Realism and the Audiovisual Media

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxvi

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2. Theorizing Realism

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. World Cinema: Realism, Evidence, Presence

      • Thomas Elsaesser

      Pages 3-19

   3. Whither Realism? Bazin Reconsidered

      • Leighton Grist

      Pages 20-30

   4. Brecht, Realism and the Media

      • Marc Silberman

      Pages 31-46

   5. Melodrama as Realism in Italian Neorealism

      • Louis Bayman

      Pages 47-62

   6. Scale and the Negotiation of ‘Real’ and ‘Unreal’ Space in the Cinema

      • Mary Ann Doane

      Pages 63-81

3. World Cinema and New Realisms

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 83-83

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   2. Realism and Gus Van Sant’s Elephant

      • Anna Backman Rogers

      Pages 85-95

   3. Observational Realism in New Taiwan Cinema

      • Ming-yeh T. Rawnsley

      Pages 96-107

   4. Realism and National Identity in Y tu mamá también: An Audience Perspective

      • Armida de la Garza

      Pages 108-118

   5. A Journey through Time: Alexander Sokurov’s Russian Ark and Theories of Mimesis

      • Vlad Strukov

      Pages 119-132

4. The Realism of the Medium

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 133-133

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   2. Realism, Real Sex and the Experimental Film: Mediating Eroticism in Georges Bataille’s Story of the Eye

      • Beth Johnson

      Pages 135-151

   3. Breath Control: The Sound and Sight of Respiration as Hyperrealist Corporeality in Breaking the Waves

      • Davina Quinlivan

      Pages 152-163

   4. Ontology, Film and the Case of Eric Rohmer

      • Jacob Leigh

      Pages 164-174

   5. Up the Junction: Ken Loach and TV Realism

      • Cecília Mello

      Pages 175-189

5. Documentary, Television and the Ethics of Representation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 191-191

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   2. Filmmaking as the Production of Reality: A Study of Hara and Kobayashi’s Documentaries

      • Lúcia Nagib

      Pages 193-209

   3. Character Construction in Brazilian Documentary Films: Modern Cinema, Classical Narrative and Micro-Realism

      • Ismail Xavier

      Pages 210-223

This collection examines two recent phenomena: the return of realist tendencies and practices in world cinema and television, and the 'rehabilitation' of realism in film and media theory. The contributors investigate these two phenomena in detail, querying their origins, relations, divergences and intersections from a variety of perspectives.

• Alexander Sokurov
• cinema
• film
• identity
• media
• national identity
• Sound
• television
• world cinema
• media research

'The issue of realism is a fundamental conceptual question for film as well as for audiovisual media in general, and this collection is a very major and timely contribution that re-assesses the impetus to realism in cinema and the form and style of realism in contemporary film in the context of the digital, of multi-platform viewing, and world cinema. The wide-ranging essays draw on classical film theory while developing new insights into and understanding of current cinema. I have no doubt that it will be required reading on many courses.'

Elizabeth Cowie, University of Kent, UK

'Realism and the Audiovisual Media is an extremely topical collection of essays, one that will be most valuable to students and researchers in the field of media studies.'

Martine Beugnet, University of Paris 7 Diderot, France

• University of Leeds, UK

  Lúcia Nagib

• University of São Paulo, Canada

  Cecília Mello

LOUIS BAYMAN is a PhD candidate at King's College London, UK MARY ANN DOANE is George Hazard Crooker Professor of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University, USA THOMAS ELSAESSER is Professor of Film and Visual Culture at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands ARMIDA DE LA GARZA is Associate Professor in International Communication at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo Campus, China LEIGHTON GRIST is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Film Studies at the University of Winchester, UK BETH JOHNSON is a Lecturer in Media and Film Studies at Liverpool Hope University, UK JACOB LEIGH teaches at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK DIANE MYERS leads the BA Broadcasting programme within the Institute of Communications Studies at the University of Leeds, UK DAVINA QUINLIVAN is a PhD candidate in the Film Studies department at King's College London, UK MING-YEH T. RAWNSLEY lectures on Chinese-language films at the University of Leeds, UK ANNA ROGERS is a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, UK JOAO MOREIRA SALLES is a documentary filmmaker MARC SILBERMAN is Professor of German and Director of the Centre for German and European Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA VLAD STRUKOV is Lecturer in Russian and World Cinemas at the University of Leeds, UK ISMAIL XAVIER is Professor of Film at the University of São Paulo, Brazil

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