World Film Locations: Boston (Book)

Boston has a rich tradition of cinematic representation. This book considers the full spectrum of Boston's abundant aesthetic potential, looking in depth into forty-six films that were filmed on location in the city. Presented at the intersection of critical analysis and visual critique, the films are accompanied by articles and film scene reviews.

Edition

Founded by the Puritans in 1630 and the site of many of the American Revolution’s major precursors and events (including the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and Paul Revere’s midnight ride, among others), Boston has played – and continues to play – an influential role in the shaping of the historic, intellectual, cultural and political landscapes of the United States. And Boston has a significantly rich tradition of cinematic representation. While Harvard is central to many of the films set in the Greater Boston area, World Film Locations: Boston considers the full spectrum of Boston’s abundant aesthetic potential, reviewing films located within as well as far beyond Harvard’s hallowed halls and ivy-covered gates. Many iconic American classics, blockbusters, romantic comedies and legal thrillers, as well as films examining Boston’s criminal under-side, particularly in juxtaposition to the city’s elitist high society, were filmed on location in the city’s streets and back lots. World Film Locations: Boston looks in depth into a highly select group of forty-six films such as Love Story, Good Will Hunting, The Friends of Eddy Coyle, and The Social Network, among many others, presented at the intersection of critical analysis and stunning visual critique (with material from the films themselves as well as photographs of the contemporary city locations). Featuring articles and film scene reviews written by a variety of leading contemporary film writers, critics and scholars, this book is a multimedia resource that will find a welcome audience in movie lovers in Beantown and beyond.

Marcelline Block is a lecturer in history at Princeton University, where she is completing her Ph.D. in French. She is the editor or co-editor of several volumes, including Situating the Feminist Gaze and Spectatorship in Postwar Cinema.

Maps/Scenes

Scenes 1–8 – 1924–1972

Scenes 9–16 – 1973–1982

Scenes 17–24 – 1984–1997

Scenes 25–32 – 1997–2003

Scenes 33–39 – 2005–2010

Scenes 40–46 – 2010–2012

Essays

Boston: City of the Imagination – Monika Raesch

Boston: Just as Dirty as the Rest – Edward Eaton

Boston Boys: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck – Kristiina Hackel

Beantown Mon Amour: From Boston with Love – Ila Tyagi

Post-Human Bostonians: States of Being in Boston Sci-Fi Films – Henri-Simon Blanc-Hoàng

Fenway Park: The Green Monster on the Silver Screen – Zachary Ingle

Veritas and the Crimson Screen: Harvard in Film – Marcelline Block

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