Aaron Baker — A Companion to Martin Scorsese

Aaron Baker (ed.), A Companion to Martin Scorsese — the academic collection, one chapter per problem rather than one per film.

Good for

The critical argument about Scorsese rather than the making of the films. Its chapter on Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) (smc 117–smc 124) is the best single account of how the film was received as a feminist object and attacked as one: it quotes Karyn Kay and Gerald Peary dismissing it as the work of a "self-admitted macho director" on a feminist trip, and notes that Warner Bros held a quarter of Ms. Magazine, which had praised it (smc 121) — a reception-side Commerce fact worth more than most production trivia.

smc 122 is where the prologue's visual debts are pinned down: the red sky as homage to William Cameron Menzies' skies for Duel in the Sun and Gone with the Wind, and the girl's boast quoted in full. It also carries Burstyn calling the shoot the most creative experience she had had with a director. See Alice — the prologue and The women's picture, 1974.

Handle with care

A multi-author collection: chapters vary in method and quality, and several are reading the films through a theoretical frame rather than describing them. It cites secondary sources heavily — the Menzies attribution, for instance, comes via Kelly — so for production facts go to Scorsese on Scorsese first and use this for the argument.

In the library

Held in Reel, the local research library of scanned and indexed film books. 36 parts, 2,447 indexed passages. Page numbering is hand-checked.

Cite passages from this book as smc <page> — for example smc 214.

Strongest on

Measured, not guessed. Each figure is how much denser this book is on a concept than the library average — so common words don't crowd out real specialisms.

• Format — 2.2× the library average (107 passages)
• Spoken language — 2.1× the library average (183 passages)
• Non-diegetic sound — 1.8× the library average (16 passages)
• Conflict — 1.6× the library average (219 passages)
• Acting — 1.5× the library average (336 passages)