{"id":7246,"date":"2014-02-26T09:04:10","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T14:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smith.edu\/news\/?page_id=7246"},"modified":"2014-03-04T09:07:36","modified_gmt":"2014-03-04T14:07:36","slug":"neilson-professor-on-sylvester-stallone-star-icon-auteur","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.smith.edu\/news-stories\/neilson-professor-on-sylvester-stallone-star-icon-auteur\/","title":{"rendered":"Neilson Professor on Sylvester Stallone: Star, Icon, Auteur"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stallone_page\"<\/p>\n

Mention Sylvester Stallone in conversation, and you\u2019re likely to hear a spectrum of reactions, from indignation and disgust to abashed enthusiasm and open fanaticism.<\/p>\n

What you\u2019re not likely to hear is lack of recognition.<\/p>\n

Love him or hate him, Sylvester Stallone has become an icon of Hollywood celebrity during his 40-year career as a film actor, writer, director and producer. His film credits include more than 50 titles in a slew of genres\u00ad\u00ad\u2014sports, action, mystery, war, comedy, superhero, cop buddies, romantic comedy and even musicals (Rocky, <\/i>the musical, <\/i>opened on Broadway this month).<\/p>\n

A new book, The Ultimate Stallone Reader: Sylvester Stallone as Star, Icon, Auteur, <\/i>a collection of essays on Stallone edited by Chris Holmlund, the 2013-14 Neilson Professor at Smith<\/a>, provides unique insights on the actor\u2019s career, his place in popular culture and his influence on movies, sports and society.<\/p>\n

\"chrisholmlund\"Holmlund will discuss her book and Stallone\u2019s work in an upcoming lecture, \u201cSylvester Stallone: Blockbusters, Misfires and Bombs,\u201d on Monday, March 3, at 5 p.m. in Neilson Browsing Room. A reception will follow. The lecture, the second of three in the spring Neilson Lecture Series, is open to the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cSylvester Stallone is an icon, no question,\u201d says Holmlund. \u201cHe is known worldwide, he has huge fan bases in Asia and the Middle East. His sports films have affected pro athletes, in the way they regard themselves as athletes, in public and in competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmlund, the Arts and Sciences Excellence Professor of Film, Women\u2019s Studies and French at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, has explored the social and political effects of some of film history\u2019s most storied figures, such as Stallone, while also examining the evolution and expansion of independent film.<\/p>\n

The Ultimate Stallone Reader <\/i><\/a>\u00a0<\/i>is a comprehensive look at the actor\u2019s career, not as much targeted toward his fans as to film researchers and scholars. Holmlund contributed an introduction, \u201cPresenting Stallone\/Stallone Presents,\u201d as well as a chapter, \u201cAdventures in Acting: Stallone the Performer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also among contributors to the anthology are Smith faculty Alexandra Keller, associate professor of film studies, and Frazer Ward, associate professor of art, who co-wrote a chapter, \u201cThe Rocky Effect: Sylvester Stallone as Sport Hero.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keller and Ward will join Holmlund for the Neilson Lecture presentation.<\/p>\n

Holmlund regards herself as somewhat of a Sylvester Stallone fan. \u201cIt depends on the film,\u201d she says. Her academic interest in his life and career come from a sociological and historical perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cStallone is a commercial auteur,\u201d says Holmlund. \u201cThe films he has directed have a distinctive look and feel all his own. He\u2019s very into color, and he excels at editing: think of the training and fight sequences in the Rocky <\/i>films. He has a way of making you want to chant \u2018Rocky, Rocky,\u2019 along with the boxing crowd in the films, as he takes the ring.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Stallone has demonstrated strong acting ability at times in his career, he has made some woeful choices in film projects, notes Holmlund. She cites Rhinestone, <\/i>a country musical in which Stallone co-stars and sings with Dolly Parton, perhaps chief among them.<\/p>\n

Still, his persona as a credible action and sports hero has kept his film career at a steadily elevated level for 40 years\u2014an achievement realized by only a handful in Hollywood history.<\/p>\n

Holmlund\u2019s third Neilson Lecture, \u201cNavigating Genre, Tweaking Type: Romance, Cusack Style,\u201d will take place on Monday, April 7, at 5 p.m. in Neilson Browsing Room.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0William Allan Neilson Professorship, named for Smith\u2019s third president, is hosted by the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute<\/a>, which sponsors the Neilson\/Kahn seminar series, a cross-disciplinary faculty colloquium.<\/p>\n

(Eric Weld is the publicity and project administrator at the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute.)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mention Sylvester Stallone in conversation, and you\u2019re likely to hear a spectrum of reactions, from indignation and disgust to abashed enthusiasm and open fanaticism. What you\u2019re not likely to hear is lack of recognition. Love him or hate him, Sylvester Stallone has become an icon of Hollywood celebrity during his 40-year career as a film […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7246","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smith.edu\/news-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smith.edu\/news-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smith.edu\/news-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smith.edu\/news-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smith.edu\/news-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7246"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.smith.edu\/news-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7266,"href":"https:\/\/www.smith.edu\/news-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7246\/revisions\/7266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smith.edu\/news-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}