Shoe Reels: The History and Philosophy of Footwear in Film

Elizabeth Ezra; Catherine Wheatley

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2021

Shoe Reels

The History and Philosophy of Footwear in Film

Elizabeth Ezra and Catherine Wheatley

In the series Film and Fashions

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474451420

Overview
Contents

About this book

Examines the enduring significance of shoes to the cinema through a variety of theoretical approaches

Traces the relationship between one particular object (shoes) and film as a medium in order to reveal the significance of material things to cinema, thematically, formally and philosophically
Reveals the political, cultural and economic power of film through its deployment of the iconography of shoes
Asks if, and how, film uses" shoes differently from other art forms, and if so what this difference reveals about the medium, and about our current age of art
Offers insights into debates around stardom; costume; gender; material objects and trauma; objects and the history of cinema; consumerism and advertising

In his famous interpretation of Vincent Van Gogh’s painting A Pair of Peasant’s Shoes (1886), Heidegger argues that shoes tell us all we need to know about the world of the person who walks in them. In the case of Van Gogh’s painting, we learn this not through a description of the pair of shoes, nor by a report on how to make shoes, but by looking at the shoes. Heidegger thus gestures towards the power of the visual arts to show us human truths through images of footwear and the feet they conceal or reveal, a power that finds its fullest expression in the cinema. From Chaplin’s meal of boots (The Gold Rush, 1925), through Powell and Pressburger’s Red Shoes (1948) and Dorothy’s ruby slippers (The Wizard of Oz, 1939), to Julia Roberts’ pvc thigh-highs (Pretty Woman, 1990), Marty McFly’s power-lacing Nikes (Back to the Future, 1985) and the slim, spike-heeled stiletto that graces the poster for The Devil Wears Prada (2006), shoes are not only some of the cinema’s most enduring icons; they also serve as characterisations, plot devices, soundtracks, metaphors and philosophical touchpoints. This book anaylses their significnace through a range of approaches drawn from the fields of Film Studies, Philosophy, Cultural History, Fashion, Cultural Studies and Politics.

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Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Notes on contributors Publicly Available Download PDF	x
Foreword by the series editor Publicly Available Download PDF	xiv
Introduction: foot notes Elizabeth Ezra and Catherine Wheatley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1 Max’s stylish shoes Margaret C. Flinn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
Chapter 2 A girl and a shoe: Marcel Fabre’s Amor pedestre Malgorzata Bugaj Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
Chapter 3 ‘An intensive study of – feet!’ in two films by Lois Weber: Shoes and The Blot Pamela Hutchinson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
Chapter 4 Magic shoes: Dorothy, Cinderella, Carrie Elizabeth Ezra Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
Chapter 5 The ruby slippers at the V&A: an odyssey Keith Lodwick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	62
Chapter 6 Blood-red shoes? Ian Christie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
Chapter 7 The two textures of invisibility: shoes as liminal questionings in Sullivan’s Travels Kelli Fuery Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
Chapter 8 How to see through a shoe: the fashion show sequence in How to Marry a Millionaire Ana Salzberg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
Chapter 9 Frenetic footwear and lively lace-ups: the spectacle of shoes in Golden Age Hollywood animation Christopher Holliday Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
Chapter 10 Ferragamo’s shoes: from silent cinema to the present Eugenia Paulicelli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
Chapter 11 Feet of strength: the sword-and- sandals film Robert A. Rushing Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
Chapter 12 Men in boots: on spectacular masculinity and its desublimation Louise Wallenberg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	148
Chapter 13 ‘The brunette with the legs’: the significance of footwear in Marnie Lucy Bolton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
Chapter 14 The sole of Africa: shoes in three African films Rachael Langford Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
Chapter 15 Slippers and heels: In the Mood for Love and sartorial investigation Tyler Parks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
Chapter 16 Sex, corruption and killer heels: footwear in the Korean corporate crime drama Kate Taylor-Jones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Chapter 17 It’s gotta be the shoes: Nike in the Spike-o-sphere Jeff Scheible Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
Chapter 18 ‘Nice shoes’: Will Smith, mid-2000s (post) racial discourse and the symbolic significance of shoes in I, Robot and The Pursuit of Happyness Hannah Hamad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
Chapter 19 ‘Whoa! Look at all her Louboutins!’ Girlhood and shoes in the films of Sofia Coppola Fiona Handyside Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Chapter 20 Isabelle’s espadrilles, or, les chaussures d’Huppert Catherine Wheatley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 320
Illustrations
- Other: 50 colour illustrations
Keywords: Film, Media & Cultural Studies

eBook

Published: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 9781474451420