James Chapman

This text is a unique cultural history of British comic papers and magazines, from their origins in the late 19th century to the present day. The book describes the rise of comic publishers and the heyday of comics in the 1950s and 60s, when titles such as 'School Friend' and 'Eagle' sold a million copies a week.

James Chapman's history of Doctor Who has been acclaimed by fans and scholars alike as a definitive book on the world's longest-running television science fiction series. In this new edition, published to mark the 50th anniversary of everyone's favourite Time Lord, Chapman has brought the story up to date to include the new series of Doctor Who as well as its spin offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. With new chapters on the eras of showrunners Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat, and the latest incarnations of the Doctor in David Tennant and Matt Smith, this updated edition of Inside the Tardis shows how Doctor Who has triumphantly reinvented itself for the twenty-first century. Chapman maps the continuities with classic Doctor Who, as well as exploring how the series has evolved to take account of new institutional and cultural contexts.

The New Film History is an accessible and wide-ranging account of the methods, sources and approaches used by modern film historians. Written in an engaging and lively style, the book seeks to overcome the traditional divide between Film Studies and Film History and to offer an overview of the key areas of research, including reception studies, genre, authorship and the historical film. It also offers detailed case studies on topics such as national identity and the historical film, the place of the screenwriter in authorship studies, the relationship between gangster and 'gansta', and the use of the Internet in reception studies. With contributions from fifteen leading film historians, this is the first major overview of the field of film history to be published in twenty years.

Cinema and science fiction were made for each other. The science fiction genre has produced some of the most extraordinary films ever made, yet science fiction cinema is about more than just special effects. It has also provided a vehicle for filmmakers and writers to comment on their own societies and cultures. This new exploration of the genre examines landmark science fiction films from the 1930s to the present. They include genre classics such as 'Things to Come', 'Forbidden Planet' and '2001: A Space Odyssey' alongside modern blockbusters 'Star Wars' and 'Avatar'. Chapman and Cull consider both screen originals and adaptations of the work of major science fiction authors. They also range widely across the genre from pulp adventure and space opera to political allegory and speculative documentary - there is even a science fiction musical.

"Eccentric, ironic and fantastic series like The Avengers and Danger Man, with their professional secret agents, or The Saint and The Persuaders, featuring flamboyant crime-fighters, still inspire mainstream and cult followings. Saints and Avengers explores and celebrates this television genre for the first time. Saints and Avengers uses case studies to look, for example, at the adventure series' representations of national identity and the world of the sixties and seventies. Chapman also proves his central thesis: that this particular type of thriller was a historically and culturally defined generic type, with enduring appeal, as the current vogue for remaking them as big budget films attests."--

Popular cinema is saturated with images and narratives of empire. This study of imperialism and cinema maps the history of empire cinema in both Hollywood and Britain through a series of case studies of popular films including biopics, adventures, literary adaptations, melodramas, comedies and documentaries.

"Windows on the Sixties explores themes arising from the 'cultural revolution' of the 1960s through analysis of influential productions of the decade. Eight case studies reveal how key texts from the media of film, television, literature and pop music can open 'windows' on the social and cultural transformations taking place during one of the most exciting and controversial periods in recent history. Contributors focus on two American films (The Apartment and Seven Days in May) and two British films (This Sporting Life and A Hard Day's Night), on three novels by American writer Alison Lurie, on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and on two contrasting British television series (The Avengers and Panorama). Each writer explores common themes of production and reception, genre and style, drawing together impressions of the era they represent. Windows on the Sixties is both an invaluable guide for teachers and students of history, media and cultural studies and a stimulating account for the general reader."--

"War and Film discusses the representation of war as spectacle, considering the claims of realism and authenticity from front-line combat cinematography to the hyper-realism of contemporary films that are claimed to be 'more realistic than the real thing'. Chapman considers both the depiction of war as tragedy and the role of film in the commemoration of war. He explains how film has explored the legacy of conflict and how it has attempted to come to terms with warfare's brutal psychological scars. But he also argues that an alternative tradition can be identified in films that positively valorize war, presenting it not as a pointless tragedy but as the opportunity for heroic adventure and a testing ground for masculinity and nationalism." "A study of remarkable breadth and scope, War and Film demonstrates how war has shaped the history of cinema and how cinema has shaped our attitudes towards war."--Jacket.

Exploring throughout the dialectical relationship between past and present, Chapman reveals how such films promote British achievements - but also sometimes question them - and how they project images of 'Britishness' to audiences both in the UK and internationally.