Letters and Literacy in Hollywood Film (Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television) - Hardcover

Films are full of words on the screen. There are letters that come in the post, written and printed papers, and epitaphs. They can be declarations of love, or the words that tell us where we are or what is happening, varying from the most intimate confessions to straightforward signs. We do not often pause to think about our own interpretation of them, yet our response to reading and writing can be an important part of how we understand films. This book looks in detail at five films - Letter from an Unknown Woman; All This, and Heaven Too; The Man who Shot Liberty Valance; Into the Wild; and The Reader - and reveals how words work on screen, and the importance of literacy in their worlds. It sheds new light on some classic films and explores the uses of this form of expression in the work of modern film makers.