{"product_id":"the-big-screen-the-story-of-the-movies-9780374534134","title":"The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe definitive story of the medium that defines our times\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Big Screen \u003c\/i\u003etells the enthralling story of the movies: their rise and spread, their remarkable influence over us, and the technology that made the screen as important as the images it carries.\u003cbr\u003e But \u003ci\u003eThe Big Screen \u003c\/i\u003eis not another history of the movies. Rather, it is a wide-ranging narrative about the movies and their signal role in modern life. The celebrated film authority David Thomson takes us around the globe, through time, and across many media to tell the complex, gripping, paradoxical story of the movies. He tracks the ways we were initially enchanted by movies as imitations of life--the stories, the stars, the look--and how we allowed them to show us how to live. At the same time, movies, offering a seductive escape from everyday reality and its responsibilities, have made it possible for us to evade life altogether. The entranced audience has become a model for powerless and anxiety-ridden citizens trying to pursue happiness and dodge terror by sitting quietly in a dark room.\u003cbr\u003e Does the big screen take us out into the world or merely mesmerize us? That is Thomson's question in this grand adventure of a book, vital to anyone trying to make sense of the age of screens--the age that, more than ever, we are living in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Farrar, Straus and Giroux\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/15\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780374534134\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 608\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.21lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.28h x 5.55w x 1.59d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/15\/2013 pg. 40\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"David Thomson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42924846121141,"sku":"9780374534134","price":34.84,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_f4922ee7-2ba9-4396-8ae3-1e48f332671d.jpg?v=1687839641","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-big-screen-the-story-of-the-movies-9780374534134","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}