Full Description
What could movies as diverse as The Last Samurai, Cléo from 5 to 7, or Dr. Strangelove have in common? Filmonomics has a simple yet intriguing answer: economics as the main driving force of the plot or as the main motivation of the characters' actions.
This book analyses how movie makers use economic and financial motives in their plots or to build their characters. Have they done it in line with economic theory? Or are they proposing a new angle, a new perspective, that economists should take note of? The authors here do not discuss wages in the film industry or the economics of movies. What interests them is the economic motivations underpinning the behaviour of fictional characters in their favourite films. They argue that credible movie characters can behave in irrational ways, and movie makers occasionally introduce new ideas that economists should take note of.
A unique contribution, this book will be of interest to readers eager to discover what economists have to say about films and film directors. It will be indispensable for students and researchers of economics, media studies, film studies, and cultural studies.
Contents
Section 1: Money and happiness 1. Citizen Kane and the morality of tycoons 2. Wall Street versus Des Hommes et des Dieux: On greed and social responsibility 3. Farinelli and the reasons for the rise and fall of castrati 4. Crazy Rich Asians: A Singapore NEG story? Section 2: Intergenerational transfers and family affairs 5. Trading places and equality of opportunity 6. Narayama, a spaceship Section 3: Women in society 7. Cléo from 5 to 7: A feminine Homo Economicus? 8. Mirch Masala and Manthan: the power of women's collective action in challenging (orthodox economic theory and) local authority 9. Difret and the way to challenge male authority Section 4: Adapting to social changes 10. The Last Samurai and the struggle for the heart of a discipline 11. The individual, the state, and economics in Indian films: A fifty-year transition 12. Protecting society in A Clockwork Orange 13. The Purple Rose of Cairo and the foundations of rationality Section 5: Individualism, cooperation, and other behavioral patterns 14. The strange games of Dr. Strangelove 15. Transport and economic development in Once upon a Time in the West 16. The philosophy behind The Fountainhead 17. Stopping a bank run in It's a Wonderful Life 18. The Hateful Eight: Bounty hunting, spatial competition, and persuasion Section 6: Winner of the Filmonomics Young Author Award 19. Garm Hava: The Economics of discrimination and other grim tales 20. Coda - Algorithmic Cinema
