{"title":"Jon Lewis","description":"\u003cp\u003eJon Lewis offers rich explorations of cinematic history and culture, delving into iconic films and genres with a critical yet accessible approach. His works illuminate the artistry behind celebrated movies such as \u003cem\u003eDie Hard\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Godfather\u003c\/em\u003e, inviting readers to appreciate the craft of filmmaking and its cultural impact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRooted firmly in Arts \u0026amp; Culture, Lewis’s writing blends detailed research with engaging narrative, appealing to both film enthusiasts and scholars alike. His analyses capture the essence of Hollywood's hard-boiled storytelling, making his books compelling studies of modern cinema's enduring legends.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"die-hard-by-jon-lewis-9781839026522","title":"Die Hard","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUpon its release, John McTiernan’s \u003ci\u003eDie Hard\u003c\/i\u003e (1988) was met with immense commercial and critical success; breaking the $100 million mark at the box office in its first run, and resulting in four Academy Award nominations.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJon Lewis’s study of the action classic closely examines the film's novel and script adaptation, highlighting the influential role of producer Joel Silver. He delves into Silver's ground-breaking ‘whammy theory’, which redefined script structure by organizing scripts around timed ‘beats’ rather than traditional acts or scenes. This innovation had a significant impact not only on \u003ci\u003eDie Hard\u003c\/i\u003e, but also on other iconic franchises like \u003ci\u003eLethal Weapon\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePredator\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Matrix\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLewis goes on to consider the film's evocation of post-Vietnam male panic and its connection to the Iron John movement. He highlights \u003ci\u003eDie Hard\u003c\/i\u003e as a prime example of the ‘male rampage film’ genre, where white male protagonists express frustration with cultural antagonists such as feminism, economic regulation, government bureaucracy, and political corruption.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFinally, he reflects on how \u003ci\u003eDie Hard\u003c\/i\u003e resonated with its 1988 audience, who were looking for new antagonists in a changing world. The film's anticipation of European radical political groups and later terrorism rooted in North Africa and the Middle East foreshadows the era-defining ‘war on terror’ that would follow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PTY Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47362555085036,"sku":"9781839026522","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/21250043482842.jpg?v=1772891866"},{"product_id":"the-godfather-by-jon-lewis-9781839024580","title":"The Godfather","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrancis Ford Coppola's \u003ci\u003eThe Godfather\u003c\/i\u003e (1972) marked a transition in American film-making, and its success—as a work of art, as a creative 'property' exploited by its studio, Paramount Pictures, and as a model for aspiring auteurist film-makers—changed Hollywood forever.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJon Lewis's study of \u003ci\u003eThe Godfather\u003c\/i\u003e begins with a close look at the film's audacious visual style, including the long, theatrical set pieces, the chiaroscuro lighting, and the climactic montage that parallels a family baptism with a series of brutal murders. The analysis of visual style is paired with a discussion of the movie's principal themes: Vito and Michael's attempt to balance the obligations of business and family, their struggle with assimilation, the temptations and pitfalls of capitalist accumulation, and the larger drama of succession from father to son, from one generation to the next.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe textual analysis precedes a production history that views \u003ci\u003eThe Godfather\u003c\/i\u003e as a singularly important film in Hollywood's dramatic box-office turnaround in the early 1970s. Finally, the book takes a long hard look at the gangster himself, both on screen and off. Hollywood publicity attending the gangster film from its inception in the silent era to the present has endeavoured to dull the distinction between the real and movie gangster, insisting that each film has been culled from the day's sordid headlines.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLooking at the drama on screen and the production history behind the scenes, Lewis uncovers a series of real gangster backstories, revealing, finally, how millions of dollars of mob money may well have funded the film in the first place, and how, as things played out, \u003ci\u003eThe Godfather\u003c\/i\u003e saved Paramount Studios and the rest of Hollywood as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PTY Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47428260692204,"sku":"9781839024580","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781839024580.jpg?v=1774497333"},{"product_id":"hard-boiled-hollywood-by-jon-lewis-9780520284326","title":"Hard-Boiled Hollywood","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tragic and mysterious circumstances surrounding the deaths of Elizabeth Short, or the Black Dahlia, and Marilyn Monroe ripped open Hollywood’s glitzy façade, exposing the city's ugly underbelly of corruption, crime, and murder. These two spectacular dead bodies, one found dumped and posed in a vacant lot in January 1947, the other found dead in her home in August 1962, bookend this new history of Hollywood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eShort and Monroe are just two of the many left for dead after the collapse of the studio system, Hollywood’s awkward adolescence when the company town’s many competing subcultures—celebrities, moguls, mobsters, gossip mongers, industry wannabes, and desperate transients—came into frequent contact and conflict.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHard-Boiled Hollywood\u003c\/i\u003e focuses on the lives lost at the crossroads between a dreamed-of Los Angeles and the real thing after the Second World War, where reality was anything but glamorous.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47470767341804,"sku":"9780520284326","price":56.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780520284326-hard-boiled-hollywood.jpg?v=1775226421"},{"product_id":"the-godfather-part-ii-by-jon-lewis-9781839023262","title":"The Godfather, Part II","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrancis Ford Coppola's \u003cem\u003eThe Godfather, Part II\u003c\/em\u003e (1974) is a magisterial cinematic work, a gorgeous, stylised, auteur epic, and one of the few sequels judged by many to be greater than its predecessor. This is despite the fact that it consists largely of meetings between aspiring 'Godfather' Michael Corleone and fellow gangsters, politicians, and family members. The meetings remind us that the modern gangster’s success is built upon inside information and strategic planning. Michael and his father Vito’s days resemble those of the legitimate businessmen they aspire or pretend to be.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJon Lewis's study of Coppola's masterpiece provides a close analysis of the film and a discussion of its cinematic and political contexts. It is structured in three sections: “The Sequel,” “The Dissolve,” and “The Sicilian Thing”—accommodating three avenues of inquiry, respectively: the film’s importance in and to Hollywood history, its unique, auteur style and form; and its cultural significance. Of interest, then, is New Hollywood history, mise-en-scène, and a view of the Corleone saga as a cautionary capitalist parable, as a metaphor of the corruption of American power, post-Vietnam, post-Watergate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PTY Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47471781806316,"sku":"9781839023262","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781839023262-the-godfather-part-ii.jpg?v=1775253899"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/jon-lewis.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}