Paul Loukides

In this volume of the Beyond the Stars series, the subject of the various individual essays are discrete conventions of movie locales, but the subject of the volume as a whole-as with the other books in the series-is the viability of film convention studies as a tool for the study of film and American culture.

This anthology deals with such diverse conventions as the treatment of food, the iconography of weapons, the paraphernalia of baseball, the uses of clothing, tools, and technologies, and the representation of art and print media within the world of film. The essays within this collection help to reveal how the objects in American movies reflect both the fixed and changeable cultural assumptions of film makers and film audiences.

Beyond the Stars contains 20 essays on stock characters, and character conventions which neatly divide into four categories: ethnic and racial stereotyping; social classis; professions; and the idiosyncratic type. Stock figures in American movies are part of our cultural heritage; they deserve an honored place in theliterature of film and popular culture.