Magnolia

What you really want to watch

There are certain films and shows that resonate with audiences everywhere—they generate discussion and debate about everything from gender, class, citizenship and race to consumerism and social identity.  This new “teachable canon” of film and television introduces students to alternative classics that range from silent film to CSI.

What other film can claim that it ends with frogs falling from the sky as the rain pours and the male leads cry?  The final catharsis offered in Paul Anderson’s Magnolia drips with affect that would rival any “weepie” film. From the over–the–top performances by male and female leads to the "ripped from the pages of the Old Testament" conclusion, Magnolia it is a cult favorite in American cinema that students know and love. Magnolia is a powerful pedagogical vehicle allowing for an exploration of a range of topics including the role of the auteur, what constitutes cinema  and media literacy in the digital age, and the politics of postmodernism – in order to challenge students to ask themselves why they are so riveted by this controversial and unusual film.

List of Figures.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

1 Magnolia at the Millennium: Historical and Social Contexts.

2 Through the Viewfi nder of a Cinematic "Son": Reflexivity, Intertextuality, and "Smart Cinema".

3 An Aesthetics of Contradiction: Cinematic Style and Televisuality.

4 Sound and Voice: De–Centering Meaning.

5 Redemption and Re–Mediation: Framing the Deathbed.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.

Christina Lane is Assistant Professor in the Motion Picture Program at the University of Miami. She is the author of Feminist Hollywood: From Born in Flames to Point Break (Wayne State UP, 2000). She has published essays in Culture, Trauma, and Conflict: Cultural Studies Perspectives on the War (Cambridge Scholars, 2007), Contemporary American Independent Film (Routledge, 2004), and Authorship and Film (Routledge, 2003).