A FAMILY AFFAIR

The family unit has been a central theme in movies since the earliest days of the medium – whether as a locus of domestic bliss, a dysfunctional source of drama, a collection of comic personalities or an inferno of repressed feelings. This new anthology brings the subject into sharp focus, collecting a range of multidisciplinary perspectives that attempt to directly penetrate the questions raised by the role of the family onscreen. Discussing a wide range of contemporary and classic films, from House of Strangers (1949) and Mary Poppins (1964) to Superstar (1987), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and Brokeback Mountain (2005), this study addresses the nature of family values in cinema, and the ‘family’ nature of the Hollywood production system itself. With a wealth of historical background and contemporary analysis, this volume is a penetrating view of the oldest and most influential social institution as imagined for the screen.

May 2008
240 pages

978-1–905674–55-8 (pbk)	£16.99	£14.44 with 15% online discount - add to basket
978-1–905674–56–5 (hbk)	£45.00	£38.25 with 15% online discount - add to basket

Murray Pomerance is Professor in the Department of Sociology at Ryerson University and the author of Magia d'Amore (1999), An Eye For Hitchcock (2004), Johnny Depp Starts Here (2005), Savage Time (2005) and The Horse Who Drank the Sky: Film Experience Beyond Narrative and Theory (2008).

'A Family Affair makes it evident that the definition of the filmic family is incredibly difficult to pin down. It is not so much elusive as expansive.[...] This collection addresses a satisfying array of texts, from 1950s fan-magazines and contemporary television commercials to films. The analysis of these texts is arranged according to a compelling set of contexts and implications. Presenting the essays in sections concerning genre, politics and desire respectively provides focused consideration but does not prevent the inevitable and necessary overlap and interaction of ideas across the book.
Through this fresh and varied approach to what would seem to be a ubiquitous idea (even, paradoxically, in its absence), we are also asked to reassess and revisit those most familiar of films, and to explore those to which we are yet to become acquainted.'
– Mark Nicholls and Anika Ervin-Ward, Sense of Cinema