The authors delve into the ways that the experiences of such noted Jewish directors as Woody Allen, Sidney Lumet, Paul Mazursky, and Mel Brooks have affected contemporary filmmaking in America. Photographs.

American-Jewish Filmmakers: Traditions and Trends

Arts & Photography

Friedman, Lester D.

Desser, David

Performing Arts

University of Illinois Press

Citizen Spielberg

Humor & Entertainment

Movies

Steven Spielberg's extraordinary career redefined Hollywood, but his achievement goes far beyond shattered box office records. Rejecting the view of Spielberg as a Barnumesque purveyor of spectacle, Lester D. Friedman presents the filmmaker as a major artist who pairs an ongoing willingness to challenge himself with a widely recognized technical mastery. This new edition of Citizen Spielberg expands Friedman's original analysis to include films of the 2010s like Lincoln and Ready Player One. Breaking down the works by genre, Friedman looks at essential aspects of Spielberg's art, from his storytelling concerns and worldview to the uncanny connection with audiences that has powered his longtime influence as a cultural force. Friedman's examination reveals a sustained artistic vision--a vision that shows no sign of exhausting itself or audiences after Spielberg's nearly fifty years as a high-profile filmmaker.Incisive and discerning, Citizen Spielberg offers a career-spanning appraisal of a moviemaking icon.

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Sidney Lumet, and Paul Mazursky, all sons of East European Jews, remain among the most prominent contemporary American film directors. In this revised, updated second edition of American Jewish Filmmakers, David Desser and Lester D. Friedman demonstrate how the Jewish experience gives rise to an intimately linked series of issues in the films of these and other significant Jewish directors. The effects of the Holocaust linger, both in gripping dramatic form (Mazursky's Enemies, a Love Story) and in black comedy (Brooks's The Producers). In his trilogy consisting of Serpico, Prince of the City, and Q&amp;A, Lumet focuses on the failure of society's institutions to deliver social justice. Woody Allen portrays urban life and family relationships (Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters), sometimes with a nostalgic twist (Radio Days). This edition concludes with a newly written discussion of the careers of other prominent Jewish filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Barry Levinson, Brian Singer, and Darren Aronofsky.

American Jewish Filmmakers

Steven Spielberg is the director or producer of over one third of the thirty highest grossing films of all time, yet most film scholars dismiss him as little more than a modern P. T. Barnum--a technically gifted and intellectually shallow showman who substitutes spectacle for substance. To date, no book has attempted to analyze the components of his worldview, the issues which animate his most significant works, the roots of his immense acceptance, and the influence his vast spectrum of imaginative products exerts on the public consciousness. _x000B_In Citizen Spielberg, Lester D. Friedman fills that void with a systematic analysis of the various genres in which the director has worked, including science fiction (E.T.), adventure (Raiders trilogy), race films (The Color Purple, Amistad), and war films (Saving Private Ryan, Schindlers List). Friedman concludes that Spielbergs films present a sustained artistic vision combined with a technical flair matched by few other filmmakers, and makes a compelling case for Spielberg to be considered as a major film artist. _x000B_

Product Description 
Steven Spielberg's extraordinary career redefined Hollywood, but his achievement goes far beyond shattered box office records. Rejecting the view of Spielberg as a Barnumesque purveyor of spectacle, Lester D. Friedman presents the filmmaker as a major artist who pairs an ongoing willingness to challenge himself with a widely recognized technical mastery. 
This new edition of Citizen Spielberg expands Friedman’s original analysis to include films of the 2010s like Lincoln and Ready Player One. Breaking down the works by genre, Friedman looks at essential aspects of Spielberg’s art, from his storytelling concerns and worldview to the uncanny connection with audiences that has powered his longtime influence as a cultural force. Friedman's examination reveals a sustained artistic vision--a vision that shows no sign of exhausting itself or audiences after Spielberg's nearly fifty years as a high-profile filmmaker. 
Incisive and discerning, Citizen Spielberg offers a career-spanning appraisal of a moviemaking icon. 
 Review 
" 
Citizen Spielberg is an indispensable study of outstanding scholarship and criticism about Steven Spielberg's life, work, and place in American film and cultural history. Friedman writes with commitment and conviction, opening new channels of understanding into Spielberg, his films, and his times."--Sam B. Girgus, author of 
Clint Eastwood's America\n"Friedman claims to have penned the first comprehensive analysis of [Spielberg's] films, and he may well be right."-- 
Library Journal\n"Friedman's treatment is an exhaustive and necessary catalog."-- 
American Interest\n"There is [a lack of] an exhaustive overview of the components of Spielberg's corpus, the issues which animate his most significant works, the roots of his immense popularity amongst audiences, and the influence his vast spectrum of imaginative products exerts on the public consciousness. Friedman fills that void with a systematic analysis of the various genres in which the director has worked and concludes that Spielberg's films present a sustained artistic vision combined with a technical flair matched by few other filmmakers, and makes a compelling case for Spielberg to be considered as a major film artist."-- 
Screening the Past\n" 
Citizen Spielberg does a service to a monstrously influential director and an oeuvre whose investigations of emotion -- especially constrained masculine emotions -- have received insufficient book-length study."-- 
Bloomsbury Review\n"Friedman seeks a more nuanced approach to Spielberg's cinematic output as director; taking readers through an analysis of his films and responding to the critical assessments of others, Friedman asserts that 'Spielberg is a far more complex, sophisticated, and wry filmmaker than most mainstream critics and academic scholars appreciate.’”-- 
Shofar\n"Encourage your brightest students to investigate 
Citizen Speilberg. It's the sort of book that by eschewing jargon but employing serious critical analysis could have a profound effect."-- 
Splice\n"There is [a lack of] an exhaustive overview of the components of Spielberg's corpus, the issues which animate his most significant works, the roots of his immense popularity amongst audiences, and the influence his vast spectrum of imaginative products exerts on the public consciousness. Friedman fills that void with a systematic analysis of the various genres in which the director has worked and concludes that Spielberg's films present a sustained artistic vision combined with a technical flair matched by few other filmmakers, and makes a compelling case for Spielberg to be considered as a major film artist." 
 ― 
Screening the Past\n" 
Citizen Spielberg does a service to a monstrously influential director and an oeuvre whose investigations of emotion--especially constrained masculine emotions--have received insufficient book-length study." 
 ― 
Bloomsbury Review\n"Friedman seeks a more nuanced approach to Spielberg's

Looks at how Jews have been portrayed from silent films to the present, and argues that despite changing stereotypes assimilation has been the most common theme

Hollywood's Image of the Jew (Literature and Life Series)

Ungar Pub. Co.

Hollywoods Image of the Jew

Ungar Publishing See Pub Resou

Looks at how Hollywood has protrayed Jewish gangsters, victims, businessmen, parents, lovers, entertainers, lawyers, and military and political leaders

The Jewish Image in American Film

Citadel Pr

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Friedman, Lester D.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Friedman, Lester D.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Friedman, Lester D.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

American-Jewish Filmmakers: Traditions and Trends

Citizen Spielberg

Citizen Spielberg

American Jewish Filmmakers

Citizen Spielberg

Citizen Spielberg

Hollywood's Image of the Jew (Literature and Life Series)

Hollywoods Image of the Jew

The Jewish Image in American Film

The Jewish Image in American Film