The Modern Supernatural and the Beginnings of Cinema (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781349844562)

This study sees the nineteenth century supernatural as a significant context for cinema's first years. The book takes up the familiar notion of cinema as a "ghostly," "spectral" or "haunted" medium and asks what made such association possible. Examining the history of the projected image and supernatural displays, psychical research and telepathy, spirit photography and X-rays, the skeletons of the danse macabre and the ghostly spaces of the mind, it uncovers many lost and fascinating connections. The Modern Supernatural and the Beginnings of Cinema locates film's spectral affinities within a history stretching back to the beginning of screen practice and forward to the digital era. In addition to examining the use of supernatural themes by pioneering filmmakers like Georges M駘i鑚 and George Albert Smith, it also engages with the representations of cinema's ghostly past in Guy Maddin's recent online project Seances (2016). It is ideal for those interested in the history of cinema, the study of the supernatural and the pre-history of the horror film.

Author: Murray Leeder
ISBN-10: 134984456X
ISBN-13: 9781349844562
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Language: English
Published: 07/05/2019
Pages: 209
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.60lbs
Size: 8.27h x 5.83w x 0.47d