![]() One of the greatest obstacles to any fruitful theory of genre has been the tendency to treat the genres as discrete. Introduction: Spectacle, Narrative and ‘Frontier’ Mythology This book was completed with the assistance of BRIEF award funding from Brunel University. Special thanks to Alan Miller and Julian Wheeler for essential help in obtaining video copies of some of the films analysed, and to Alison for (mostly) tolerating the screening of large numbers of not her favourite films. Jeffrey RichardsĪcknowledgements Thanks to Thomas Austin, Geoff Hemstedt, Leon Hunt, Tanya Krzywinska and Alan Miller for reading all or part of the manuscript at various stages and for offering numerous useful suggestions and encouragement. Thanks to King, we can now see that there is much more to the Hollywood spectacle than just special effects and we can begin to view these films in the light of fundamental cultural and ideological debates. He explores the dilemma of authenticity versus art in war movies like Saving Private Ryan and Apocalypse Now. He considers disaster movies like Deep Impact and Volcano in the light of pre-millennial anxieties. He assesses action pictures such as The Rock, Armageddon and The Long Kiss Goodbye in the context of gender politics. He examines attitudes to ‘the final frontier’ – space – in 2001, Star Wars, The Right Stuff and Apollo 13. He focuses on the conflict of nature and culture in Titanic and Jurassic Park. He sees the pure classic frontier mythology and the myth of technological modernity pitted against each other in Twister and Independence Day. But King ranges much more widely across the genres in pursuit of his thesis. It is certainly the case that classic westerns have been reworked as space adventures (High Noon as Outland, The Magnificent Seven as Battle Beyond the Stars) and that western and science fiction were fused in Michael Crichton’s Westworld with its robot gunfighters. King sees the myth of the frontier as integral to many latter-day spectacles. His argument is carefully contextualized in the production and marketing strategies of Hollywood, in the nature of the viewing experience and in the role of films within a wider merchandizing world of toys, games and theme parks. In his thoughtful and thought-provoking analysis, Geoff King argues that narrative and ideology remain vital ingredients of the spectacle film. ![]() A common criticism of the recent cycle of spectacles is that they are all special effects and no plot. ![]() General Editor’s Introduction A recent Sky television poll to find the hundred best films of the millennium placed Star Wars, Titanic and Gone With The Wind in first, second and third places respectively – clear evidence of a continuing audience taste for Hollywood spectacle. Introduction: Spectacle, Narrative and ‘Frontier’ Mythology 1 ‘Frontier’ Narrative and Spectacle in Twister and Independence Day 17 Digital Dinosaurs: From T-Rex to Titanic 41 The Final Frontier: Space Fictions 69 Maximum Impact: Action Films 91 Seriously Spectacular: ‘Authenticity’ and ‘Art’ in the War Epic 117 Apocalypse, Maybe: Pre-millennial Disaster Movies 143 Conclusion: Into the Spectacle? 175 Notes Bibliography Index Typeset by The Midlands Book Typesetting Company, Loughborough, Leicestershire Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, CornwallĬontents General Editor’s Introduction Acknowledgements 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ISBN 1 86064 572 0 Hardback 1 86064 573 9 Paperback A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress catalog card: available Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Martin’s Press 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © Geoff King, 2000 The right of Geoff King to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. ![]() Published in 2000 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London WC1B 4DZ 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Website: In the United States and Canada distributed by St. SPECTACULAR NARRATIVES Hollywood in the Age of the Blockbuster Geoff King ![]()
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