At the Movies, Film Reviewing, and Screenwriting
Selective Affinities and Cultural Mediation
Distributed for Intellect Ltd
At the Movies, Film Reviewing, and Screenwriting
Selective Affinities and Cultural Mediation
At the Movies, Film Reviewing, and Screenwriting discusses the interplay between film criticism and screenwriting, providing a different view on how reviewers engage with story and dialogue. Steven Maras draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of cultural taste to examine film reviewing as a key site of cultural production, analyzing ten years of television scripts from At the Movies (2004–2014). Hosted by Australia’s most influential film critics Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, this long-running program shaped public discourse on cinema and left an indelible mark on Australian screen culture.
Studying the program’s broadcast scripts, this book addresses how film reviewing operates as both critique and storytelling. Of particular interest to media scholars, screenwriting researchers, and cinephiles alike, it provides fresh insights into the evolving role of criticism in contemporary screen culture. Engaging and deeply researched, this work rightfully emphasizes the cultural significance of movie criticism in film culture in Australia and beyond.
Table of Contents
About At the Movies
List of Abbreviations
List of Tables
List of Figures
Preface
A Case Study Approach
Margaret and David as Cultural Mediators
Reviewing as Performance
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. At the Movies, Reviewing, and Screenwriting
From Elective to Selective Affinities
Film Reviewing
Two approaches: Functionalism and rhetoric
Shifting the criticism/reviewing distinction Screenwriting
Chapter 2. At the Movies and its Influence
The Business of Managing the Review Process
Debunking the powerful critic theory
The Margaret and David Effect
A Variable Cultural Field: From Restricted to Large-Scale
The Persona of the Critic
The Responsibilities of the Reviewer
Proximity to industry
The Australian new wave
Chapter 3. Arbiters of taste.
Inside the Gut
Where the Reviewer Sits
Summary Judgements
The Gospel According to David and Margaret
Taste, Taste Culture, or Cultural Forum
Chapter 4. The Politics of Classification
Ken Park (2002)
Romper Stomper (1992)
Wolf Creek 2 (2013)
Chapter 5. Three Discourse Frames (Australia, 1987–2002)
Frame 1: Funding Methods and Creative Outcomes
Frame 2: The Crisis in the Film Industry and the Script as Problematic Object
Frame 3: The Doxa
Chapter 6. The Discursive Construction of Screenwriting in At the Movies (2004–2014)
Method
Coding: Script, Screenplay, Screenwriter
Analysis
Chapter 7. The Well-Made Screenplay: At the Movies as an Aesthetic Enterprise
Performing the Doxa
Problematizations and Conclusions
Chapter 8. In Interview: David Stratton on Reviewing and At the Movies
Chapter 9. In Interview: Margaret Pomeranz on Reviewing and At the Movies
Appendix 1: Notes on method, verification and exclusions
Appendix 2: ‘Written by’
Appendix 3: DVD classics
Appendix 4: Selective reference list of descriptors used by Margaret and David