Average customer rating:
- An American Icon
- As a glamour photographer myself...
- ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL
- Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits
- EXCELLENT BOOK! Vieira's mastery of the written word brings that era to life.
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Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits
Mark A. Vieira
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
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ASIN: 0810934345 |
Amazon.com
They had faces then, in the golden age of Hollywood when a publicity photo could make or break a star. The visual power of George Hurrell's portraits, with their Rembrandtesque lighting and dramatic poses, shaped the careers of such stars as Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, and Jane Russell, and did as much or more to establish them as their film performances. Mark Vieira, who adopted Hurrell's techniques and uses them to this day, explains how the master portraitist lit and retouched his photographs--a portrait of Crawford before and after retouching reveals what an artist the one-time painter really was--and analyzes their impact.
Customer Reviews:
An American Icon.......2007-08-25
George Hurrell is universally acknowledged THE Hollywood portrait photographer, the man who recreated during the talkies much of the mystery of the silent stars through his breathtaking photographs. At a time when the finest still photography was becoming more incisive and natural, Hurrell managed to balance this new naturalism and directness in highly manipulated ways, producing in his best work iconic images of the great stars of MGM. After the second World War his work became largely passe, appearing too contrived and built up for an age demanding grit and spontaneity and an off-hand naturalness.
This work seeks to both show and tell the story of Hurrell's highwater era as not only the major photographer of the stars, and MGM in particular, but also his development as artist. Hurrell's flamboyant personality, his novel and sometimes off-putting behavior during shootings, seems now unfortunately taken as role template by many lesser fashion photographers. In his day and at his height during the late twenties through the beginnings of World War II Hurrell dominates a demanding and highly accomplished professional field.
Whether you live in a sumptious penthouse overlooking Central Park, need a single book for the coffee table in the living room of that restored Neutra you just purchased, or just enjoy reasonably priced fashion books, Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits fits the bill. At a significantly reduced price its a lovely reminder of one of the nicer advantages of democratic publishing: not every fine art book is a prohibitively expensive limited edition printed by a small press.
As a glamour photographer myself..........2007-04-13
As a glamour photographer myself, this is a book I own and use for inspiration. I love the way Hurrell not only captures the inner-beauty of the subjects, but his photojournalistic approach. I often graze through this book as I've read it many times over--the grazing gets me going when it comes to my own glamour photography. I recommend anyone interested in this book, buy it now! If you'd like to see how it's affected my career, also check out the following books, Garage Glamour: Digital Nude and Beauty Photography Made Simple, Rolando Gomez's Glamour Photography: Professional Techniques and Images and even a book where I have a chapter, Professional Portrait Lighting: Techniques and Images from Master Photographers (Photo Pro Workshop series) This book should not only be on a collector's list, but for any student of photography--we're always learning no matter what level your photography. ---Rolando Gomez, contributing writer, Studio Photography magazine
ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL.......2006-08-19
This book -- how beautiful. I have photography books by several of the great portrait photographers of the 20th Century, and this one is the best. There are a wealth of photographs, and the story of Hurrell's life is also interesting. If you ever thought about seriously learning about photography and taking some good pictures, this book will take any hesitation out of your mind. Gorgeous!!
Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits.......2006-07-25
This book is everything I expected. The pictures are great and the text very informative. I am enjoying it very much and it is a valued addition to my film library.
EXCELLENT BOOK! Vieira's mastery of the written word brings that era to life........2005-12-03
I thoroughly enjoyed browsing through and then reading this beautiful tribute to the legendary work of George Hurrell. As compelling as Hurrell's photos are it is the author's indepth knowledge and understanding of Hollywood and Hurrell that set this book apart.
Mark Vieira's own photographic artistry is based on Hurrell's techniques, providing current-day enthusiasts with authentic glamour photography of their own.
Book Description
CELLULOID MIRRORS is an exciting new survey of major developments in American filmmaking since 1945. Coverage includes changes in film content, alterations in the business structure of Hollywood, shifts in theater design, the impact of television, and Hollywood's enduring mystique. This supplement is appropriate for a variety of courses, including American History Survey courses, Modern America History courses, American Cultural History, Film History, and Popular Culture.
Customer Reviews:
Informative but oddly confusing too--.......2002-04-12
"Celluloid Mirrors: Hollywood and American Society since 1945," is a small, dense, compact book designed to give a concise history of the relationship between Hollywood and American culture since 1945. The book does is premised on a statement in the Preface: "During the decades since World War II, the entertainment industry has reflected shifting American values and business practices." While not arguing for this proposition in the formal sense, this guiding assertion is an accurate reflection of the tone and tenor of this book.
Davis's intent is to sketch a broad series of trends that have affected Hollywood and its relationship to American culture. Most of these are fairly well known-the union strikes of 1945-46, the blacklisting of writers during the time of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Some of these are less well known-the rise of conglomeration in the industry, the advent of Norman Lear's rise in the television community of the early 1970's. All of these trends though, are described in detail and with enough contextual information to anchor film and television trends to issues of larger American culture. This is not to say that major issues are not skipped, such as the Cold War itself or the changing (?) roles of women on television.
More so than the particular cultural trends, though, is Davis's need to provide names and brief descriptions of movies and television shows that he believes had the most impact and relevancy to his discussion. Thus, his book reads more like a catalog of different movies, and when they were made. In this way Celluloid Mirrors functions well as an introductory text for those who wish to engage movies and American culture at a basic level.
On the other hand, the book suffers from two main problems. First, the author often outlines a chapter under different subject headings, including some that do not always flow together with other subjects in the same chapter, and at the end of each chapter, a conclusion is offered that rarely attempts to reprise the material at hand or link it to upcoming material. Because of this, the book is difficult to follow a get a sense of overall, even though it is easy to understand from page to page. Secondly, the author has a distinct tendency to project a narrative of moral decline on American society, a narrative that with exceptions (especially in the 80's) paints a steadily decaying picture of American society. At the same time, Davis sometimes claims that this represents a form of maturity for movies and television, most notably in the discussion of Norman Lear's situation comedies. However he is not consistent with his descriptions, and the odd nature of the chapters' internal economy of meaning makes it unable to be describes as hermeneutic tension, outright contradiction, or simply poor editing.
Davis's book is not bad, but it needs to be read through more than once (for clarity's sake) , and needs some better organization before it can be classified as truly helpful.
Christopher W. Chase, PhD Fellow , Michigan St. Univ.
History and the Cinema.......1999-12-01
"Celluloid Mirrors" is a great book for those who might be studying the history of the cinema or the motion-picture industry. The author, Ronald L. Davis, did a great job of summarizing the life of the motion-picture industry. His extensive research shows the enormous role that Hollywood has and does play in the reflecting and shaping of our society. "Celluloid Mirrors" is a very informative book that should be read by everyone who considers themself an avid movie buff or film historian.
Glenn Vaught
Book Description
In When Hollywood Had a King, the distinguished journalist Connie Bruck tells the sweeping story of MCA and its brilliant leader, a man who transformed the entertainment industry— businessman, politician, tactician, and visionary Lew Wasserman.
The Music Corporation of America was founded in Chicago in 1924 by Dr. Jules Stein, an ophthalmologist with a gift for booking bands. Twelve years later, Stein moved his operations west to Beverly Hills and hired Lew Wasserman. From his meager beginnings as a movie-theater usher in Cleveland, Wasserman ultimately ascended to the post of president of MCA, and the company became the most powerful force in Hollywood, regarded with a mixture of fear and awe.
In his signature black suit and black knit tie, Was-serman took Hollywood by storm. He shifted the balance of power from the studios—which had seven-year contractual strangleholds on the stars—to the talent, who became profit partners. When an antitrust suit forced MCA’s evolution from talent agency to film- and television-production company, it was Wasserman who parlayed the control of a wide variety of entertainment and media products into a new type of Hollywood power base. There was only Washington left to conquer, and conquer it Wasserman did, quietly brokering alliances with Democratic and Republican administrations alike.
That Wasserman’s reach extended from the underworld to the White House only added to his mystique. Among his friends were Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa, mob lawyer Sidney Korshak, and gangster Moe Dalitz—along with Presidents Johnson, Clinton, and especially Reagan, who enjoyed a particularly close and mutually beneficial relationship with Wasserman. He was equally intimate with Hollywood royalty, from Bette Davis and Jimmy Stewart to Steven Spielberg, who began his career at MCA and once described Wasserman’s eyeglasses as looking like two giant movie screens.
The history of MCA is really the history of a revolution. Lew Wasserman ushered in the Hollywood we know today. He is the link between the old-school moguls with their ironclad studio contracts and the new industry defined by multimedia conglomerates, power agents, multimillionaire actors, and profit sharing. In the hands of Connie Bruck, the story of Lew Wasserman’s rise to power takes on an almost Shakespearean scope. When Hollywood Had a King reveals the industry’s greatest untold story: how a stealthy, enterprising power broker became, for a time, Tinseltown’s absolute monarch.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
A Pebble in the Pond.......2007-07-21
Absolutely first-rate bio-history. It is the story of this remarkable man, but also the story of a great deal more. As I read this well-written biography, I thought of "Once Upon In America," the film about the American Jewish mafia told by the Italian director Sergio Leone. This biography of Wasserman has all of the mythic power of that film chronicle of violence and dreams. Fear played such a role in the way Wasserman weilded power, it is a wonder that our political theorists have not included this book in their reading lists along with Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes. There is something "Oriental" about the use of power, the willingness to ruthlessly destroy, the seemingly endless, insatiable greed. His connection to the mob and to American presidents, such as Johnson and Nixon, is terribly interesting, as is the continuing fascination of Hollywood with power. I can think of no comparable mix of dread and beauty than that of the relationship between Stalin and Russian poets. This book is haunting and scary. Sleep tight.
When Hollywood was King!.......2003-08-07
When Hollywood was King and MCA ruled through aggressive, imaginative, creative, dirty, underhanded, political ways. This is not my favorite Hollywood book as I found "Showman, the life of David O. Selznick" by David Thomson and Peter Biskind's "easy Riders, Raging Bulls" far more entertaining. But Connie Bruck's book is more epic, covering as it does the business careers of Jules Stein and Lew Wassermann from the 1920s into the 21st Century in addition to telling the history of their company MCA and the industry they "ruled". Note I reference business careers because these individuals did not seem to have a personal life that did not revolve around business. There is not much surprising celebrity scandal that unfolds, except some strong hints that Ronald Reagan was a charming empty suit who received many sweetheart deals from the industry and he gave back in return. In some ways the Wasserman life story told here is one of the rise and fall, the young mans glory being used by younger students against him. And even though MCA associated with the mob and the mob with them Wasserman gave heavily to his industry and charity. A book for anyone interested in the history of Hollywood as a business in the 20th century.
An epic work that I highly recommend.
A Respectful Look at Lew Wasserman.......2003-07-26
Cinema fans of a certain age will no doubt recall the grand films of the 1940s and 1950s with a wry thought of "They don't make them like that anymore." The current boffo box office consists of pyrotechnical sequels starring beefcake (and cheesecake) performers, not matinee idols like Peck, Hepburn, Bogart and Lancaster.
But in the old days . . .
Connie Bruck, a veteran writer for The New Yorker, has compiled this fulsome biography of Lew Wasserman, one of the most powerful movers and shakers of an era when movies were virtually the only form of popular entertainment. The power wielded by Wasserman and his contemporaries could mean the difference between professional (and sometimes personal) life and death. (Bruck often discusses the Hollywood "gang" in terms of organized crime. Indeed, there was a great deal of dubious dealings with labor unions, often considered under the concern of the gangster trade.)
Wasserman was the type of leader who drew a mixture of respect and fear. He was "an entertainment mogul without peer," according to one admirer. To another, "he had an aura. He was my god." And like many such men, "his explosive tirades were legend."
Most of the book concerns the wheelings and dealings of the industry. For such a potentially juicy subject, Bruck dishes very little dirt/gossip. Instead she seems more concerned with the financial aspects, which readers will either find fascinating or tedious. There is often too much background that detracts from the overall sense of entertainment a book like this would seem to merit. In fact, Wasserman isn't even mentioned until well into the first chapter. Even the title is a bit hard to get through.
Another concern is that the author can't quite decide the direction of her book. The depth of research indicates a scholarly tome, but the voice seems more "popular" in nature.
Taken as a whole, however, Bruck offers a respectful look at Wasserman and a homage to the system when, to paraphrase a popular expression of today's younger crowd, "Hollywood ruled."
--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan
A Larger Than Life Horatio Alger.......2003-07-23
When Lew Wasserman was growing up in his native Cleveland the Horatio Alger books were popular. They traced the rise of often penniless young men to the high pinnacles of economic and social power. I do not know if Wasserman read any of these stories in his boyhood, but he certainly ended up living them.
Beginning as a theater usher and later becoming a musician, Wasserman hooked up with Jules Styne and began booking musical acts. The dynamic duo recognized that the swing era of bands, which was their bailiwick, would have a limited life span. The Music Corporation of America then expanded into the world of motion pictures, retaining the name of an organization that sounds like and began as a company rooted in the movie field. One of Wasserman's clients in the late thirties was a young actor under contract to Warner Brothers by the name of Ronald Reagan. He would later be in a major position to assist Wasserman and MCA both as president of the Screen Actors Guild and beyond that as U.S. President. Reagan would always remain a bit miffed, however, that Wasserman, who developed solid relationships with presidents Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton, would retain his reputation as a loyal Democrat and hence supported Reagan's opponents. The firm was crafty, however, in keeping a foot in each camp, with Jules Styne and Taft Schreiber supporting Republicans assiduously. This factor helped when Reagan and Richard Nixon were in office.
Connie Bruck has provided an impressive body of research, including numerous interviews with the late Wasserman as well as those who worked with him and knew him well. Her industry pays off in the form of a fascinating study of a man who rose meteorically through the agent's ranks to become the supreme giant of the motion picture industry, the man others feared and envied, often at the same time.
Masterful, gripping nonfiction.......2003-07-02
This fascinating book is not only a look at Lew Wasserman and the MCA Hollywood empire he created, but a stunning and incisively written piece of business history -- indeed, a look at U.S. commerce, politics, and entertainment in the modern era. Bruck has the great ability to write about complex business issues and deals in a lucid and readable way. This is a must-read book for those interested in business stories, in modern American politics (Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan play key roles in the book), in Hollywood history (the break of the studio system, the movie stars, the move into TV). Bruck's canvas is so wide, yet she manages to combine all these various elements in a dramatic and compelling narrative. It's a brilliant book.
Book Description
The most visible cultural institution on earth between the World Wars, the Hollywood movie industry tried to satisfy world-wide audiences of vastly different cultural, religious, and political persuasions. The World According to Hollywood shows how the industrys self-regulation shaped the content of films to make them salable in as many markets as possible. In the process, Hollywood created an idiosyncratic vision of the world that was glamorous and exotic, but also oddly narrow. Ruth Vasey shows how the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), by implementing such strategies as the industrys Production Code, ensured that domestic and foreign distribution took place with a minimum of censorship or consumer resistance. Drawing upon MPPDA archives, studio records, trade papers, and the records of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Vasey reveals the ways the MPPDA influenced the representation of sex, violence, religion, foreign and domestic politics, corporate capitalism, ethnic minorities, and the conduct of professional classes. Vasey is the first scholar to document fully how the demands of the global market frequently dictated film content and created the movies homogenized picture of social and racial characteristics, in both urban America and the world beyond. She uncovers telling evidence of scripts and treatments that were abandoned before or during the course of production because of content that might offend foreign markets. Among the fascinating points she discusses is Hollywoods frequent use of imaginary countries as story locales, resulting from a deliberate business policy of avoiding realistic depictions of actual countries. She argues that foreign governments perceived movies not just as articles of trade, but as potential commercial and political emissaries of the United States. Just as Hollywood had to persuade its domestic audiences that its products were morally sound, its domination of world markets depended on its ability to create a culturally and politically acceptable product.
The World According to Hollywood will be a useful and important work, appealing to scholars interested in questions of national cinema and national identity, as well as the history of censorship and the MPPDA.Lea Jacobs, author of The Wages of Sin: Censorship and the Fallen Woman Film, 19281942
Customer Reviews:
Why were so many "imaginary countries" used as locales?.......1997-06-03
In this insightful survey of Hollywood films between the World
Wars, the author shows that the increasing proportion of
revenue from foreign markets dictated not only
greater attention to their political, social, and
religious sensitivities, but also influenced the
very form of the medium, e.g., a tendency
toward "action pictures" at the expense of
"dialogue pictures",
Admirably researched asnd clearly written, Vasey's
work will be essential for film students and others
interested in Hollywood's impact on the world, and
vice versa.
(The numerical rating above is a default setting
with Amazon's format. This reviewer does not
employ numerical ratings.)
Average customer rating:
- STARS FOR HOOSIERS IN HOLLYWOOD
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Hoosiers in Hollywood
David L. Smith
Manufacturer: Indiana Historical Society Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0871951940 |
Book Description
Who knew that Ma Kettle hailed from Acton, Indiana? Who knew that Hollywood's coolest man alive in the 1950s, James Dean, and the coolest man alive during the 1960s and 1970, Steve McQueen, both hailed from the nineteenth state?
In Hoosiers in Hollywood, author David L. Smith presents native Hoosiers, as well as those who spent much of their formative years in the state, who have contributed in some fashion to the motion picture industry. Their contributions began with the invention of the first motion picture projector, continued through the silent era and the advent of sound, and represent an important presence in the industry today. The reader will find many stories about Hoosiers working together to showcase their remarkable talents and helping to change the face of the entertainment industry. Over the years, Hoosiers have made their way to Hollywood—the Mecca for those with stories to tell and talents to be showcased.
Leading men and women actors, Tarzans, cowboys, directors, screenwriters and novelists, musicians and composers—they are all represented in this volume. Hoosiers in Hollywood includes Oscar winners and nominees, soap opera Hoosiers, movies shot in or about Indiana, and Hoosiers on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The book also includes more than three hundred illustrations, including promotional shots from Hollywood studios and movie posters.
Customer Reviews:
STARS FOR HOOSIERS IN HOLLYWOOD.......2007-01-04
THIS IS A BEAUTIFULLY COMPLIED BOOK AND MAKES A TERRIFIC GIFT. SINCE MY HUSBAND IS FROM INDIANA AND IS A VETERAN ACTOR, HE WAS HIGHLIGHTED IN THE BOOK.
WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT I ORDERED 7 COPIES WHICH WERE DELIVERED PROMPTLY AND IN EXCELLENT CONDITION.
YOU WILL BE AMAZED HOW MANY CELEBRITIES ARE HOOSIERS.
Book Description
Hollywood's representation of blacks has been consistently misleading, promoting an artificially constructed mythology in place of historical fact. But how, James Snead asks, did black skin on screen develop into a complex code for various types of white supremacist discourse? In these essays, completed shortly before his death in 1989, James Snead offers a thoughtful inquiry into the intricate modes of racial coding in Hollywood cinema from 1915 to 1985.
Snead presents three major methods through which the racist ideology within film functions: mythification, in which black images are correlated in a larger sceme of semiotic valuation where the dominant ``I' needs the marginal ``other' in order to function effectively; marking, in which the color black is repeatedly over-determined and redundantly marked, as if to force the viewer to register the image's difference from white; and omission--the repetition of black absence from positions of autonomy and importance.
White Screens/Black Images offers an array of film texts, drawn from both classical Hollywood cinema and black independent film culture. Individual chapters analyze Birth of a Nation, King Kong, Shirley Temple in The Littlest Rebel and The Little Colonel, Mae West in I'm No Angel, Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus, Bette Davis in Jezebel, the racism of Disney's Song of the South, and Taxi Driver. Making skillful use of developments in both structuralist and post-structuralist film theory, Snead's work speaks not only to the centrality of race in Hollywood films, but to its centrality in the formation of modern American culture.
Book Description
Ernst Lubitsch, the German filmmaker who left Berlin for Hollywood in the 1920s, is best remembered today for the famous "Lubitsch touch" in such masterpieces as Ninotchka, which featured Greta Garbo's first-ever screen smile, and Heaven Can Wait. Kristin Thompson's study analyzes Lubitsch's earlier silent films of 1918 to 1927 in order to trace the mutual influences between the classical Hollywood film style as it had evolved in the 1910s and the German film industry of the same period, which had emerged from World War I second in strength only to Hollywood.
During World War I, American firms supplied theaters around the world as French and Italian films had become scarce. Ironically, the war strengthened German filmmaking due to a ban on imports that lasted until 1921. During that period of isolation, Lubitsch became the finest proponent of German filmmaking and once Hollywood films appeared in Germany again Lubitsch was quick to absorb their stylistic traits as well. He soon became the unique master of both styles as the golden ages of the American and German cinema were beginning. This innovative study utilizes Lubitsch's silent films as a means to compare two great national cinemas at a vital formative period in cinema history.
Book Description
An in-depth study that examines WWII movies, analyzing many motifs, stereotypes, ficiton-as-fact, distortions, and prevarications that permeate this genre.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating stuff for movie and history buffs.......2000-08-24
I enjoyed this book immensely. Did you grow up watching such great classics as "Sergeant York", "A Yank in the RAF", "Sahara", "Flying Tigers", "Wake Island", "Gung Ho", and "Air Force". These are but a few of the great movies made during WWII to bolster American morale. There were also some real stinkers. I never cared much for "Mrs. Miniver", "Dragon Seed", "Days of Glory", and several others that were just plain bad of silly. This book explains the reason behind these films and some of the history of their making. The Office of War Information (OWI) was founded by the government to monitor the content of the war films fed to the American Public and set standards to follow and frameworks to work within. There is some very interesting stuff here. Why was Italy treated as a nonbelligerent? Why were Austria, Finland, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania never mentioned? Why was there no distinction of Russian ethnic groups (they were all just simply Russians)? Why were Japanese depicted as barely more than monkeys and the Germans as stupid baffoons, but no racial slurs? This book gives great insight about Hollywood, the movies, and WWII.
Excellent.......1998-09-12
This book was extrodinary, and I recommend for everyone to read and purchase it.
Average customer rating:
- How does Hollywood do history?
- A Must for Lovers of Costume Drama
- One of the best & drollest history books I have read
- a joyous and witty book.
|
The Hollywood History of the World
George Macdonald Fraser
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0449904385
Release Date: 1989-09-02 |
Customer Reviews:
How does Hollywood do history?.......2007-02-14
In "The Hollywood History of the World", George MacDonald Fraser provides an enjoyable survey of Hollywood's treatment of historical subjects. This is no scholarly dissertation, enumerating all of the factual errors in each film and grading them on accuracy. Indeed, there's very little scholarship at all. Although there is some judgement on historical matters, most of Mr. MacDonald Fraser's commentary is made up observations about actors, sets, dialogue and drama. This book is really the reminiscences of a movie lover who happens to be a history buff. The author adeptly conveys the wonder one must have felt watching movies during Hollywood's Golden Age, and makes one realize how incredible it is that we are able to actually see history resurrected before our eyes, while all previous generations before the early 20th century had to resort to dusty manuscripts and pictures. The movies are the closest process we have to time travel and George MacDonald Fraser concludes that Hollywood has done a pretty job of it.
A Must for Lovers of Costume Drama.......2005-10-22
I bought this book when it first came out in the '80s, and it has gained that most honored spot for a book -- the bookcase right next to my bed. It's an old friend; I've read it over and over. It's hugely entertaining, and remarkably informative as well. I joined Netflix largely to get access to many of the wonderful old movies I'd read about in Fraser's book, and I've learned all sorts of tidbits of history.
Also fascinating are the many illustrations showing contemporary portraits of the historical characters portrayed and the actors who played them. Much of the casting and costuming has been remarkably good -- in particular, in The Private Life of Henry VIII, Merle Oberon's costume as Anne Boleyn is a dead-on copy of the clothes Anne wore in a portrait. Read this book and you'll have a new respect for how much history Hollywood has gotten right.
One of the best & drollest history books I have read.......2005-06-20
A brillantly conceived foundation with combines GMF love of history and Films. It also allows him to poniticated on all of the issues and ideas that claim his fancy. It was a very fun read for me!
a joyous and witty book........2000-03-03
This is not a dry scholarly study but a witty, droll, and entertaining book in its own right. Fraser has apparently seen every historical film ever made; it goes without saying that films set in Regency England and Mary Stuart's reign in Scotland are throughly scrutinized by Mr. Fraser, along with "One Million Years B.C." and "Ben Hur." Fraser peppers the book throughout with his own knowledge of history without ever getting pedantic. A real treat for movie buffs and fans of Fraser's novels.
Book Description
What has made remote, mountainous Tibet and its only real celebrity, the Dalai Lama, so abidingly fascinating to the West? In Virtual Tibet, Orville Schell, one of the preeminent experts on modern China and Tibet, undertakes a strange and wondrous odyssey into our Tibetan fantasies. He recounts the spellbinding adventures of the Western explorers and spiritualists who for centuries were bent on reaching forbidden Tibet and the holy city of Lhasa. Simultaneously, Schell embarks on a parallel present-day journey from Beastie Boys' "Free Tibet" concerts to a re-creation of Lhasa in the high Argentine Andes -- the extravagant set of Seven Years in Tibet, starring Brad Pitt.At once comic and insightful, Virtual Tibet takes us beyond the fantasies to the reality of an isolated country that has repeatedly won the West's adoration, and paid the price for believing that our allegiance is profound.
Customer Reviews:
Replace the metaphysical with humanist considerations, please........2005-12-27
In Virtual Tibet, Orville Schell demarcated the land persecuted by China and the Shangri-la of Western invention. Essentially Schell is concerned in presenting Hollywood's impact on our views of Tibet. Schell begins by unfolding a trip he made to Tibet as a consequence of perceptions based books like Heinrich Harrer's Seven Years in Tibet. The book closes with Schell visiting the set of a 1997 movie of Harrer's story, and pondering on its impact.
I could not agree more that Tibet could benefit from a more realistic representation. In Virtual Tibet, Schell does a wonderful job of tracing the multifaceted historical events that have tangled the indigenous population of Tibet with the Mongols and the Chinese. Schell tries unsuccessfully to solicit our sympathy for the Chinese occupation by indicating they have pumped over $4 billion into Tibet. Ironically, Orville that money has not to the benefit of the locals Tibetans but rather to line the pockets of the Chinese army and the Han Chinese invaders who have displaced and are ethnically cleansing Tibet.
Most of Virtual Tibet concentrates on a more elusive issue: the double bind of the Shangri-la invention by Westerners. My sense is that we will never really get rid of this invention because we are trying to fill a void which we never can fill. According to Schell, the enthrallment began with Marco Polo's. Schell offers an excellent sequential listing of succeeding works from Odorico de Pordenone in the 14th century, through several other Catholic Capuchin and Jesuit missionaries, ending with the first British intruders in the 18th century. Schell culminates his list with James Hilton's Lost Horizon, published in 1933, and Out of This World, the 1950 book by Lowell Thomas.
According to Schell, the Dalai Lama's straddles a curious divide "inaccessibility for accessibility and aloofness for involvement." However, ironically Tibet fell to China precisely because of this "inaccessibility and aloofness." This muddling of reality has done the Tibetan cause nothing but harm. There is the complication of Steven Seagal, the so called martial arts expert, actor, director, and producer has been proclaimed a tulku, a reincarnation of a high lama. Schell concludes that Seagal probably received it in exchange for a large contribution. It is this very muddling, I think, and Schell should have come out stronger that is preventing the Tibetans from gaining their much deserved independence and self-determination.
Conversely, the most intriguing issue Schell raises superficially is that "our fantasies of places on or off this earth generally reflect far more about ourselves ... than we perhaps care to know," and then stops there. It is clear that our Orientalism is really less to do about the reality of the inventions but more to do with what we aspire as a void we are trying to fill in ourselves and Schell skirts the issue, I feel he skirts the issue because the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans need these fantasies in order to keep the cause alive in the minds of westerners - mostly to seek sympathy form western sponsors - a tricky situation to be in. In closing, we should give up our fictitious view of Tibet and our insistence on Lhasa as the locus of mysticism. Instead, in its place should be the reality of Realpolitik and that rather than wishful thinking we should take concrete steps work for its freedom, less concerned with metaphysical but replaced by humanist considerations.
Miguel Llora
Virtual Realities.......2002-08-08
This is an excellent book that tells how over the years Hollywood has become just as much a propaganda mouthpiece as the Chinese media. Hopefully it will awaken those Western supporters of Tibet from their fantasies and simplistic views of the Tibetan situation.
Virtual Faddism.......2001-07-23
Orville Schell's works have always been exquisite. Written in a crisp style, penetrating in analysis, his books have never failed to breathe life into their subjects and leave the reader more informed than before. Expecting the same tour de force as found in Mandate of Heaven and Discos and Democracy, I was not disappointed with Virtual Tibet: Searching for Shangri-La from the Himalayas to Hollywood. Schell tackles a topic that receives plenty of discussion and fanfare, but has experienced precious little objective study in recent years. Tibet has labored under the political and cultural repression of the People's Republic of China since 1951. Many believe that China is slowly committing cultural genocide through its repression of Tibetan religious and cultural customs and by encouraging vast numbers of Han Chinese to settle in Tibet. With the help of a charismatic Dalai Lama and throngs of Hollywood stars, the Tibetan issue has received a disproportionate amount of attention relative to its importance in world events. Whereas one struggles to find "Free East Timor" bumper stickers on cars, "Free Tibet" stickers are far more ubiquitous. The strong point of Schell's work is his analysis of Hollywood's fascination with Tibet. He interviews many of the most visible promoters of the Tibetan cause and also provides fly-on- the-wall accounts of numerous "Free Tibet" Hollywood functions and the making of the movies Kundun and Seven Years in Tibet. Through his interviews and observations, Schell largely confirms what I have suspected for years. Hollywood's promotion of the Tibetan cause has less to do with its relative merits than it does with the fact that it has become a fashionable issue in which to be associated. The Tibetan cause has become a virtual Rohrsach test in which Hollywood supporters can use to feel better about what ails them spiritually and politically. Schell's works demonstrate an uncanny ability of meeting all the right people and convincing them to reveal their true feelings. Instead of Communist Party officials or Chinese gangsters as in his previous works, Schell is somehow able to elicit revealing quotes from otherwise elusive individuals such as Steven Seagal and Brad Pitt. Although nobody has complained about being misquoted to my knowledge, I hope this reflects Schell's skill as an interviewer. It would be a shame if a writer and journalist of Schell's quality needed to embellish his subject's words for better copy. Schell succeeds in making the subject of Tibetan history more entertaining for the general reader without sacrificing content. Schell's Virtual Tibet is an informative and well-rounded work, lifting much of the mystique from an esoteric, yet prominent subject. While Schell sympathizes with their cause, he is able to remove the veil of motivation from Hollywood's Tibetan supporters. Many readers may have expected Schell to delve deeper into the issues surrounding China and Tibet, but this would have required Schell to tread over already well- traveled terrain. In deciding to leave the debate over the relative merits of Chinese policies toward Tibet aside, Schell has produced an original and thoughtful work of journalism. Schell's portrayal of the main protagonists for the Tibetan cause are unflattering and bound to upset many people. This is the hallmark of a fine journalist.
A Sober Look at an Intoxicating Subject.......2001-07-05
Orville Schell has written a pretty good book. The basic premise of the book is that anything that Hollywood touches is going to suffer distortion. It's simply a primal fact of the beast. And what a beast it is! Equal parts whore, dreamer, cynical businesman, and hopeless idealist. Schell is very good at examining the strange interaction between Hollywood and the Tibetan exiles. And I think he does it in a not unkind manner.
The present Dalai Lama is an enormously attractive figure. He's a wonderful spokesmen for Tibetan Buddhism. His spirituality, sincerity, intelligence, and integrity seem to me to be beyond reproach. However, there is more to Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan history than the present Dalai Lama.
Regardless of what you think of the present gang in Beijing, what type of society was Tibet before the Chinese takeover? Schell describes it, more or less, as an oppressive feudalistic theocracy. Tibet as something short of Shangri-la. Schell depicts the old Tibet as being a dark, oppressive, and decidedly filthy place. We can condemn the Chinese occupation of Tibet and the suppression of the Tibetan people without creating fantasies of the old Tibet days. Schell is essentially calling for a realistic view of the historical events. By understanding a bit of the history of the area we may come to a more realistic idea of what needs to be done. The best political solution may be the type of compromise that Schell seems to suggest. This compromise seems to be along the lines of what the Dalai Lama has proposed in recent years.
Religion and reason often do not share the same realm. This is a truism that seems to be as valid for some of the adherents of Tibetan Buddhism as well as the followers of Jimmy Swaggert and Jerry Falwell. Buddhism has a wonderful spirtual tradition--as does Christianity and other religions. However, upon what authority do people consider the Tibetan brand of Buddhism to be superior to the SE Asian, the Japanese, etc. versions of Buddhism? The 4 noble truths and the 8 fold path are the same for all the different flavors of Buddhism. The present Dalai Lama's character strikes me as impeccable. But what of the other Tibetan Buddhist religious figures that came to the West in recent decades to proclaim the dharma? It's my understanding that many of them fell victim to the temptations of our modern culture: money, sex, drugs, etc.
It's our human nature--as Schell--points out to want to think that there is some magical place or idea that will remove all of our imperfections. I think he is right in saying that Tibet is another geographic and human place with it's own attendent vices and virtues. I am of the opinion that Buddhism, like the more thoughtful and sincere versions of Christianity, is a marvelous vehicle for spirtual growth. But that growth in any religious tradition is achieved only through strong effort and practice as well as sincere devotion to the teachings.
Tibet for the American Populace........2000-09-29
I read this, because I am an Asian Studies major and know who Prof. Schell is. I wrote a Masters Thesis for my MA from Seton Hall in 1982, called Chinese Communism and Its Impact on Tibet. I am basing this review on reading the book and some of the other comments I've seen in the reviews. It is true, we have always had an fascination with Tibet, because of Lost Horizon, Seven Years in Tibet, etc. I cannot see in the book where Prof. Schell played down Chinese heavyhandedness. He also states (rightly so) that no Western Govt. backs the idea of an independent Tibet. They do back the Tibetans not being maltreated. Face it, in the modern world, Tibet does not have the resources to survive as an independent country. If anything, Dr. Schell showed just how silly, many of the Hollywood folks jumping on this bandwagon are. This is just the latest fad for them. Movies about Tibet look great on the silver screen. The same cannot be said for Kosovo, or Sudan. I gave it four stars. Hollywood Tibet would have been a better title. Tinseltown Tibet? I am glad this was written to bring it to the American people. Another drawback with this book is, how many people reading it are just reading it for the stars listed and don't understand ALL the issues. I hope this will spur Americans to read more about China as well. I want to know how far the Hollywood circuit wants to go with this. Are they going to go to Tibet themselves? Be with anti-Chinese fighters. No folks, as much as I respect the Dalai Lama, his best hope for seeing his homeland again in his lifetime is to work out a deal with the Chinese. Religious freedom for dropping independence claims. Yes, there is no more Berlin Wall. Tibet cannot make it on its own. Read the book, and as an American, gain your understanding. Want to help Tibet. Help to educate Hollywood folks in both sides of this issue. Prof. Schell shows, it is more complicated than many would like to think.
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