Marx at the Movies : Revisiting History, Theory and Practice

Marx at the Movies approaches cinema from a Marxist perspective. It argues that the supposed 'end of history', marked by the comprehensive triumph of capitalism and the 'end of cinema', calls for revisiting Marx's writings in order to analyse film theories, histories and practices. Marx and the Moving Image approaches cinema from a Marxist perspective. It argues that the supposed 'end of history', marked by the comprehensive triumph of capitalism and the 'end of cinema', calls for revisiting Marx's writings in order to analyse film theories, histories and practices. Marx and the Moving Image approaches cinema from a perspective that has been marginalised by mainstream film studies for over three decades. It argues that the supposed 'end of history', marked by the comprehensive triumph of capitalism and the 'end of cinema', calls for revisiting Marx's writings in order to analyse film theories, histories and practices. Particular attention is paid to subjects rarely explored by Marxist scholars, such as classical Hollywood cinema and amateur filmmaking, as well as to the use of humour, the problem of adaptation and translation, the relationship between sound and image and the use of music and silence in film. Beyond Marx, the contributors also refer to the works of authors such as Benjamin, Bloch, Adorno, Brecht, Ranciere, Hardt and Negri, Svitak and Kosik Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-26 The Dialectical Image: Kant, Marx and Adorno....Pages 27-45 The Utopian Function of Film Music....Pages 46-61 Bloch on Film as Utopia: Terence Davies’ Distant Voices, Still Lives....Pages 62-81 ‘But Joe, it’s “Hour of Ecstasy”’: A Materialist Re-evaluation of Fritz Lang’s You and Me....Pages 82-101 Laughing Matters: Four Marxist Takes on Film Comedy....Pages 102-122 Workerist Film Humour....Pages 123-146 Alienated Heroes: Marxism and the Czechoslovak New Wave....Pages 147-170 The Work and the Rights of the Documentary Protagonist....Pages 171-197 Amateur Digital Filmmaking and Capitalism....Pages 198-217 Citizen Marx/Kane....Pages 218-243 The Meaning of History and the Uses of Translation in News from Ideological Antiquity — Marx/Eisenstein/The Capital (Video 2008) by Alexander Kluge....Pages 244-266 Marx for Children: Moor and the Ravens of London and Hans Röckle and the Devil....Pages 267-286 Back Matter....Pages 287-293 "Marx and the Moving Image" approaches cinema from a perspective that has been marginalised by mainstream film studies for over three decades. It argues that the supposed 'end of history', marked by the comprehensive triumph of capitalism and the 'end of cinema', calls for revisiting Marx's writings in order to analyse film theories, histories and practices. Particular attention is paid to subjects rarely explored by Marxist scholars, such as classical Hollywood cinema and amateur filmmaking, as well as to the use of humour, the problem of adaptation and translation, the relationship between sound and image and the use of music and silence in film. Beyond Marx, the contributors also refer to the works of authors such as Benjamin, Bloch, Adorno, Brecht, Rancïre, Hardt and Negri, Svit̀k and Kos̕k