The author explores the ways that new film technologies have altered visual pleasure and its relation both to narrative and to theories of gendered spectatorship.

Writer and film-maker Laura Mulvey is widely regarded as one of the most challenging and incisive contemporary cultural theorists, credited for incorporating film theory, psychoanalysis and feminism. Part of the pathbeating 1970s generation of British film theorists and independent film-makers, she came to prominence with her classic essay on the pleasures – and displeasures – of narrative cinema, 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'. She went on to make her own avant-garde films, co-directed with Peter Wollen, and to write further, greatly influential works – including this one. Fetishism and Curiosity contains writings which range from analyses of Xala, Citizen Kane and Blue Velvet, to an extended engagement with the creations of Native American artist Jimmie Durham and the feminist photographer Cindy Sherman. Essays explore the concept of fetishism as developed by Marx and Freud, and how it relates to the ways in which artistic texts work. Mulvey returns to some of the knottier issues in contemporary cultural theory, especially the links between looking, fantasy and theorisation on the one hand, and the processes of historical change on the other. What are the modes of address that characterise 'societies of the spectacle'? How might 'curiosity' be directed towards deciphering the politics of popular culture? These are just some of the questions raised in this brilliant and subtle collection. Published as part of the BFI Silver series, this new edition of Mulvey's classic work of feminist theory features a new, specially commissioned introduction and stills from the films discussed.

Marking a return for Laura Mulvey to questions of film theory and feminism, as well as a reconsideration of new and old film technologies, this urgent and compelling collection of essays is essential reading for anyone interested in the power and pleasures of moving images. Its title, Afterimages, alludes to the dislocation of time that runs through many of the films and works it discusses as well as to the way we view them. Beginning with a section on the theme of woman as spectacle, a shift in focus leads to films from across the globe, directed by women and about women, all adopting radical cinematic strategies. Mulvey goes on to consider moving image works made for art galleries, arguing that the aesthetics of cinema have persisted into this environment. Structured in three main parts, Afterimages also features an appendix of ten frequently asked questions on her classic feminist essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” in which Mulvey addresses questions of spectatorship, autonomy, and identity that are crucial to our era today.

Writer and filmmaker Laura Mulvey is widely regarded as one of the most challenging and incisive contemporary feminist cultural theorists. Part of the 1970s generation of British film theorists and independent filmmakers, she came to prominence with her classic work on the pleasures, and displeasures, of narrative cinema, Visual and Other Pleasures. This new collection contains her most recent writings, ranging from analyses of Xala, Citizen Kane, and Blue Velvet to an extended engagement with the work of the American Indian artist Jimmie Durham and the feminist photographer Cindy Sherman.

Citizen Kane's reputation as one of the greatest films of all time is matched only by the accumulation of critical commentary that surrounds it. What more can there be to say about a masterpiece so universally acknowledged? Laura Mulvey, in a fresh and original reading, illuminates the richness of the film, both thematically and stylistically, relating it to Welles's political background and its historical context. In a lucid and perceptive critique she also investigates the psychoanalytic structure that underlies the film's presentation of Kane's biography, for once taking seriously what Orson Welles himself disparagingly referred to as 'dollar-book Freud.' In her foreword to this special edition, published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the BFI Film Classics series, Laura Mulvey focuses on the film's politics, highlighting the contemporary 'rhymes' in Kane's portrayal of a scandal-prone press baron in a time of economic crisis.

A fascinating exploration of the role new media technologies play in our experience of film.

Mark Lewis’s films are remarkable, not only for their rich and highly seductive use of light and color, but also for the way in which they pay homage to both classic Hollywood cinema and the avant-garde while remaining outside of both traditions. Mark Lewis is the first book to explore this acclaimed Canadian’s art, and it features images from several of his works, including his most recent piece, Rear Projection. This film, in particular, documents a significant shift in Lewis’s practice. Actress Molly Parker, known for her roles in Six Feet Under and Deadwood, is superimposed against the bleak landscape of rural Ontario using the standard Hollywood technique of rear projection. Lewis takes what was, for old Hollywood, a tool meant to convey seamless realism, and foregrounds its essential trickery. Another piece incorporates the dreary backdrops of concrete council flats in the same way. In both settings the film takes on a painterly quality, referencing and restaging traditional portraiture to startling effect. Accompanied by essays by Philippe-Alain Michaud, Laura Mulvey, and Michael Rush that place Lewis’s work next to that of his contemporaries, Mark Lewis reaches insightful conclusions about the evolving relationship between film, technology, painting, and photography.

This book provides an account of Godard's politic activities of the 60's until 80's and analyses how his politics affect his cinema with the addition of Laura Mulvey's in depth account of the feminist aspect of Godard's cinema.

Since her earliest photographs in the 1970s, Cindy Sherman has built a name as one of the most respected photographers of our day. Famous for posing as the subject of her own photos, Sherman's work addresses the role of the artist, the impact of the media upon the art world and the position of women in society. Organized in a roughly chronological path by theme, Cindy Sherman provides a comprehensive review of the artist's complete works, including her Bus Riders, Murder Mystery, and Untitled Film Stills series, and photographs on topics ranging from surrealist pictures, fairy tales, rear screen projections, the Old Masters, centerfolds, pink robes, clowns, dolls, and Hollywood. Fascinating archival material includes a notebook of personal snapshots that Sherman kept from an early age, on which she would circle herself and label each one: "That's Me." This monograph is the catalogue for an international exhibition that will be held in Paris, Denmark, Austria, and Berlin from 2006 through 2007.

Over the last 17 years, Sutapa Biswas has been one of the leading artists of her generation. She has produced an evocative and challenging body of work, engaging with feminism, cultural identity and memory. This book examines the artists' oeuvre, and looks at all aspects of her working practice.