A. D. Jameson celebrates the triumph of geekdom in I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing, an insightful and irreverent journey through the science fiction, fantasy, and superhero pop-culture cinematic icons whose legions of fans have put them at the top of the box office over and over. In honor of of May the Fourth, we’re excited to share an excerpt from the audiobook below, in which Jameson defends Star Wars against detractors who see George Lucas’s groundbreaking film as a simplistic spectacle, the death knell of the experimental New Hollywood style of the 1970s.
Listen to an excerpt from the audiobook, read by Holter Graham:
Star Wars, Marvel superheroes, The Lord of the Rings—properties that were once supposedly the domain of socially maladroit youth have become mainstream entertainment, enjoyed by enormous audiences and by more than a few film critics too. But there are those commentators who have decried the way in which serious adult cinema has seemingly vanished, with Hollywood dominated by mindless kiddie fare such as tent-pole-event movies, franchises, and endless remakes and reboots.
As a lifelong geek, A. D. Jameson blasts through the clichés that have always surrounded pop-culture phenomena: that fans are mindless followers who will embrace all things Spider-Man, regardless of quality; or that the popularity and financial success of nerd cinema represents the death of ambitious film-making. Instead, he makes a case for why genre films are worthy of serious critical attention—and shares his thoughts on where their true flaws lie.
I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing is available May 8th from Farrar Straus & Giroux, with the audio edition following May 22nd from Macmillan Audio.
Buy the Book
I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing: Star Wars and the Triumph of Geek Culture
