A Very Old Machine (Paperback)

Sudhir Mahadevan

ISBN 10: 1438458282 / ISBN 13: 9781438458281

Editore: State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, 2016

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Paperback. Argues that Indian cinema's deep nineteenth-century past continues to play a vital role in its twenty-first-century present. Argues that Indian cinema's deep nineteenth-century past continues to play a vital role in its twenty-first-century present. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Codice articolo 9781438458281

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: A Very Old Machine (Paperback)
• Editore: State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
• Data di pubblicazione: 2016
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 1438458282
• ISBN 13: 9781438458281
• Rilegatura: Paperback
• Condizione: new

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

Argues that Indian cinema’s deep nineteenth-century past continues to play a vital role in its twenty-first-century present.

In A Very Old Machine, Sudhir Mahadevan shows how Indian cinema’s many origins in the technologies and practices of the nineteenth century continue to play a vital and broad function in its twenty-first-century present. He proposes that there has never been a singular cinema in India; rather, Indian cinema has been a multifaceted phenomenon that was (and is) understood, experienced, and present in everyday life in myriad ways. Employing methods of media archaeology, close textual analysis, archival research, and cultural theory, Mahadevan digs into the history of photography, print media, practices of piracy and showmanship, and contemporary everyday imaginations of the cinema to offer an understanding of how the cinema came to be such a dominant force of culture in India. The result is an open-ended and innovative account of Indian cinema’s “many origins.”

“Sudhir Mahadevan’s A Very Old Machine is a work of great theoretical sophistication and rigorous historical scholarship. A revisionist and definitive treatment of early Indian film, the book shows how prevailing attitudes toward technology, photography, empire, commodity, and mass culture made the cinema a socially and culturally distinct form in India. Drawing on a wealth of primary research, A Very Old Machine fills many gaps. Anyone who wants to know how Indian cinema became Indian will need to consult this book.” — James Morrison, editor of Hollywood Reborn: Movie Stars of the 1970s

Informazioni sull?autore

Sudhir Mahadevan is Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature, Cinema and Media at the University of Washington.