"This archive of the evolution of a crucial and influential theoretical concept in film studies is an indispensable dossier of documents tracing the emergence, impact, and varied applications of the notion of the "cinema of attractions."
Taken together, these essays, written by some of the most provocative and highly esteemed scholars in film and media studies, reveal the extraordinary historical and theoretical productivity of the notion of "attractions."
Ranging from articles associated with the earliest--and widely recognized as brilliant--articulations of the concept by Tom Gunning and André Gaudreault to attempts to flesh out the implications of "attractions" for our understanding of the avant-garde, digital media, VR, and computer games, this anthology is both an intellectual feast and a very precise record of a critical trajectory in recent film studies."
Mary Ann Doane, Professor of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University