{"product_id":"the-prop-paperback","title":"The Prop - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eElena Gorfinkel\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eJohn David Rhodes\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat are film props? What do they do? This book answers these questions by a close attention to those material objects that are used to construct cinematic worlds. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe term \"prop\" is short for property. This truncated term's etymology belies the expansiveness of the concept and indicates the micro and macro scales at which the prop operates. Props are the material--often literal--furniture of cinema's diegetic reality. Props are also narrative agents: think of the animacy of objects in Jean Epstein's account of \u003ci\u003ephotog?nie\u003c\/i\u003e, the crystal egg in \u003ci\u003eRisky Business\u003c\/i\u003e, or the domestic bric-?-brac of Sirk's melodramas. The prop is central to production design and the construction of mise-en-sc?ne. And yet, the prop has rarely--almost never--been taken as an object of analysis and theorization in its own right. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis book begins by tracing the prop's curious but unacknowledged role in film theory, before proceeding to a series of theoretical speculations and close readings that bring the prop into focus. Analyses of scenes of \"prop mastery\" demonstrate the labor that props perform and enable, as well as the interpretive work they make possible. Across a variety of genres, modes, and historical contexts--studio filmmaking, art cinema, adult and avant-garde films--\u003ci\u003eThe Prop\u003c\/i\u003e introduces readers to the notion of \"prop value,\" a quality that puts the prop in proximity to the capitalist commodity, but also provides an ironic distance from the commodity's subjection to exchange value. Gorfinkel and Rhodes argue that the prop is nothing less than a condensation of how labor, subjection, value, and instrumentality underwrite the very conditions of cinema.\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A beautiful object in itself, Gorfinkel's and Rhodes' inspiring book brings to life the object in film. It gives the prop its deserved close-up and in doing so unravels a fascinating new way of looking at cinema.\"--\u003cb\u003eJoanna Hogg\u003c\/b\u003e, director of \u003ci\u003eThe Souvenir\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat are film props? What do they do? This book answers these questions by a close attention to those material objects that are used to construct cinematic worlds. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the domestic bric-?-brac of Sirk's melodramas to the crystal egg of \u003ci\u003eRisky Business, \u003c\/i\u003e props are the material furniture of cinema's diegetic reality: both narrative agents and the stuff of mise-en-sc?ne. And yet, the prop has rarely been taken as an object of analysis in its own right. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis book begins by tracing the prop's curious but unacknowledged role in film theory, before proceeding to a series of theoretical speculations and close readings that bring the prop into focus. Across a variety of genres, modes, and historical contexts--studio filmmaking, art cinema, adult and avant-garde films--Gorfinkel and Rhodes argue that the prop is nothing less than a condensation of how labor, subjection, value, and instrumentality underwrite the very conditions of cinema. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eElena Gorfinkel\u003c\/b\u003e is Reader in Film Studies at King's College London. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn David Rhodes\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of Film Studies and Visual Culture at the University of Cambridge.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eElena Gorfinkel (Author) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eElena Gorfinkel\u003c\/b\u003e is Reader in Film Studies at King's College London. She is the author of \u003ci\u003eLewd Looks: American Sexploitation Cinema in the 1960s\u003c\/i\u003e (Minnesota, 2017) and \u003ci\u003eWanda\u003c\/i\u003e (British Film Institute, 2025). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn David Rhodes (Author) \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eJohn David Rhodes\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of Film Studies and Visual Culture at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eSpectacle of Property: The House in American Film \u003c\/i\u003e(Minnesota, 2017), \u003ci\u003eMeshes of the Afternoon\u003c\/i\u003e (British Film Institute, 2011), and \u003ci\u003eStupendous, Miserable City: Pasolini's Rome\u003c\/i\u003e (Minnesota, 2007). \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 176\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.4 x 6.9 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 04, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42733911769151,"sku":"9781531509613","price":23.94,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/23f54ebddf35a9b2a9d032fbe72c4e9a.webp?v=1765137932","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/the-prop-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}