomenological analysis, and eco-criticism, this book casts cinema as weather, insofar as our skies and screens become readable through our interpretation of changing phenomena.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book The Birth of Industrial Britain by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book Social Neuroscience by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book Women, Migration and Citizenship by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book From Black Codes to Recodification by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book Industrialization and Globalization by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book Art, Animals, and Experience by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book Sites of Sport by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book America's Choice 2000 by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book Human Rights of Migrants in the 21st Century by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book Performance Anxieties by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book Trans-Colonial Modernities in South Asia by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book Who-Who-Who Goes Hoo-Hoo-Hoo by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book Subpersonalities by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book EU Competition Law and the Financial Services Sector by Kristi McKim
Cover of the book Objectivity by Kristi McKim
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy