City in American Cinema

How has American cinema engaged with the rapid transformation of cities and urban culture since the 1960s? And what role have films and film industries played in shaping and mediating the “postindustrial” city? This collection argues that cinema and cities have become increasingly intertwined in the era of neoliberalism urban branding and accelerated gentrification. Examining a wide range of films from Hollywood blockbusters to indie cinema it considers the complex evolving relationship between moving image cultures and the spaces policies and politics of US cities from New York Los Angeles and Boston to Detroit Oakland and Baltimore. The contributors address questions of narrative genre and style alongside the urban contexts of production exhibition and reception discussing films including The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) Cruising (1980) Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) King of New York (1990) Inception (2010) Frances Ha (2012) Fruitvale Station (2013) Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) and Doctor Strange (2016).