Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
This book examines film reviewing and screenwriting as key sites of cultural mediation, providing new insights on the relationship between criticism and reviewing, as well as the way reviewers handle concepts of story, dialogue, and narrative.
Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu on the cultural field, and his theory of taste, the book provides an assessment of the place of film reviewing in contemporary screen culture. The book analyses a case study comprised of ten years of television scripts of the Australian film reviewing programme, At the Movies (2004–2014). Hosted by two of Australia’s most eminent film critics, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, for over two decades, this study of At the Movies provides a unique window into film reviewing, movie consumption, and wider cultural attitudes in this period of Australian cultural history. It examines the programme’s cultural significance, and the contribution of Margaret and David to screen culture.
This book makes a significant contribution to an under-studied area of media studies (the review), screenwriting research through the analysis of broadcast scripts, and cultural studies through the study of an important television programme.
List of Tables
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
About At the Movies
Preface
1. At the Movies, Reviewing and Screenwriting
- Film Reviewing
Two Approaches: Functionalism and RhetoricShifting the Criticism/Reviewing Distinction
2. At the Movies and Its Influence
- The Business of Managing the Review Process
Debunking the Powerful Critic Theory
- A Variable Cultural Field: From Restricted to Large-Scale
- The Persona of the Critic
- The Responsibilities of the Reviewer
Proximity to IndustryThe Australian New Wave
- Inside the Gut
- Where the Reviewer Sits
- Summary Judgements
- The Gospel According to David and Margaret
- Taste, Taste Culture or Cultural Forum
4. The Politics of Classification
- Ken Park (2002)
- Romper Stomper (1992)
- Wolf Creek 2 (2013)
5. Three Discourse Frames (Australia, 1987–2002)
- Frame 1: Funding Methods and Creative Outcomes
- Frame 2: The Crisis in the Film Industry and the Script as Problematic Object
- Frame 3: The Doxa
6. The Discursive Construction of Screenwriting in At the Movies (2004–2014)
- Method
- Coding: Script, Screenplay, Screenwriter
- Analysis
7. The Well-Made Screenplay: At the Movies as an Aesthetic Enterprise
- Performing the Doxa
- Problematizations and Conclusions
8. In Interview: David Stratton on Reviewing and At the Movies
9. In Interview: Margaret Pomeranz on Reviewing and At the Movies
Appendix 1: Notes on Method, Verification and Exclusions
Appendix 2: ‘Written by’
Appendix 3: DVD Classics
Appendix 4: Selective Reference List of Descriptors used by Margaret and David
List of Film and Television Works Cited
References
Index