Spectacular Digital Effects

“The narrative is engaging, and Whissel's analysis of the effects emblem makes a valuable contribution to the scholarly literature of the field. . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.”

- B. H McMillin (Choice)

“Spectacular Digital Effects seeks to redeem oft-maligned computer-generated imagery in blockbuster cinema, arguing that the spectacle of digital effects enhances rather than detracts from the narrative. This aim is a much-needed move for balance in the field of media studies, and the conceptual framework, based in the historical study of emblems used in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, is a new and interesting way to think through digital effects.”

- Laura Felschow (Velvet Light Trap)

“[B]y offering a focused analysis of the allegorical potential of effects sequences, Spectacular Digital Effects does more than expand a field that has recently received a great deal of attention in film and media studies. The book makes a valuable contribution to developing a new conversation about the complexities of spectacular effects in the cinema.”

- Colin Williamson (Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television)

"Whissel’s book is an illuminating study and a reminder that onscreen spectacle can deliver philosophical as well as visceral heft."

- Ben Kooyman (Media International Australia)