Home in Hollywood: The Imaginary Geography of Cinema

by Elisabeth Bronfen

Who can forget Dorothy's quest for the great and powerful Oz as she tried to return to her beloved Kansas? She thought she needed a wizard's magic, only to discover that home -- and the power to get there -- had been with her all along. This engaging and provocative book proposes that Hollywood has created an imaginary cinematic geography filled with people and places we recognize and to which we are irresistibly drawn. Each viewing of a film stirs, in a very real and charismatic way, feelings of home, and the comfort of returning to films like familiar haunts is at the core of our nostalgic desire. Leading us on a journey through American film, Elisabeth Bronfen examines the different ways home is constructed in the development of cinematic narrative. Each chapter includes a close reading of such classic films as Fleming's "The Wizard of Oz, " Sirk's "Imitation of Life, " Burton's "Batman Returns, " Hitchcock's "Rebecca, " Ford's "The Searchers, " and Sayles's "Lone Star."

352 pages, Hardcover

First published May 14, 2014

About the author

Elisabeth Bronfen is Professor of English and American Studies at the University of Zurich and, since 2007, Global Distinguished Professor at New York University.

She did her PhD at the University of Munich, on literary space in the work of Dorothy M. Richardson’s novel Pilgrimage, as well as her habilitation, five years later, on representations of femininity and death. A specialist in the 19th and 20th century literature, she has also written articles and books in the area of gender studies, psychoanalysis, film, cultural theory and visual culture.

She is a frequent contributor for local and international news publications and broadcasts, serving as an expert on culture as well as American politics.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the best film criticism I've encountered. The word "interpellation" -- don't venture in without it. The inside baseball jargon picks up steam around chapter 5. If it had ended after chapter 4, I would have been satisfied. Hitchcock, Ford, Lang, Sirk. Fincher, Sayles, Burton. Fleming. I found the analysis truly insightful, despite being a lay reader. Interpellation.