Cinema and Modernity

This book discusses the complex relation between modernity and cinema drawing particularly upon the European and American cinema during the second half of the twentieth century. Orr attempts to rethink the relation of film-making to the contemporary world challenging many of the critical complacencies of post-modernism and offering a fresh perspective upon the development of the modern cinema.

List of Illustrations. Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. Film and the Paradox of the Modern. 2. Tragicomedy and the Cool Apocalypse. 3. The Double and the Innocent. 4. The Power of the Gaze. 5. The Absent Image and the Unreal Object. 6. Commodified Demons I: The Machine and the Mask. 7. Commodified Demons II: The Automobile. 8. The Strange Passions of Film Noir. Notes. Select Bibliography. Select Filmography. Index.