If you’re going to read Grant Horner’s new book on film art, Meaning at the Movies, he strongly suggests that you watch certain films before reading the chapter in which they are discussed. If you don’t, you’ll find spoilers (which is inevitable in any serious analysis of a story) and it will lessen the impact of the film itself.
I thought it might be helpful to break down his suggested movie watching in conjunction with the chapter and genre he’s discussing:
Before you read chapter 4 (“A Time to Laugh: A Theological Approach to Comedy“), watch
- City Lights [1931] and
- Dr. Strangelove [1964].
Before you read chapter 5 (“Exorcising the Psycho: The Invention of Fear for Pleasure“), watch
- Psycho [1960] and
- What Lies Beneath [2000].
Before you read chapter 6 (“Hollywood Invents Romance: Of All the Gin Joints, in All the Towns, in All the World, She Walks into Mine“), watch
- Marty [1955].
Before you read chapter 7 (“Film Noir: The Dark Side, or Solomon Goes to Hollywood“), watch
- Double Indemnity [1944],
- Sunset Boulevard [1950], and
- Scarlet Street [1945].
Before you read chapter 8 (“The End of the Matter: Movies and Meaning, Memory and Man“), watch
- Citizen Kane [1941],
- 2001: A Space Odyssey [1968],
- Blade Runner [1982], and
- Memento [2000].
