John Paizs's Crime Wave

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Film, History & Criticism, Performing Arts
Cover of the book John Paizs's Crime Wave by Jonathan Ball, University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jonathan Ball ISBN: 9781442670006
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division Publication: February 5, 2014
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Jonathan Ball
ISBN: 9781442670006
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Publication: February 5, 2014
Imprint:
Language: English

John Paizs’s ‘Crime Wave’ examines the Winnipeg filmmaker’s 1985 cult film as an important example of early postmodern cinema and as a significant precursor to subsequent postmodern blockbusters, including the much later Hollywood film Adaptation. Crime Wave’s comic plot is simple: aspiring screenwriter Steven Penny, played by Paizs, finds himself able to write only the beginnings and endings of his scripts, but never (as he puts it) “the stuff in-between.” Penny is the classic writer suffering from writer’s block, but the viewer sees him as the (anti)hero in a film told through stylistic parody of 1940s and 50s B-movies, TV sitcoms, and educational films.

In John Paizs’s ‘Crime Wave,’ writer and filmmaker Jonathan Ball offers the first book-length study of this curious Canadian film, which self-consciously establishes itself simultaneously as following, but standing apart from, American cinematic and television conventions. Paizs’s own story mirrors that of Steven Penny: both find themselves at once drawn to American culture and wanting to subvert its dominance. Exploring Paizs’s postmodern aesthetic and his use of pastiche as a cinematic technique, Ball establishes Crime Wave as an overlooked but important cult classic.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

John Paizs’s ‘Crime Wave’ examines the Winnipeg filmmaker’s 1985 cult film as an important example of early postmodern cinema and as a significant precursor to subsequent postmodern blockbusters, including the much later Hollywood film Adaptation. Crime Wave’s comic plot is simple: aspiring screenwriter Steven Penny, played by Paizs, finds himself able to write only the beginnings and endings of his scripts, but never (as he puts it) “the stuff in-between.” Penny is the classic writer suffering from writer’s block, but the viewer sees him as the (anti)hero in a film told through stylistic parody of 1940s and 50s B-movies, TV sitcoms, and educational films.

In John Paizs’s ‘Crime Wave,’ writer and filmmaker Jonathan Ball offers the first book-length study of this curious Canadian film, which self-consciously establishes itself simultaneously as following, but standing apart from, American cinematic and television conventions. Paizs’s own story mirrors that of Steven Penny: both find themselves at once drawn to American culture and wanting to subvert its dominance. Exploring Paizs’s postmodern aesthetic and his use of pastiche as a cinematic technique, Ball establishes Crime Wave as an overlooked but important cult classic.

More books from University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division

Cover of the book Canada in a Wider Economic Community by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book New Canadian Library by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book Casino State by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book O.D. Skelton by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book Essays in the History of Canadian Law by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book Cultural Hermeneutics by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book The Art of Nation-Building by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book The Romance of Tristran by Beroul and Beroul II by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book The Jesuits II by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book The Languages of Criticism and the Structure of Poetry by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book Lyrics on Freedom, Love and Death by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book The Primacy of Semiosis by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book Franz Boas among the Inuit of Baffin Island, 1883-1884 by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book The Sash Canada Wore by Jonathan Ball
Cover of the book Representative French Poetry (Second Edition) by Jonathan Ball
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy