Actor-Network Theory at the Movies

This book is one of the first to apply the theoretical tools proposed by French philosopher Bruno Latour to film studies. Through the example of the Hollywood Teen Film and with a particular focus on Actor-Network Theory (ANT), the book delineates how Teen Film has established itself as one of Hollywood's most consistent and dynamic genres. While many productions may recycle formulaic patterns, there is also a proliferation of cinematic coming-of-age narratives that are aesthetically and politically progressive, experimental, and complex. The case studies develop a Latourian film semiotics as a flexible analytical approach which raises new questions, not only about the history, types and tropes of teen films, but also about their aesthetics, mediality, and composition. Through an exploration of a wide and diverse range of examples from the past decade, including films by female and African-American directors, urban and rural perspectives, and non-heteronormative sexualities,Actor-Network Theory at the Movies demonstrates how the classic Teen Film canon has been regurgitated, expanded, and renewed.

Constitutes the first book to translate Latour and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to a practical application in film studies Functions as an introduction to, and overview of the development and state-of-the art of both Latourian philosophy as well as American teen films Introduces the notion of a flexible film semiotics that takes the films as artifacts in their own right, and not just as barometers for social and historical factors

Autorentext

Björn Sonnenberg-Schrank teaches in the English Department at the University of Cologne, Germany, and has written about American cinema, art, literature, objects, spaces, popular and counter culture(s).

Inhalt
Introduction.- Chapter 1 Circulating Reference and The DUFF.- Chapter 2 Participant, Intermediary, Mediator in Winter's Bone *and Boyhood.- Chapter 3 Technology and Drugs as Quasi-Objects in Dope.- Chapter 4 Visualization, Images and Inscriptions in The Diary of a Teenage Girl.- Chapter 5 The Laboratory of the Self: (Re-)Assembling Adolescent Identities in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.- Chapter 6 Looking Back to the Future. Lady Bird* and the new Era of Revisionist Teen Film.- Conclusion and Outlook.