Hero, Madman, Criminal, Victim: The Artists in Film & Fiction

The creative personality of the artist is depicted as a negative stereotype in film and fiction mostly to create marketable narratives. The author condemns mass media's misrepresentation with provocative analysis and historical nuggets that are riveting and funny. She uses many of the blockbuster biopics as her primary texts, as well as fictional films from film noir classics, and art house films to contemporary horror flics using various interpretive filters to view these stereotypes. Betty Brown further suggests that each of the media stereotypes is linked to historic concepts of what art is: the madman is connected to theories of art as personal expressionism; the artist as fraud or conman was particularly prevalent during the rise of abstract expressionism, when art was defined as significant form; and the artist as killer occurs as Postmodern artists question dominant cultural notions of beauty and truth. The book is suitable for a general and academic audience and is highly recommended for those interested in art history, film, communications and cultural studies.