John Paizs's Crime Wave Contributor(s): Ball, Jonathan (Author) |
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ISBN: 1442648120 ISBN-13: 9781442648128 Publisher: University of Toronto Press OUR PRICE: $59.85 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: February 2014 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Performing Arts | Film - History & Criticism - Literary Criticism | Canadian |
Dewey: 791.437 |
LCCN: 2014427424 |
Series: Canadian Cinema |
Physical Information: 0.7" H x 5.3" W x 7.6" (0.70 lbs) 208 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: John Paizs's 'Crime Wave' examines the Winnipeg filmmaker's 1985 cult film as an important example of early postmodern cinema and as a significant precursor to subsequent postmodern blockbusters, including the much later Hollywood film Adaptation. Crime Wave's comic plot is simple: aspiring screenwriter Steven Penny, played by Paizs, finds himself able to write only the beginnings and endings of his scripts, but never (as he puts it) the stuff in-between. Penny is the classic writer suffering from writer's block, but the viewer sees him as the (anti)hero in a film told through stylistic parody of 1940s and 50s B-movies, TV sitcoms, and educational films. In John Paizs's 'Crime Wave, ' writer and filmmaker Jonathan Ball offers the first book-length study of this curious Canadian film, which self-consciously establishes itself simultaneously as following, but standing apart from, American cinematic and television conventions. Paizs's own story mirrors that of Steven Penny: both find themselves at once drawn to American culture and wanting to subvert its dominance. Exploring Paizs's postmodern aesthetic and his use of pastiche as a cinematic technique, Ball establishes Crime Wave as an overlooked but important cult classic. |
Contributor Bio(s): Ball, Jonathan: - Jonathan Ball teaches courses in literature, film, and writing at the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg. |