Film Figures develops a figural account of the memory structure of films. Employing theoretical concepts drawn from a range of sources, including French post-humanist philosophy and German Idealism, the book undertakes an organology of film guided by the work of Bernard Stiegler whose philosophy of mnemotechnesis provides the framework of analysis. Situating films in the quantum field of spacetime relativity as a field of cosmic views, inquiry into film figures begins with disturbances in the experience of films themselves, posing questions of the relation between the dead past and the living future in film story-telling. By breaking the façade of the continuing present through self-questioning, we open films to their figural dimensions in the counter-movement of drive as negentropic resistance. Following the back-movement of drive switches our perception to the figural register in which characters become figures probing blindly for what the film will have been in another time – a time yet to be lived. By following the anterior possibilities of this other time, we open films to the archival future in which a new future comes forth. This book provides theoretical and analytical concepts as well as strategies for taking a step into this future, guided by questions of the right path to take given the relativity of views in which the film can be experienced. Films analysed include Murnau's The Last Laugh, Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, Hitchcock's Rear Window, Welles's The Lady from Shanghai, Fellini's Intervista, Antonioni's L'Eclisse, Bresson's Une Femme Douce, and Zeller's The Father.

Unlike such romanticized renegades as Robin Hood and Jesse James, there is another kind of outlaw hero, one who lives between the law and his own personal code. In times of crisis, when the law proves inadequate, the liminal outlaw negotiates between the social imperatives of the community and his innate sense of right and wrong. While society requires his services, he necessarily remains apart from it in self-preservation. The modern outlaw hero of film and television is rooted in the knight errant, whose violent exploits are tempered by his solitude and devotion to a higher ideal. In Hollywood classics such as Casablanca (1942) and Shane (1953), and in early series like The Lone Ranger (1949-1957) and Have Gun--Will Travel (1957-1963), the outlaw hero reconciles for audiences the conflicting impulses of individual freedom versus serving a larger cause. Urban westerns like the Dirty Harry and Death Wish franchises, as well as iconic action figures like Rambo and Batman, testify to his enduring popularity. This book examines the liminal hero's origins in medieval romance, his survival in the mythology of the Hollywood western and his incarnations in the urban western and modern action film.

"An important contribution to film theory. . . . Williams has a fluid, assured style. She is clearly in command of the subject. She's made a strong and original argument for the psychoanalytic basis of Surrealism."--James Monaco, author of The New Wave

"Dick Figures," created by Ed Skudder and Zack Keller, started as a simple web-series about two dysfunctional friends, Red and Blue, who make up for what they lack in smarts and sex appeal with a really long string of bad decisions. Hundreds of millions of views later it became not only an international sensation and a record-breaking crowd-funding campaign, but a feature-length animated film! "The Art of Dick Figures The Movie" collects for the first time exclusive designs, sketches and stories from the production of the most ambitious stick figures movie ever made.

The portrayal of clergy, saints, missionaries, monks, and other spiritual leaders dates back to the very beginnings of motion pictures and television. Over the years, filmmakers have portrayed religious figures as heroes and villains, sinners and saints, and nearly everything in between. Through their works, filmmakers have influenced how society viewed these religious figures and, by extension, religion itself. This work details over 900 films and television series made from the 1890s through 2003 in which a religious figure plays a prominent or recurring role, or in which a character poses as a religious figure. For each motion picture, full filmographic data are provided--including title, studio, running time, year of release, director, producer, writer, and cast--along with a synopsis focusing on the role of the religious figure. Television series are covered in a separate section. For each show, the entry includes the title under which the show was commonly known; the original broadcast network; the years the show ran, running time, and cast; and a brief discussion of the religious character's role in the overall series. Extensively indexed.

This book examines the on-site experiences of film-induced tourists at various film locations, including locations from The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and The Sound of Music. The study attempts to understand the needs and wants of film location tourists and also examines how to use films for destination marketing.