Cartography and cinema are what might be called locational machinery. Maps andmovies tell their viewers where they are situated what they are doing and toa stro... » 

Cartography and cinema are what might be called locational machinery. Maps andmovies tell their viewers where they are situated what they are doing and toa strong degree who they are. In this groundbreaking work eminent scholar TomConley establishes the ideological power of maps in classic contemporary andavantgarde cinema to shape the imaginary and mediated relations we hold withthe world. Cartographic Cinema examines the affinities of maps and moviesthrough comparative theory and close analysis of films from the silent era tothe French New Wave to Hollywood blockbusters. In doing so Conley reveals thatmost of the movies we see contain maps of various kinds and almost invariablyconstitute a projective apparatus similar to cartography. In addition hedemonstrates that spatial signs in film foster a critical relation with theprevailing narrative and mimetic registers of cinema. Conley convincinglyargues that the very act of watching films and cinema itself is actually aform of cartography. Unlike its function in an atlas a map in a movie oftencauses the spectator to entertain broader questionsnot only about cinema butalso of the nature of space and being. «