Description
The first collection dedicated to David Bowie's acting career shows that his film characterisations and performance styles shift and reform as decoratively as his musical personas. Though he was described as the most influential pop artist of the 20th century, whose work became synonymous with mask, mystery, sexual excess and ch-ch-ch-changing genres, Bowie also applied his genius to the craft of acting.
Bowie's considerable filmography is systematically examined in 12 scholarly essays that include tributes to Bowie's performance craft in other media forms. Classic films such as The Prestige and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, cult hits Labyrinth and The Man Who Fell To Earth, as well as lesser-known roles in The Image, Christiane F. and Broadway hit The Elephant Man are viewed, not simply through the lens of Bowie's mega-stardom, but as the work of a serious actor with inimitable talent. This compelling analysis celebrates the risk-taking intelligence and bravura of David Bowie: actor, mime, mimic and icon.
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Preface
Shelton Waldrep, University of Southern Maine, USA
Introduction
Ian Dixon (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) and Brendan Black (Independent Scholar, Australia)
1. Ziggy Stardust, Direct Cinema and the Multi-modal Performance of Gesamtkunstwerk
Lisa Perrot (University of Waikato, New Zealand)
2. David Bowie Is…Actor, Star and Character: Entangled Agencies in The Man Who Fell To Earth
Dene October (University of the Arts, London, UK)
3. The Posed and the Unposed: Inhabited Clowns and Grotesques in Bowie's Scary Monsters and The Elephant Man
Amedeo d'Adamo (American Film Institute, USA)
4. Consuming Bowie: Christiane F' and the Transgressive Allure of Anglo-American Pop Culture in Cold-War West Berlin
Susanne Hillman (San Diego State University, USA)
5. Gesturing Dust: Sensing David Bowie's Performance in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
Sean Redmond (Deakin University, Australia)
6. The Hunger's deathly shadow: The sweet annihilation of David Bowie, NYC, circa. 1980-83
Mitch Goodwin (University of Melbourne, Australia)
7. 'Who Can I Be Now?': Codpieces, carnival and the blurring of identity in Labyrinth
Brendan Black (Independent Scholar, Australia)
8. Bowie as Actor/Bowie as Icon: Authenticity versus Iconography in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ
Ian Dixon (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
9. The Surveillant Power of the (A)Temporal Cameo In Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Tyne Daile Sumner (The University of Melbourne, Australia)
10. Loving the Alienation: Bowie, Basquiat, Brecht
Glenn D'Cruz (Deakin University, Australia)
11. Performative Emotional Symbolism and Stylistic Gesture in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige
Toija Cinque (Deakin University, Australia)
12. 'Just Like the Films': Lazarus and Cinematic Melancholia
Denis Flannery (University of Leeds, UK)
Filmography/Discography
Bibliography
Index
Product details
| Published | 14 Jul 2022 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 336 |
| ISBN | 9781501368660 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 56 bw illus |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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