Introduction

Abstract

, 1945 to 1975, to more fully explore the term and, at the same time, put some pressure on the category. This anthology is not intended to be a survey of apartment plots, nor should it be viewed as comprehensive. Instead, this book ruminates upon the following questions: How do diff er ent historical contexts modify the ideology of the apartment plot? How do variables of national or transnational context alter the genre? Do analyses of the apartment plot override readings associated with art cinema, auteurism, or traditional genres? Or, vice versa, how does a consideration of the apartment plot as genre make us see films associated with diff er ent national cinemas, par ticu lar auteurs, or traditional genres differently? Some of these questions will be answered in the accrual of individual case studies as authors examine a range of films including classical Hollywood