ReFocus: The Films of William Friedkin

Steve Choe

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2021

ReFocus: The Films of William Friedkin

Steve Choe

In the series ReFocus: The American Directors Series

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474431392

Overview
Contents

About this book

Provides the first scholarly study of the films of William Friedkin

Contextualizes the entire trajectory of Friedkin’s work both historically and theoretically, from his first production in 1962, The People vs. Paul Crump, to Killer Joe
Offers a comprehensive understanding to his creative oeuvre, closely analyzing the director’s films and television productions
Explores key theoretical issues around melodrama, the ideological boundaries between good and evil, the formations of modern institutions, problems of sovereignty, transgression, and the phenomenology of his obsessive imagery

William Friedkin is the director of genre-defining works such as The French Connection (1971) and The Exorcist (1973), controversial productions like Cruising (1980) and Killer Joe (2011), as well as understudied films including The Birthday Party (1968), Sorcerer (1977) and The Hunted (2003). This book, the first scholarly study of Friedkin’s films, reveals how they confront the ambiguities of law and morality, issues of subjectivity and problems of faith, while raising key questions around emotion and narrative in the cinema.

Placing his work in the historical contexts of the Vietnam War and Nixon’s presidency, ReFocus: The Films of William Friedkin also examines the director’s representations of sex and violence after the dismantling of the Production Code and in light of the rise and fall of New Hollywood cinema.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1 Spaces of Melodrama Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
2 Policing the Police Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
3 Criminal Desires Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	86
4 Justice at the Limits of Popular Cinema Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
5 “The Power of Cinema Compels You” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	208

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 224
Illustrations
- Other: 20 B/W illustrations
Keywords: Film, Media & Cultural Studies

eBook

Published: April 21, 2022
ISBN: 9781474431392