The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg

by William Beard

PAPERBACK INCLUDES TWO NEW CHAPTERS David Cronenberg is one of the most fascinating filmmakers in the world today. His provocative work has stimulated debate and received major retrospectives in museums, galleries, and cinematheques around the world. William Beard's The Artist as Monster was the first book-length scholarly work in English on Cronenberg's films, analyzing all of his features from Stereo (1969) to Crash (1996). In this paperback edition, Beard includes new chapters on eXistenZ (1999) and Spider (2002). Through close readings and visual analyses, Beard argues that the structure of Cronenberg's cinema is based on a dichotomy between, on the one hand, order, reason, repression, and control, and on the other, liberation, sexuality, disease, and the disintegration of self and of the boundaries that define society. The instigating figure in the films is a scientist character who, as Cronenberg evolves as a filmmaker, gradually metamorphoses into an artist, with the ground of liberation and catastrophe shifting from experimental subject to the self. Bringing a wealth of analytical observation and insight into Cronenberg's films, Beard's sweeping, comprehensive work has established the benchmark for the study of one of Canada's best-known filmmakers.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Horror, Canon

584 pages, Paperback

First published September 8, 2001

Reviews

[Uyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is THE book when it comes to academic lit on Cronenberg. The angles are mostly feminist and psychoanalytic, which is not very surprising considering it is cinema studies AND is about Cronenberg. The chapter on Dead Ringers is the best analysis of the film I have come across so far.

[Dominick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, detailed study of most of Cronenberg's films, and it's insightful apart from being overinfluenced by feminist readings and by Kristeva, though it does reject the usual feminist dismissals of Cronenberg as misogynistic.

[Rase McCray]

VERY academic, and I had to skip through some of the paragraphs every now and then. But I appreciated the author's thorough breakdown and complex analysis of every film in Cronenberg's oeuvre (at least up to the date it was published). Beard makes a clear, compelling argument for Cronenberg as auteur--an argument that is more or less obvious to everyone, though hasn't ever been put into a single book-length analysis before as best I'm aware.

For any academic film studies peeps, this is fantastic. For non-academic, die-hard Cronenberg fans, this is probably enjoyable in parts but not likely what you're looking for. For the casual movie lover, it's highly unlikely this is for you--and it's very long on top of the textual complexity!

[Nick Holevar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Artist as Monster is a great academic review an analysis of David Cronenberg's large filmography. The updated edition includes eXistenZ. I think Cronenberg has a lot to unpack in all of his films and if you want a deep dive into each one of his films (including Shivers) this is a great companion piece to have. Sadly the physical book is out-of-print and the PDF costs $60. I recommend picking this up via inter-library loan once you have watched a good chunk of his films or at least the ones that you are interested in learning more about.

[Kyle Burley]

4 stars for intelligent, thought-provoking analysis, 2 stars for readability

A major, work of academic criticism that will deepen your understanding, and appreciation of one of the richest, and most coherent, filmographies in modern cinema but, it must be said, a very dry read.
For hardcore cineasts only, especially Cronenberg fans.

[Rory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended for all Cronenburg fans. Beard makes reasoned arguments to support his idea that DC's films are about the creative act. They hold up within each film and across his body of work. In fact, thos Crash is the most recent film he analyzes, I can now see his ideas in all of Cronenberg's successive films.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is pretty much a waste of time, unless you like to over analyze stuff and not actually talk about how it was made or read about David Cronenberg himself. Admittedly, I only got it to read about Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly and Naked Lunch.

[MM · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the additional chapters I am upping my stars. This book is great for thinking about Cronenberg’s oeuvre.