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The Impossible David Lynch

By Todd McGowan
Series: Film and Culture Series
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Impossible David Lynch by Todd McGowan explores the unique blend of weirdness and fantasy in David Lynch's films, highlighting how Lynch uses bizarre elements to reflect on the strange nature of normality. Covering Lynch's entire career, McGowan analyses iconic films such as Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, and Dune, revealing how fantasy serves as a tool for radical engagement with reality. The book draws on film theory and psychoanalysis to position Lynch’s work as a groundbreaking force in auteur studies.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$11900

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in film theory, David Lynch’s oeuvre, and those who appreciate deep analyses of fantasy and the avant-garde in cinema.

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Offers an exploration of weirdness and fantasy in David Lynch's groundbreaking oeuvre. Considering the filmmaker's entire career, the author examines Lynch's play with fantasy and traces the political, cultural, and existential impact of his unique style. Each chapter discusses the idea of impossibility in one of Lynch's films.

The Impossible David Lynch displays Todd McGowan's deep, sometimes truly breathtaking knowledge of David Lynch's work and of Lacanian theory. -- Slavoj Zizek, author of The Art of the Ridiculous Sublime: On David Lynch's Lost Highway Todd McGowan's book on David Lynch is an intellectually poignant, theoretically sophisticated, and erudite presentation of David Lynch's films that has truly extraordinary moments. -- Elisabeth Bronfen, University of Zurich Todd McGowan is a brilliantly effective writer. His explanations of difficult concepts are a marvel of sophistication, in which complexity and nuance are not sacrificed in order to reach all readers interested in the subject, both those well-versed in film studies and those who are not. -- Robert Lang, author of Masculine Interests

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Todd McGowan launches a provocative exploration of weirdness and fantasy in David Lynch's groundbreaking oeuvre. He studies Lynch's talent for blending the bizarre and the normal to emphasize the odd nature of normality itself.

Hollywood is often criticised for distorting reality and providing escapist fantasies, but in Lynch's movies, fantasy becomes a means through which the viewer is encouraged to build a revolutionary relationship with the world.

Considering the filmmaker's entire career, McGowan examines Lynch's play with fantasy and traces the political, cultural, and existential impact of his unique style. Each chapter discusses the idea of impossibility in one of Lynch's films, including the critically acclaimed Blue Velvet and The Elephant Man; the densely plotted Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive; the cult favourite Eraserhead; and the commercially unsuccessful Dune.

McGowan engages with theorists from the "golden age" of film studies (Christian Metz, Laura Mulvey, and Jean-Louis Baudry) and with the thought of Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, and Hegel. By using Lynch's weirdness as a point of departure, McGowan adds a new dimension to the field of auteur studies and reveals Lynch to be the source of a new and radical conception of fantasy.

Series: Film and Culture Series

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Horror News praises the book as a well-written collection of thoughtful essays that will appeal to both thinkers and film enthusiasts fascinated by Lynch's cinema.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780231139557

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 13 February 2007

Country: United States

Imprint: Columbia University Press

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 280

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Arts & Culture Non-Fiction Series: Film and Culture Series Todd McGowan

About the Author

Todd McGowan is associate professor of English at the University of Vermont.

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