Popular European Cinema

European Cinema is not just 'art' cinema, but nor is popular cinema in Europe just Hollywood in foreign dress. In fact, the styles, stars and genres of popular European cinema - Swedish melodramas, Italian horror movies, French musicals - all have their own conventions, superficially similar to Hollywood and yet certainly distinct from it.The popular cinema of Europe has been surprisingly little studied either as art or social document. Popular European Cinema seeks to fill this gap while illuminating two compelling contemporary issues: the nature of the 'popular' and the new Europe.Films that are very popular with audiences in, say, Finland and Spain, are seldom successful elsewhere. This book examines this paradox which is further complicated by the fact that Europe itself is not a unified phenomenon, not least in the light of recent developments in Easterm Europe and post-colonial Western Europe. Through their individual studies, the contributors open up a new area of study, using the medium of film to focus on and celebrate the diversities of popular European culture.Dyer, Richard is the author of 'Popular European Cinema', published 1992 under ISBN 9780415068024 and ISBN 0415068029.