Rob Stone

Imagined Life: American Independent Cinema and Transcendentalism examines the prevailing characteristics of American independent cinema and explores its longstanding debt to the Transcendentalists. This nineteenth-century New England group, led by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller, subscribed to an idealistic philosophy based upon an intuitive and imaginative understanding that knowledge transcends logic and empiricism. By analysing a range of American independent films, this book reveals a vital nexus operating in contemporary America between this uniquely North American philosophy and quintessentially American film. Just as the Transcendentalists strategised immersion, observation and reflection and sought empathy as the key to meaning, which came when adherents acquired trust in themselves to comprehend what was morally right, so this volume argues that this same strategy informs and characterises the creative praxes prevalent in recent and contemporary American independent cinema. To the extent that American independent cinema continues to provide a forum for marginalised identities, whether these be racial, sexual, political or even philosophical, this study demonstrates that the conscience of America is sustained and strengthened in independent films that embody Transcendentalist ideas and praxes.

Examining the ideas, philosophies and strategies that inform and enable a young woman’s self-determination for a new century, this is a detailed, insightful study of Greta Gerwig’s much-loved, influential and critically acclaimed film.Drawing on Transcendentalism, French feminist thought, Californian art and the work of iconic American essayist Joan Didion, Rob Stone approaches Lady Bird as a film about young women’s self-determination in relation to other women and waves of feminist history. Structured to emulate the evolving conscience and emerging consciousness of the film’s eponymous protagonist, this new volume in the Cinema and Youth Cultures series provides an incisive portrait of a particular American youth subculture struggling to assert its identity between the shock of 9/11 in 2001 and the global financial crisis of 2008. It also sensitively examines tensions between Gerwig and Lady Bird, and between Lady Bird being set in 2002 and made in 2017. Written by an expert on American independent cinema and the dynamics of World Cinema, this volume explores strategies of self-determination that ignite in the friction between mothers and daughters and culminate in considerations of how the film’s form and aesthetics lead to reflections on its philosophy and politics.Situating Lady Bird in the genre of youth movies and feminist film practice and culture, this book is ideal for students and researchers looking at wider dialogues and discourses about feminism, philosophy, gender, genre and American independent filmmaking.

Examining the ideas, philosophies and strategies that inform and enable a young woman’s self-determination for a new century, this is a detailed, insightful study of Greta Gerwig’s much-loved, influential and critically acclaimed film.Drawing on Transcendentalism, French feminist thought, Californian art and the work of iconic American essayist Joan Didion, Rob Stone approaches Lady Bird as a film about young women’s self-determination in relation to other women and waves of feminist history. Structured to emulate the evolving conscience and emerging consciousness of the film’s eponymous protagonist, this new volume in the Cinema and Youth Cultures series provides an incisive portrait of a particular American youth subculture struggling to assert its identity between the shock of 9/11 in 2001 and the global financial crisis of 2008. It also sensitively examines tensions between Gerwig and Lady Bird, and between Lady Bird being set in 2002 and made in 2017. Written by an expert on American independent cinema and the dynamics of World Cinema, this volume explores strategies of self-determination that ignite in the friction between mothers and daughters and culminate in considerations of how the film’s form and aesthetics lead to reflections on its philosophy and politics.Situating Lady Bird in the genre of youth movies and feminist film practice and culture, this book is ideal for students and researchers looking at wider dialogues and discourses about feminism, philosophy, gender, genre and American independent filmmaking.

Vim Comedies, their predecessor Wizard Comedies and their successor Jaxon Comedies all featured the comedy characters Pokes & Jabbs as their primary comedians. Embodied by Bobby Burns and Walter Stull, the acrobat and the man in plaid led a group of comedians including Oliver "Babe" Hardy, Billy Ruge, Myers & Theby, Kate Price and Marcel Perez in making some very funny films. These slapstick one-reelers were shot primarily in Jacksonville, Florida and Providence, Rhode Island. POKES & JABBS take a look at how Vim was created from the ashes of Wizard and how it morphed into Jaxon, and the films those studios made. It is a story repeated many times in early film history of a studio that was quickly created and with even more speed disappeared.Published 2022. 7x10 softcover, 480 pages.

From Slacker (1991), a foundational work of independent American cinema, to the Before trilogy, Richard Linklater’s critically acclaimed films and aesthetic ambition have earned him a place as one of the most important contemporary directors. In this second edition of The Cinema of Richard Linklater, Rob Stone shows how Linklater’s latest films have redefined our understanding of his work. He offers critical discussions and analysis of all of Linklater’s films, including Before Midnight (2013) and Everybody Wants Some!! (2016), as well as new interviews with Linklater and a chapter on Boyhood (2014), hailed as one of the best films of the twenty-first century.Stone explores the theoretical, practical, contextual, and metaphysical elements in Linklater’s filmography, especially his experimentation with cinematic representations of time and growth. He demonstrates that fanciful lives and lucid dreams are as central as alternative notions of America and time to Linklater’s films. Stone also considers Linklater’s collaborative working practices, his deployment of such techniques as rotoscoping, and his innovative distribution strategies. Thoroughly revised, updated, and extended, the book includes analysis of all of Linklater’s films, including Dazed and Confused (1993), Waking Life (2011), and A Scanner Darkly (2006) as well as his documentaries, short films, and side projects.

From Slacker (1991), a foundational work of independent American cinema, to the Before trilogy, Richard Linklater’s critically acclaimed films and aesthetic ambition have earned him a place as one of the most important contemporary directors. In this second edition of The Cinema of Richard Linklater, Rob Stone shows how Linklater’s latest films have redefined our understanding of his work. He offers critical discussions and analysis of all of Linklater’s films, including Before Midnight (2013) and Everybody Wants Some!! (2016), as well as new interviews with Linklater and a chapter on Boyhood (2014), hailed as one of the best films of the twenty-first century.Stone explores the theoretical, practical, contextual, and metaphysical elements in Linklater’s filmography, especially his experimentation with cinematic representations of time and growth. He demonstrates that fanciful lives and lucid dreams are as central as alternative notions of America and time to Linklater’s films. Stone also considers Linklater’s collaborative working practices, his deployment of such techniques as rotoscoping, and his innovative distribution strategies. Thoroughly revised, updated, and extended, the book includes analysis of all of Linklater’s films, including Dazed and Confused (1993), Waking Life (2011), and A Scanner Darkly (2006) as well as his documentaries, short films, and side projects.

From the surrealist films of Luis Buñuel to the colourful melodramas of Pedro Almodóvar, Spain has produced a wealth of exciting and distinctive film-makers who have consistently provided a condoning or dissenting eye on Spanish history and culture. For modern cinema-goers, it has often been the sexually-charged and colourful nature of many contemporary Spanish films, which has made them popular world-wide and led directors and stars such as Almodóvar, Banderas and Penélope Cruz to be welcomed by Hollywood. Using original interview material with Spanish Cinema luminaries such as Carlos Saura, Julio Medem, Imanol Uribe and Elías Querejeta, Rob Stone charts a history of Spanish Cinema throughout the turbulent Francoist years and beyond. The book aims to provide a broad introduction to Spanish Cinema, the nine chapters divided into four types: chapters on Spanish Cinema during the Dictatorship and following the transition to democracy survey current debate and opinion while tracing the development of themes and film movements throughout those periods. chapters on early Spanish cinema and Basque cinema present vital and fascinating aspects of Spanish cinema that have previously been ignored chapters on childhood in Spanish cinema, and sex and the new star system offer new pathways into the study of Spanish cinema chapters on Carlos Saura, Elías Querejeta and Julio Medem offer specific case studies of film-makers who are emblematic of different periods in Spanish cinema and, indeed, Spanish history As with other titles in the Inside Film series, the book is comprehensively illustrated with representative stills and has a thorough bibliography, index and list of resources.

Cinema has always been a vital medium for articulating the Basque region's unique identity and politics. The first definitive study of Basque cinema, this book provides a systematic analysis of the key Basque films, directors and cinematic institutions. Its narrative moves from the romanticised Basque Country travelogues of Pathe to the coded oppositional aesthetics of Franco-era films; from the post-Franco 'new wave' supported by regional government funding to the boom in auteurist cinema during the 1980s and 1990s. It also charts the contemporary impact of the film institute Basque Filmoteca and television channel Euskal Telebista in producing and disseminating Basque-language films. Based on archival research, close readings of films and in-depth interviews with influential figures in the Basque film scene, this book is essential reading for world film scholars and cultural historians.

From Slacker (1991) to The School of Rock (2003), from Before Sunrise (1995) to Before Sunset (2004), from the walking and talking of his no/low-budget American independent films to conversing with the philosophical traditions of the European art house, Richard Linklater's films are some of the most critical, political, and spiritual achievements of contemporary world cinema. Examinations of Linklater's collaborative working practices and deployment of rotoscoping and innovative distribution strategies all feature in this book, which aspires to walk and talk with the filmmaker and his films. Informed by a series of original interviews with the artist, in both his hometown and frequent film location of Austin, Texas, this study of the director who made Dazed and Confused (1993), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Bernie (2011) explores the theoretical, practical, contextual, and metaphysical elements of these works along with his documentaries and side-projects and finds fanciful lives and lucid dreams have as much to do with his work as generally alternative notions of America, contemporary society, cinema, and time.A

From Slacker (1991) to The School of Rock (2003), from Before Sunrise (1995) to Before Sunset (2004), from the walking and talking of his no/low-budget American independent films to conversing with the philosophical traditions of the European art house, Richard Linklater's films are some of the most critical, political, and spiritual achievements of contemporary world cinema. Examinations of Linklater's collaborative working practices and deployment of rotoscoping and innovative distribution strategies all feature in this book, which aspires to walk and talk with the filmmaker and his films. Informed by a series of original interviews with the artist, in both his hometown and frequent film location of Austin, Texas, this study of the director who made Dazed and Confused (1993), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Bernie (2011) explores the theoretical, practical, contextual, and metaphysical elements of these works along with his documentaries and side-projects and finds fanciful lives and lucid dreams have as much to do with his work as generally alternative notions of America, contemporary society, cinema, and time.A