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Blossoms and Blood: Postmodern Media Culture and the Films of Paul Thomas Anderson Jason Sperb. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013.
One of the most acclaimed filmmakers to arise out of the 1990's American independent scene, Paul Thomas Anderson has drawn substantial critical and audience praise for the seven films he has directed, including his most recent, Inherent Vice (2014), but scholarly publications have been sparse, with only a handful of articles. In Blossoms and Blood, the first major book devoted to Anderson, Jason Sperb takes a chronological approach, allotting a chapter to each of his first five films: Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), and There Will Be Blood (2007), exploring the themes, production history, and reception for each of the films in light of Anderson's evolving aesthetic of postmodern excess.
His introduction clarifies what is meant by the "postmodern media culture" of his title. Beyond the typical postmodern attributes of self-reflexivity, intertextuality, and hyper mediation, Sperb understands postmodernism historically, as, for decades now, "reality and media are irresolvably intertwined" (11) and thus reflects on the "trickle-down" postmodernism identified in Anderson's work. Some due attention is also given to Anderson's biography, including...