Cinematic Quests for Identity

The Hero's Encounter with the Beast

Maria Garcia

Whether embodied in literature, theater, or film, an enduring theme of many artistic works has been the protagonist’s search for identity. Such quests are typically psychological or spiritual journeys and depicted on the screen in a variety of manifestations—endeavors embarked upon to address an emotional trauma or to overcome an obstacle in the hero’s life. Using Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et La Bête as a leitmotif, these pursuits are discussed by author Maria Garcia as encounters with the “Beast.” At the end of their quests, heroes are reborn into their new identities, while the Beast disappears, transforms, or dies.

In Cinematic Quests for Identity: The Hero’s Encounter with the Beast, Garcia examines the cinematic conventions of the male and female search for individuation across several genres. After discussing La Belle et La Bête, the author looks at a number of films including three iconic male journeys—The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Searchers, and The Deer Hunter. Additional chapters focus on The Silence of the Lambs, Bringing Up Baby, The Lady Eve, The Secret of Roan Inish, The Natural, and Moneyball. The book concludes with a consideration of the three fairy tale films by Catherine Breillat—Fat Girl, Bluebeard, and The Sleeping Beauty—and the female characters in several Robert Bresson films, including The Trial of Joan of Arc.

Providing a unique and original perspective on films throughout the world, this provocative book draws upon Jungian thought, as well as several literary traditions including fairy tales, epic poetry, and Greek and Celtic mythology. Aimed at scholars of film and film theory, Cinematic Quests for Identity will also appeal to movie fans interested in a deeper understanding of films that explore a character’s struggle to live a conscious life.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 284 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4422-4697-3 • Hardback • April 2015 • $89.00 • (£68.00)

978-1-4422-4698-0 • eBook • April 2015 • $84.50 • (£65.00)

Subjects: Performing Arts / Film / History & Criticism, Performing Arts / Film / General, Social Science / Women's Studies

Cinematic Quests for Identity

The Hero's Encounter with the Beast

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Whether embodied in literature, theater, or film, an enduring theme of many artistic works has been the protagonist’s search for identity. Such quests are typically psychological or spiritual journeys and depicted on the screen in a variety of manifestations—endeavors embarked upon to address an emotional trauma or to overcome an obstacle in the hero’s life. Using Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et La Bête as a leitmotif, these pursuits are discussed by author Maria Garcia as encounters with the “Beast.” At the end of their quests, heroes are reborn into their new identities, while the Beast disappears, transforms, or dies.

In Cinematic Quests for Identity: The Hero’s Encounter with the Beast, Garcia examines the cinematic conventions of the male and female search for individuation across several genres. After discussing La Belle et La Bête, the author looks at a number of films including three iconic male journeys—The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Searchers, and The Deer Hunter. Additional chapters focus on The Silence of the Lambs, Bringing Up Baby, The Lady Eve, The Secret of Roan Inish, The Natural, and Moneyball. The book concludes with a consideration of the three fairy tale films by Catherine Breillat—Fat Girl, Bluebeard, and The Sleeping Beauty—and the female characters in several Robert Bresson films, including The Trial of Joan of Arc.

Providing a unique and original perspective on films throughout the world, this provocative book draws upon Jungian thought, as well as several literary traditions including fairy tales, epic poetry, and Greek and Celtic mythology. Aimed at scholars of film and film theory, Cinematic Quests for Identity will also appeal to movie fans interested in a deeper understanding of films that explore a character’s struggle to live a conscious life.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 284 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-4422-4697-3 • Hardback • April 2015 • $89.00 • (£68.00)

978-1-4422-4698-0 • eBook • April 2015 • $84.50 • (£65.00)

Subjects: Performing Arts / Film / History & Criticism, Performing Arts / Film / General, Social Science / Women's Studies

Author

Maria Garcia is a film critic, feature writer, and an adjunct lecturer in the English Department at CUNY Baruch College. Her reviews and filmmaker interviews appear regularly in Cineaste and Film Journal International.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Framing the Beast of Individuation
2. A Woman’s Beast: The Silence of the Lambs
3. The Male Quest: When the Hero Doesn’t Get “The Girl”
4. Love Affairs with the Beast: Two Women of Screwball Comedy
5. The Beast of the Diamond
6. The Child’s Quest: A First Glimpse of Mortality
7. Catherine Breillat and the Fairy Tale Quest as “Passage”
8. Robert Bresson and the Feminine Face of God
Filmography
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Reviews

No stranger to the world of film, Maria Garcia opens Cinematic Quests for Identity: The Hero's Encounter with the Beast with the hefty promise of broadening the definition and the reader’s understanding of 'the quest' movie genre. Through her analysis of more than 15 films. . . .Garcia delivers on her promise. . . .[The author] approaches the tried-and-true theme of the hero in an innovative way. . . .This focused analysis is highly recommended for anyone looking to delve deeper into the world of film and the psychology behind the internal struggles of our movies’ heroes.
— Ambassador Magazine

Maria Garcia . . . offers a provocative contribution to the male-dominated field of film theory. . . .Garcia's astute analysis and reformulation of feminist film theory . . . is thought-provoking and illuminating. . . .[This] book . . . should be recognized as an important contribution to feminist film theory. . . .Garcia succeeds in her reframing of the cinematic quest for identity as the lifelong expansion of consciousness and the ability of the personality to reflect the total self.
— Cineaste