Single-authored and (Co)Edited Books by Costas Constandinides
Bloomsbury Publishing (2014)
Cyprus, the idyllic “island of Aphrodite,” is better known as a site of conflicts and of division... more Cyprus, the idyllic “island of Aphrodite,” is better known as a site of conflicts and of division between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots than for its film production. Constandinides and Papadakis work to rectify this dearth of information by discussing the ouevre of filmmakers engaging with the island’s traumatic legacies: anti-colonial struggles, post colonial instability, inter-ethnic conflict, external interventions, and war. Engaging historical, theoretical, and comparative perspectives, the collection focuses on the recent decades of filmmakers exploring issues of conflict, memory, identity, nationalism, migration, and gender, as well as the work of filmmakers who chose to cooperate across the ethnic divide.
Reviews:
“This fascinating anthology is to be commended for its focus on a ‘small’ unknown cinema in which we can see, as if through a magnifying glass, all the reoccurring nightmares of recent European history as well as the struggle to forge a common history, memory, and understanding across divided identities and communities. What is so valuable about this volume is that it offers a very manageable case study of the varied roles film can play in shaping historical perception, memory, and identity and at its best, opening up spaces of communication and dialogue that have been closed by civil war.”
Michael Wayne, Professor of Media and Communications, Brunel University, UK
“A pathbreaking analysis of an under-researched film material which illuminates our understanding on some of the darkest moments in the contemporary history of Cyprus. By exploring social, national, and historical controversies, the book constitutes an exemplary study for
anyone interested in visual representations of identity and conflict.”
Achilleas Hadjikyriacou, author of Masculinity and Gender in Greek Cinema:1949-1967
“By introducing this neglected and complex topic in such a wide-ranging and pluralist volume, the editors [of Cypriot Cinemas] have achieved a very critical balance: their careful thematic and methodological choices have ensured the discoussion is both organized and inclusive. One of the main virtues of this work is its ability to conceptualize and contextualize, smoothly guiding the reader through ... a variety of points of view, and a wide range of issues ... [T]his ambitious and surprisingly fresh work makes a significant and very welcome contribution.” – Maria Chalkou, FILMICON: Journal of Greek Film Studies
"Cypriot Cinemas: Memory, Conflict, and Identity in the Margins of Europe, indicates how Cypriot cinema is reflective of Cyprus’s troubled history and the particular nature of Cypriot life, with its lingering problems and multicultural colorations. The book is wide-raging. Perhaps most interesting is its ability to apply to a manageable number of films, produced in a small country with a troubled history, methods of analysis that are familiar to the audiences of literary and other forms of artistic criticism." Vicki James Yiannias, The AHIF Policy Journal
See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/cypriot-cinemas-9781501319969/#sthash.QlGZcCWd.dpuf
"The main corpus of film adaptation thus far has focused on films based on canonical literature. ... more "The main corpus of film adaptation thus far has focused on films based on canonical literature. From Film Adaptation to Post-Celluloid Adaptation takes the next logical step by discussing the emerging modes of film adaptation from older media to new, mainly focusing on the computer-generated reconstructions of popular narratives and characters along with other forms of convergence such as the Internet. While ‘New Media’ is a broad concept, the book will concentrate on the ways digital technology is being used in the encoding of films and discuss the ways this shift can be debated from a theoretical perspective.
Though the discussion is framed through the ‘digital cinema’ lens, the work will not exclude a broader understanding of New Media which refers to video games, official websites and interactivity so as to examine how the visual style of contemporary films is dispersed across, and influenced by, other media. Discussing films like Minority Report, King Kong, 300 and Wanted in relation to Film Adaptation theory, the work aims to challenge and rework the definition of adaptation.
Reviews:
"This challenging and energetic book places adaptation studies in a new media context and in the process offers us a model for interrogating the post-celluloid adaptation. This book revisits the thorny question of the limits of adaptation with subtlety and sophistication and offers compelling readings of some of the most commercially successful and popular film adaptations of recent times, strengthened by a firm grasp of contemporary industry processes and an intelligent investigation of new media paradigms. It will be a significant contribution to the field."
--Imelda Whelehan, Director, Centre for Adaptations,
De Montfort University
"A welcome addition to the increasingly diverse field of adaptation studies, From Film Adaptation to Post-Celluloid Adaptation proposes a vigorous and fascinating study of textual transform as mediated through advancing digital technologies. In this highly reflective book, Costas Constandinides attempts to create a new paradigm to help shed clarity on the increasing remediation of traditional forms into digital and computer-generated media, using a variety of modern, popular films."
--Jamie Sherry, Bangor University, UK in Journal of Adaptation in Film and Performance, Vol 4, issue 2
http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=11447/
“Constandinides’ book is both entertaining and well-argued, demonstrating vividly how the shifting media landscape has created new positionings for viewers vis-a`-vis the texts they consume, either in the cinema or on DVD or on Netflix ... Constandinides’ book is well worth reading as a significant contribution to the gradually expanding corpus of adaptation theory, as well as being a penetrating study into contemporary popular cinematic cultures.”
--Laurence Raw in the Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 45, issue 3
Also see Raw, Laurence, “Retelling European History on Film: An Essay Review” in Film and History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television, Vol. 41, No. 2, 2011, 64-68."
Journal Articles, Book Chapters, Proceedings by Costas Constandinides
Shima, 2024
The article offers a close reading of music videos created in the Republic of Cyprus during the p... more The article offers a close reading of music videos created in the Republic of Cyprus during the past two decades, focusing specifically on the ways the audiovisual texts represent space and (re)construct narratives in/of the Greek Cypriot context. Building on existing work in the area of lens-based media studies, namely cinema and photography, the article firstly examines how music videos co-exist and converse with other types of audiovisual representations of the island of Cyprus. Secondly, it presents a classification of local music videos, based on how such creative outputs represent Cyprus as a locale. In doing so, it highlights the ways in which alternative visual treatments might, consciously or otherwise, speak back to and rewrite narratives associated with specific places. The videos are also examined in relation to the lyrical content of the songs and the music genres they belong to. Our work contributes to the expanding body of research on the popular music scape of the island, particularly concentrating on the transgressive dynamic of strands of the Greek Cypriot independent music scene. This is the first study that offers a close examination of local music video production, which we place in the growing scholarly debates about how recent artistic expression in the Republic of Cyprus destabilises dominant representations of space and identity and produces new aesthetics of the Cypriot experience.
Popular Communication, 2024
This study aims to contribute to scholarship on online video activism by looking at mobilization ... more This study aims to contribute to scholarship on online video activism by looking at mobilization videos created by the Support Art Workers (SAW) movement which emerged during the COVID-19 crisis in Greece. Our main observation is that several SAW videos consist of an assemblage of performance art elements and protest visuals which together with expressive uses of video production exemplify a “videography as performance” approach. We examine three SAW mobilization videos as a type of “activist video as performance,” which, aside from their function as invitations to protest-events, also form an innovative means of encouraging active civic engagement. Furthermore, we argue that aspects of the performance art elements and protest imagery included in the videos speak back to previous protest trajectories in Greece. Our overall objective is to show how SAW’s communication tactics have shaped new ways of visualizing protest goals that expand existing paradigms of online activist video.
Greek Film Noir, edited by Anna Poupou, Nikitas Fessas and Maria Chalkou. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 232-246, 2022
Transnational Screens, 2022
Film reviewer Theo Panayides has enthusiastically declared the year 2018 as the most ‘prestigious... more Film reviewer Theo Panayides has enthusiastically declared the year 2018 as the most ‘prestigious’ in the history of Cypriot cinema, making particular reference to Tonia Mishiali’s Pause and Marios Piperides’ Smuggling Hendrix. The starting point of this study is the unprecedented (considering Cyprus’ micro-state status) attention enjoyed by the two films mainly due to the symbolic value they accumulated through prestigious entries into the film festival circuit. Initially, the article focuses on those elements that film reviews/news have deemed successful and are associated with the exposure of the films to transnational exchanges. While aspects of both films evidently point back to a desire to speak to an international audience, and film reviews underline the achievement of Mishiali and Piperides in doing so, I argue that the success of the films also lies in the way they foreground local matters through the very act of refusing to comply with dominant canons in the history of Cypriot cinema. Finally, the study focuses on recent cinematic activity in Cyprus to illustrate that Mishiali and Piperides’ initiatives have helped energize developments which point towards a systematic transnational turn. To further support this view, I draw from Hjort’s illuminating work on small cinemas.
Adaptation in the Age of Media Convergence (Transmedia Series), 2019
Branding the Nation, the Place, the Product , 2018
Marlow-Mann, Alex and Mendik, Xavier, eds. (2016) European Erotic Cinema: Identity, Desire and Disgust. Cine-Excess, (2). E-ISSN 2053-0706, 2016
The dominant paradigm of filmmaking in Cyprus since 1974 is the so called ‘cinemas of the Cyprus ... more The dominant paradigm of filmmaking in Cyprus since 1974 is the so called ‘cinemas of the Cyprus Problem’, which either conceals the realities of conflict in order to inspire loyalty to official political narratives or unearths them in order to encourage reconciliation between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots. This article focuses on four sexploitation films: three Black Emanuelle rip-offs (Emanuelle: Queen of Sados, Divine Emanuelle: Love Cult and The Dirty Seven) and the Greek-Cypriot film Hassanpoulia: The Avengers of Cyprus. While they have achieved cult status elsewhere, the three Black Emanuelle films remain largely unknown as Greek-Cypriot co-productions, while Hassanpoulia has only recently been discussed under the rubric of sexploitation cinema. This article counters these omissions, arguing that all four films can be considered examples of alternative ‘affinitive transnationalism’ between Greek and Greek-Cypriot cinema and remnants or imitations of the past glories of Italian genre cinema. My consideration then goes on to present a transgressive reading of the films, demonstrating how they form symbolic associations that disrupt dominant (re)presentations of Aphrodite, the mythological Goddess of love in Greek Cypriot imaginary.
Keywords: Black Emanuelle, Cyprus, Greek Erotic Cinema, Aphrodite, Affinitive Transnationalism.
Adaptation
In this paper, I attempt to explore the possibility of a call for para-adaptation studies as a ba... more In this paper, I attempt to explore the possibility of a call for para-adaptation studies as a basic discursive paradigm that may allow an engagement with amateur-created adaptations. Para-adaptation will serve as a springboard to problematize further the enthusiastic call for the expansion of adaptation studies by bringing in the emerging debate of post-celluloid adaptations the cultural practice of vernacular creativity. This attempt develops from a re-examination of the terms paracinema and paratextuality since amateur creativity has a direct dialectic relationship with practices that are relevant to these terms. In order to offer a more detailed debate on the ways amateur creativity can contribute to the expansion of adaptation studies I use amateur-made and industry-made renditions of the zombie mythology.
The London Film and Media Reader I (Essays from Film and Media 2011 The 1st Annual London Film and Media Conference edited by Phillip Drummond), 2013
From Film Adaptation to Post-celluloid Adaptation, 2010
Featured Content under Adaptation in the 21st Century on Bloomsbury's digital platform Screen Stu... more Featured Content under Adaptation in the 21st Century on Bloomsbury's digital platform Screen Studies! Click on the URL provided to read the chapter "Bullet-time, Blood Spraying Time, and the Adaptation of the Graphic" in From Film Adaptation to Post-celluloid Adaptation
This article examines the relationship between the film adaptations Fight Club (David Fincher 199... more This article examines the relationship between the film adaptations Fight Club (David Fincher 1999) and Enduring Love (Roger Michell 2004) in their attempt to transfer to the screen the theme of the double or to suggest relevant implications about the psychological condition of the characters. The analysis develops within the framework of interpretation processes that are relevant to cinema's ontology and form; thus it focuses on the cinematic codes that each film employs in order to construct a consistent style. This leads to a discussion which activates and suggests ways of reading the relationship between an adaptation and its source text by emphasizing the significance of form, style and cinematic space.
Fear, Cultural Anxiety, and Transformation Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Films Remade, 2008
This chapter raises questions as regards the definitions of ‘film adaptation’ and ‘film remake’, ... more This chapter raises questions as regards the definitions of ‘film adaptation’ and ‘film remake’, and uses the film Van Helsing as the main case study to suggest a new mode of adaptation, that is the transition of popular fiction and characters from film to a new media object or a confluence of media objects, which are expressed via digital cinema as defined by Lev Manovich (2001). Thus, the discussion focuses on exploring how Van Helsing becomes an example of digital cinema and with which methods the film claims to be based on classic horror films rather than Gothic novels. Furthermore, I examine the film’s collaborative media products so as to provide comprehensive answers to questions related to the cinematic longevity of popular monstrous bodies, their computer generated representation and the relationship between audiences and the visual culture of Gothic narratives.
The collection (Edited by John Marmysz and Scott A. Lukas) was inspired by the observation that film remakes offer us the opportunity to revisit important issues, stories, themes, and topics in a manner that is especially relevant and meaningful to contemporary audiences. Like mythic stories that are told again and again in differing ways, film remakes present us with updated perspectives on timeless ideas. While some remakes succeed and others fail aesthetically, they always say something about the culture in which—and for which—they are produced.
Contributors explore the ways in which the fears of death, loss of self, and bodily violence have been expressed and then reinterpreted in such films and remakes as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Night of the Living Dead, and Dawn of the Dead. Films such as Rollerball, The Ring, The Grudge, The Great Yokai Wars, and Insomnia are discussed as well because of their ability to give voice to collective anxieties concerning cultural change, nihilism, and globalization. While opening on a note that emphasizes the compulsion of filmmakers to revisit issues concerning fear and anxiety, this collection ends by using films like Solaris, King Kong, Star Trek, Doom, and Van Helsing to suggest that repeated confrontation with these issues allows the opportunity for creative and positive transformation.
A version of this publication titled "From Shadows to Excess : New Media Hollywood and the Digitizing of Gothic Monsters in Van Helsing" appears as a chapter in my book From Film Adaptation to Post-celluloid Adaptation
Reviews:
If horror is really about the return of the repressed, then the thought of infinite repetition is the most frightening of all: the stifling security in the knowledge that nothing will ever change. This book, thanks to the insight and intelligence of Lukas and Marmysz, shows how one additional repetition—the remake—can have the power to break the spell and carve out a space for genuine innovation in a world of perpetual sameness. This is a crucial text for anyone interest in popular culture and genre film, but it is, even more importantly, a perspicacious anatomy of what terrifies us the most.
— Russell A. Berman, Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University, and editor, Telos
Conferences and Invited Talks/Presentations by Costas Constandinides
Uploads
Single-authored and (Co)Edited Books by Costas Constandinides
Reviews:
“This fascinating anthology is to be commended for its focus on a ‘small’ unknown cinema in which we can see, as if through a magnifying glass, all the reoccurring nightmares of recent European history as well as the struggle to forge a common history, memory, and understanding across divided identities and communities. What is so valuable about this volume is that it offers a very manageable case study of the varied roles film can play in shaping historical perception, memory, and identity and at its best, opening up spaces of communication and dialogue that have been closed by civil war.”
Michael Wayne, Professor of Media and Communications, Brunel University, UK
“A pathbreaking analysis of an under-researched film material which illuminates our understanding on some of the darkest moments in the contemporary history of Cyprus. By exploring social, national, and historical controversies, the book constitutes an exemplary study for
anyone interested in visual representations of identity and conflict.”
Achilleas Hadjikyriacou, author of Masculinity and Gender in Greek Cinema:1949-1967
“By introducing this neglected and complex topic in such a wide-ranging and pluralist volume, the editors [of Cypriot Cinemas] have achieved a very critical balance: their careful thematic and methodological choices have ensured the discoussion is both organized and inclusive. One of the main virtues of this work is its ability to conceptualize and contextualize, smoothly guiding the reader through ... a variety of points of view, and a wide range of issues ... [T]his ambitious and surprisingly fresh work makes a significant and very welcome contribution.” – Maria Chalkou, FILMICON: Journal of Greek Film Studies
"Cypriot Cinemas: Memory, Conflict, and Identity in the Margins of Europe, indicates how Cypriot cinema is reflective of Cyprus’s troubled history and the particular nature of Cypriot life, with its lingering problems and multicultural colorations. The book is wide-raging. Perhaps most interesting is its ability to apply to a manageable number of films, produced in a small country with a troubled history, methods of analysis that are familiar to the audiences of literary and other forms of artistic criticism." Vicki James Yiannias, The AHIF Policy Journal
See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/cypriot-cinemas-9781501319969/#sthash.QlGZcCWd.dpuf
Though the discussion is framed through the ‘digital cinema’ lens, the work will not exclude a broader understanding of New Media which refers to video games, official websites and interactivity so as to examine how the visual style of contemporary films is dispersed across, and influenced by, other media. Discussing films like Minority Report, King Kong, 300 and Wanted in relation to Film Adaptation theory, the work aims to challenge and rework the definition of adaptation.
Reviews:
"This challenging and energetic book places adaptation studies in a new media context and in the process offers us a model for interrogating the post-celluloid adaptation. This book revisits the thorny question of the limits of adaptation with subtlety and sophistication and offers compelling readings of some of the most commercially successful and popular film adaptations of recent times, strengthened by a firm grasp of contemporary industry processes and an intelligent investigation of new media paradigms. It will be a significant contribution to the field."
--Imelda Whelehan, Director, Centre for Adaptations,
De Montfort University
"A welcome addition to the increasingly diverse field of adaptation studies, From Film Adaptation to Post-Celluloid Adaptation proposes a vigorous and fascinating study of textual transform as mediated through advancing digital technologies. In this highly reflective book, Costas Constandinides attempts to create a new paradigm to help shed clarity on the increasing remediation of traditional forms into digital and computer-generated media, using a variety of modern, popular films."
--Jamie Sherry, Bangor University, UK in Journal of Adaptation in Film and Performance, Vol 4, issue 2
http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=11447/
“Constandinides’ book is both entertaining and well-argued, demonstrating vividly how the shifting media landscape has created new positionings for viewers vis-a`-vis the texts they consume, either in the cinema or on DVD or on Netflix ... Constandinides’ book is well worth reading as a significant contribution to the gradually expanding corpus of adaptation theory, as well as being a penetrating study into contemporary popular cinematic cultures.”
--Laurence Raw in the Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 45, issue 3
Also see Raw, Laurence, “Retelling European History on Film: An Essay Review” in Film and History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television, Vol. 41, No. 2, 2011, 64-68."
Journal Articles, Book Chapters, Proceedings by Costas Constandinides
Keywords: Black Emanuelle, Cyprus, Greek Erotic Cinema, Aphrodite, Affinitive Transnationalism.
The collection (Edited by John Marmysz and Scott A. Lukas) was inspired by the observation that film remakes offer us the opportunity to revisit important issues, stories, themes, and topics in a manner that is especially relevant and meaningful to contemporary audiences. Like mythic stories that are told again and again in differing ways, film remakes present us with updated perspectives on timeless ideas. While some remakes succeed and others fail aesthetically, they always say something about the culture in which—and for which—they are produced.
Contributors explore the ways in which the fears of death, loss of self, and bodily violence have been expressed and then reinterpreted in such films and remakes as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Night of the Living Dead, and Dawn of the Dead. Films such as Rollerball, The Ring, The Grudge, The Great Yokai Wars, and Insomnia are discussed as well because of their ability to give voice to collective anxieties concerning cultural change, nihilism, and globalization. While opening on a note that emphasizes the compulsion of filmmakers to revisit issues concerning fear and anxiety, this collection ends by using films like Solaris, King Kong, Star Trek, Doom, and Van Helsing to suggest that repeated confrontation with these issues allows the opportunity for creative and positive transformation.
A version of this publication titled "From Shadows to Excess : New Media Hollywood and the Digitizing of Gothic Monsters in Van Helsing" appears as a chapter in my book From Film Adaptation to Post-celluloid Adaptation
Reviews:
If horror is really about the return of the repressed, then the thought of infinite repetition is the most frightening of all: the stifling security in the knowledge that nothing will ever change. This book, thanks to the insight and intelligence of Lukas and Marmysz, shows how one additional repetition—the remake—can have the power to break the spell and carve out a space for genuine innovation in a world of perpetual sameness. This is a crucial text for anyone interest in popular culture and genre film, but it is, even more importantly, a perspicacious anatomy of what terrifies us the most.
— Russell A. Berman, Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University, and editor, Telos
Conferences and Invited Talks/Presentations by Costas Constandinides
Reviews:
“This fascinating anthology is to be commended for its focus on a ‘small’ unknown cinema in which we can see, as if through a magnifying glass, all the reoccurring nightmares of recent European history as well as the struggle to forge a common history, memory, and understanding across divided identities and communities. What is so valuable about this volume is that it offers a very manageable case study of the varied roles film can play in shaping historical perception, memory, and identity and at its best, opening up spaces of communication and dialogue that have been closed by civil war.”
Michael Wayne, Professor of Media and Communications, Brunel University, UK
“A pathbreaking analysis of an under-researched film material which illuminates our understanding on some of the darkest moments in the contemporary history of Cyprus. By exploring social, national, and historical controversies, the book constitutes an exemplary study for
anyone interested in visual representations of identity and conflict.”
Achilleas Hadjikyriacou, author of Masculinity and Gender in Greek Cinema:1949-1967
“By introducing this neglected and complex topic in such a wide-ranging and pluralist volume, the editors [of Cypriot Cinemas] have achieved a very critical balance: their careful thematic and methodological choices have ensured the discoussion is both organized and inclusive. One of the main virtues of this work is its ability to conceptualize and contextualize, smoothly guiding the reader through ... a variety of points of view, and a wide range of issues ... [T]his ambitious and surprisingly fresh work makes a significant and very welcome contribution.” – Maria Chalkou, FILMICON: Journal of Greek Film Studies
"Cypriot Cinemas: Memory, Conflict, and Identity in the Margins of Europe, indicates how Cypriot cinema is reflective of Cyprus’s troubled history and the particular nature of Cypriot life, with its lingering problems and multicultural colorations. The book is wide-raging. Perhaps most interesting is its ability to apply to a manageable number of films, produced in a small country with a troubled history, methods of analysis that are familiar to the audiences of literary and other forms of artistic criticism." Vicki James Yiannias, The AHIF Policy Journal
See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/cypriot-cinemas-9781501319969/#sthash.QlGZcCWd.dpuf
Though the discussion is framed through the ‘digital cinema’ lens, the work will not exclude a broader understanding of New Media which refers to video games, official websites and interactivity so as to examine how the visual style of contemporary films is dispersed across, and influenced by, other media. Discussing films like Minority Report, King Kong, 300 and Wanted in relation to Film Adaptation theory, the work aims to challenge and rework the definition of adaptation.
Reviews:
"This challenging and energetic book places adaptation studies in a new media context and in the process offers us a model for interrogating the post-celluloid adaptation. This book revisits the thorny question of the limits of adaptation with subtlety and sophistication and offers compelling readings of some of the most commercially successful and popular film adaptations of recent times, strengthened by a firm grasp of contemporary industry processes and an intelligent investigation of new media paradigms. It will be a significant contribution to the field."
--Imelda Whelehan, Director, Centre for Adaptations,
De Montfort University
"A welcome addition to the increasingly diverse field of adaptation studies, From Film Adaptation to Post-Celluloid Adaptation proposes a vigorous and fascinating study of textual transform as mediated through advancing digital technologies. In this highly reflective book, Costas Constandinides attempts to create a new paradigm to help shed clarity on the increasing remediation of traditional forms into digital and computer-generated media, using a variety of modern, popular films."
--Jamie Sherry, Bangor University, UK in Journal of Adaptation in Film and Performance, Vol 4, issue 2
http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=11447/
“Constandinides’ book is both entertaining and well-argued, demonstrating vividly how the shifting media landscape has created new positionings for viewers vis-a`-vis the texts they consume, either in the cinema or on DVD or on Netflix ... Constandinides’ book is well worth reading as a significant contribution to the gradually expanding corpus of adaptation theory, as well as being a penetrating study into contemporary popular cinematic cultures.”
--Laurence Raw in the Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 45, issue 3
Also see Raw, Laurence, “Retelling European History on Film: An Essay Review” in Film and History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television, Vol. 41, No. 2, 2011, 64-68."
Keywords: Black Emanuelle, Cyprus, Greek Erotic Cinema, Aphrodite, Affinitive Transnationalism.
The collection (Edited by John Marmysz and Scott A. Lukas) was inspired by the observation that film remakes offer us the opportunity to revisit important issues, stories, themes, and topics in a manner that is especially relevant and meaningful to contemporary audiences. Like mythic stories that are told again and again in differing ways, film remakes present us with updated perspectives on timeless ideas. While some remakes succeed and others fail aesthetically, they always say something about the culture in which—and for which—they are produced.
Contributors explore the ways in which the fears of death, loss of self, and bodily violence have been expressed and then reinterpreted in such films and remakes as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Night of the Living Dead, and Dawn of the Dead. Films such as Rollerball, The Ring, The Grudge, The Great Yokai Wars, and Insomnia are discussed as well because of their ability to give voice to collective anxieties concerning cultural change, nihilism, and globalization. While opening on a note that emphasizes the compulsion of filmmakers to revisit issues concerning fear and anxiety, this collection ends by using films like Solaris, King Kong, Star Trek, Doom, and Van Helsing to suggest that repeated confrontation with these issues allows the opportunity for creative and positive transformation.
A version of this publication titled "From Shadows to Excess : New Media Hollywood and the Digitizing of Gothic Monsters in Van Helsing" appears as a chapter in my book From Film Adaptation to Post-celluloid Adaptation
Reviews:
If horror is really about the return of the repressed, then the thought of infinite repetition is the most frightening of all: the stifling security in the knowledge that nothing will ever change. This book, thanks to the insight and intelligence of Lukas and Marmysz, shows how one additional repetition—the remake—can have the power to break the spell and carve out a space for genuine innovation in a world of perpetual sameness. This is a crucial text for anyone interest in popular culture and genre film, but it is, even more importantly, a perspicacious anatomy of what terrifies us the most.
— Russell A. Berman, Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University, and editor, Telos