B Is for Bad Cinema: Aesthetics, Politics, and Cultural Value

267 Pages·2014·2.9 MB·English

by  Perkins

B IS FOR
BAD CINEMA
Also in the series
William Rothman, editor, Cavell on Film
J. David Slocum, editor, Rebel Without a Cause Joe McElhaney, The Death of
Classical Cinema Kirsten Moana Thompson, Apocalyptic Dread
Frances Gateward, editor, Seoul Searching
Michael Atkinson, editor, Exile Cinema
Paul S. Moore, Now Playing
Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann, Ecology and Popular Film William
Rothman, editor, Three Documentary Filmmakers Sean Griffin, editor, Hetero
Jean-Michel Frodon, editor, Cinema and the Shoah Carolyn Jess-Cooke and
Constantine Verevis, editors, Second Takes Matthew Solomon, editor, Fantastic
Voyages of the Cinematic Imagination R. Barton Palmer and David Boyd,
editors, Hitchcock at the Source William Rothman, Hitchcock, Second Edition
Joanna Hearne, Native Recognition
Marc Raymond, Hollywood’s New Yorker
Steven Rybin and Will Scheibel, editors, Lonely Places, Dangerous Ground
B IS FOR
BAD CINEMA
Aesthetics, Politics, and Cultural Value
Edited by
Claire Perkins
and
Constantine Verevis
Cover art: film still, Denis Lavant in Holy Motors (2012).
Courtesy Canal+/The Kobal Collection Published by
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, ALBANY
© 2014 State University of New York All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, ALBANY, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Laurie Searl
Marketing, Anne M. Valentine Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data B is for bad cinema
: aesthetics, politics, and cultural value / edited by Claire Perkins and Constantine Verevis.
pages cm — (SUNY series, horizons of cinema) Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4995-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Motion pictures—Aesthetics. I. Perkins, Claire
(Claire Elizabeth) editor of compilation.
II. Verevis, Constantine editor of compilation.
PN1995.B15 2014
791.43'01—dc23
2013012454
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Dad
—CP
For Anna, Chrissie, and George
—CV
Contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: B Is for Bad Cinema
Claire Perkins and Constantine Verevis PART I
AESTHETICS
2. Explosive Apathy
Jeffrey Sconce
3. B-Grade Subtitles
Tessa Dwyer
4. Being in Two Places at the Same Time: The Forgotten Geography of Rear-
Projection
Adrian Danks
5. Redeeming Cruising: Tendentiously Offensive, Coherently Incoherent,
Strangely Pleasurable
R. Barton Palmer
6. The Villain We Love: Notes on the Dramaturgy of Screen Evil
Murray Pomerance
7. From Bad to Good and Back to Bad Again? Cult Cinema and Its Unstable
Trajectory
Jamie Sexton
P II
ART
AUTHORSHIP
8. Coffee in Paradise: The Horn Blows at Midnight
Tom Conley
9. The Risible: On Jean-Claude Brisseau
Adrian Martin
10. The Evil Dead DVD Commentaries: Amateurishness and Bad Film
Discourse
Kate Egan
11. Liking The Magus
I. Q. Hunter
12. BADaptation: Is Candy Faithful?
Constantine Verevis
Contributors
Index
Illustrations
Figure 1.1 Monsieur Merde (Denis Levant) and fashion model (Eva
Mendes) in Holy Motors (2012). Courtesy Canal+ / The
Kobal Collection.
Figure 1.2 Jack Smith’s muse, Maria Montez, in Cobra Woman (1944).
Courtesy Universal / The Kobal Collection / Ray Jones.
Figure 1.3 Joan Fontaine on the movie poster for Born to Be Bad
(1950). Courtesy RKO / The Kobal Collection.
Figure 2.1 George Clooney walks away from an explosion in Syriana
(2005) Courtesy Warner Bros. / The Kobal Collection.
Figure 2.2 Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf make their escape in
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). Courtesy
Paramount / The Kobal Collection.
Figure 3.1 Bad subtitles for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(2002). Source http://www.angelfire.com/rings/ttt-
subtitles/000-020/index.html.
Figure 4.1 Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in rear-projection shot from To
Catch a Thief (1954) Courtesy Paramount / The Kobal