Overview
- First large scale study of American independent film through the prism of actors and acting
- Innovative approach that brings together industrial and aesthetic analysis
- Case studies of both landmark and less visible American independent films
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Screen Industries and Performance (PSSIP)
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About this book
This book illustrates the many ways that actors contribute to American independent cinema. Analyzing industrial developments, it examines the impact of actors as writers, directors, and producers, and as stars able to attract investment and bring visibility to small-scale productions. Exploring cultural-aesthetic factors, the book identifies the various traditions that shape narrative designs, casting choices, and performance styles. The book offers a genealogy of industrial and aesthetic practices that connects independent filmmaking in the studio era and the 1960s and 1970s to American independent cinema in its independent, indie, indiewood, and late-indiewood forms. Chapters on actors’ involvement in the evolution of American independent cinema as a sector alternate with chapters that show how traditions such as naturalism, modernism, postmodernism, and Third Cinema influence films and performances.
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Keywords
Table of contents (13 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Locating Independence and Performance in American Cinema
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In Hollywood and Off Hollywood: Key Material and Aesthetic Foundations
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Contemporary American Independent Cinema 1: From Neo-Naturalism to Modernism and Postmodernism
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Contemporary American Independent Cinema 2: Stardom and Diversity of Performance in the Indie Era
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Contemporary American Independent Cinema 3: Indie-Hollywood Stars and Varied Performances in the Indiewood Era
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Material and Aesthetic Trajectories: From the Present to the Future
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Reviews
“The text feels especially fresh and well situated for current graduate students of theatre, cinema, and media studies.” (Adam Christian Clark, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, February 26, 2020) “the book is unique in its framing and ambition. By alternating chapters on actors’ contributions to the evolution of American independent cinema with chapters showing how formalist traditions (e.g. naturalism, modernism, postmodernism) influence both performance and cinema at large, Baron and Tzioumakis provide a text especially useful to scholars of either sub-field looking for further interdisciplinarity. Despite the familiarity of its topics, the text feels especially fresh and well situated for current graduate students” (Adam Christian Clark, University of Southern California, for Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television)
“This is an important contribution to scholarship on American independent cinema and on actors & acting, two fields of study which have seen tremendous growth in recent years but are rarely explored together. Expertly combining textual and contextual, performance and industrial analysis, this book will, I think, soon come to be regarded as a milestone.” (Peter Krämer, author of The New Hollywood: From Bonnie and Clyde to Star Wars, and editor of Screen Acting)
“This is an important contribution to scholarship on American independent cinema and on actors & acting, two fields of study which have seen tremendous growth in recent years but are rarely explored together. Expertly combining textual and contextual, performance and industrial analysis, this book will, I think, soon come to be regarded as a milestone.” (Peter Krämer, author of The New Hollywood: From Bonnie and Clyde to Star Wars, and editor of Screen Acting)
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Cynthia Baron is a Professor in the Department of Theatre and Film at Bowling Green State University, USA. Her most recent book is Modern Acting: The Lost Chapter of American Film and Theatre.
Yannis Tzioumakis is a Reader in Film and Media Industries at the University of Liverpool, UK. He is the author of four books, most recently American Independent Cinema, 2nd Edition, and co-editor of six anthologies.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Acting Indie
Book Subtitle: Industry, Aesthetics, and Performance
Authors: Cynthia Baron, Yannis Tzioumakis
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Screen Industries and Performance
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-40863-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London
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: 978-1-137-40862-4Published: 30 January 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-40863-1Published: 29 January 2020
Series ISSN: 2946-2495
Series E-ISSN: 2946-2509
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 347
Number of Illustrations: 7 b/w illustrations, 24 illustrations in colour
Topics: Screen Performance, Film/TV Industry