Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Ebook of the Week - Christmas at the Movies: Images of Christmas in American, British and European Cinema.

Connelly, Mark, ed. Christmas at the Movies: Images of Christmas in American, British and European Cinema. London: I. B. Tauris, 2001.  

Love or hate it, Christmas has always played a special role in the cinema, and Christmas movies like "It’s a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street" have assumed a special place in popular affections; by now, they almost constitute a cinematic mini-genre. Cinematic representations of Christmas, as Connelly points out in his introduction, have had a global impact, but resonate especially in Western, Christian societies. So, what does Christmas in the movies mean to societies across the Anglo-Saxon and European world, and what does it have to say about them? The eleven contributors to this book take a good look at popular Christmas films, decoding the messages they convey about Christmas-related preoccupations and attitudes internationally and about the different societies that produce them.

Previewed by John Breitmeyer.  Click here to read the book.

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