Overview
- Offers an ambitious theoretical assessment of Tarantino’s cinema in relation to key issues in contemporary film theory
- Engages with questions about the ongoing relevance of postmodern theory to understand the work of Tarantino from an aesthetic and dialectical perspective
- Puts Tarantino’s films in conversation with the theories of leading philosophers and scholars Jacques Rancière, Fredric Jameson, Slavoj Zizek and Carol Clover to offer a stimulation approach to ‘late’ postmodern cinema
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Table of contents (5 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book examines a set of theoretical perspectives that critically engage with the notion of postmodernism, investigating whether this concept is still useful to approach contemporary cinema. This question is explored through a discussion of the films written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, largely regarded as the epitome of postmodern cinema and considered here as theoretical contributions in their own right. Each chapter first presents key ideas proposed by a specific theorist and then puts them in conversation with Tarantino’s films. Jacques Rancière’s theory of art is used to reject postmodernism’s claims about the ‘death’ of the aesthetic image in contemporary cinema. Fredric Jameson’s and Slavoj Žižek’s dialectical thinking is mobilized to challenge simplistic, ideological readings of postmodern cinema in general, and Tarantino’s films in particular. Finally, the direct influence of Carol Clover’s psychoanalytical approach to the horror genre on Tarantino’s work isdiscussed to prove the director’s specific contribution to a theoretical understanding of contemporary film aesthetics.
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Quentin Tarantino and Film Theory
Book Subtitle: Aesthetics and Dialectics in Late Postmodernity
Authors: Federico Pagello
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43819-7
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-43818-0Published: 21 October 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-43821-0Published: 21 October 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-43819-7Published: 20 October 2020
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: VIII, 210
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Directing, Film Theory