Cinema in the Digital Age. Nicholas Rombes. New York: Wall-flower Press, 2009.

In this entertaining and highly readable work, Nicholas Rombesargues that the digital era has transformed the ways in which films areconstructed and consumed. Conventions of classical Hollywood cinemasuch as a coherent narrative with a beginning, middle, and an end,comprised of carefully composed shots no longer apply; in its place wehave ‘‘self-destructive narratives,’’ reflecting self-consciously on thefilmmaking process. Rombes quotes the writer David Mackenzie: ‘‘nomore storyboard logic—let’s throw it to the wind and see what hap-pens’’ (103). Viewers, meanwhile, are no longer passive receivers ofsilver screen images but active participants—either they can makefilms themselves using DV cameras, or they can use their DVDs tomanipulate the data that underlies films today.

Rombes argues that such developments have helped to rediscoverthe kind of humanism associated with the early days of cinema, wheneveryone tried their hand at filmmaking. While many products werepoorly made, they nonetheless demonstrated a willingness to exper-iment. The same also applies to digital movie-making: ‘‘the roughedges, the wavering cameras [and] the pixilated images [. . ..] assert ahuman presence in the face of smooth, invisible digital data’’ (27).Some directors used digital technology to create works that presented acontinuous, real-time representation of one thread of reality—for ex-ample, through works composed of a single long take. Such techniquesmight seem amateurish by contemporary Hollywood standards; butRombes suggests that they recall Orson Welles’ preference for deep-focus photography, enabling viewers to reflect critically on a particularsequence.

The digital era has also given rise to a cinema of self-awareness:viewers understand that what they are witnessing is a fictional con-struct. This technique is evident in films such as The Blair Witch Project(1999), and The Ring (2002). Rombes contends that this allegedly‘‘postmodern’’ sensibility affects cinematic narratives, which now un-fold ‘‘as if style were something that reality itself imposed on film,rather than the traditional understanding of style as that which theartist consciously imposed to create art’’ (24).

In Rombes’ view contemporary film theorists have failed to keep upwith such developments, as their preoccupation with essentialist terms

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such as genre, narrative, or structure have prevented them from un-derstanding ‘‘spectators’ instinctual, almost sensual understanding offilm [. . .] Spectators tend to deconstruct films in their minds; in fact,this deconstruction is fundamental to their relationship with film [. . .]digital culture [. . .] has made it abundantly clear’’ (68). This point isdebatable: Martin Barker’s recent collection of essays on worldwideresponses to the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2008) vividly demonstrateshow spectators in different contexts deconstruct films. In theoreticalterms, one only has to consult the work of Jean Piaget to see howindividual viewers adapt to different visual stimuli—including cinema.

Nonetheless Cinema in the Digital Age poses some provocative argu-ments. It comprises a series of short chapters, alphabetically arranged—inviting readers to dip into it (as if they were looking at a menu ofextras on a DVD), rather than working from the beginning to the end.Rombes shows how technological developments such as the DV camera,the Ipod, and YouTube have revolutionized the ways in which films areproduced and consumed. Perhaps the traditional distinction betweenfilmmaker and viewer no longer exists: we all determine the flow andcontent of a fictional narrative, but in different ways. This presentsfascinating possibilities for future studies in popular culture.

Laurence RawBaskent University

Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books.Jean Paul Gabilliet. Trans. Bart Beaty and Nick Nguyen. Jack-son: University Press of Mississippi, 2010.

Of Comics and Men is a study of comics in the United States thatfocuses on both the economic aspects of the comic book industry andthe cultural perception of comic books as a medium. Gabilliet, aFrench scholar of American Studies, provides an outsider’s perspectivethat challenges the fan/collector paradigm common in many Americanstudies of the industry. The book was originally published in France in2006; this translation includes some updated material from the authorreflecting recent developments in the industry.

This book consists of three sections. The first provides a history ofthe industry from its origins in the 1930s until 2003. Though he

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