Narrative and Stylistic Patterns in the Films of Stanley Kubrick

Garcia Mainar’s critical study of the films of the late Stanley Kubrick includes analysis of all but his last work, Eyes Wide Shut, and offers both a formal analysis of the films based on style and narrative pattern, and atheoretical, postmodernist approach to ideas presented in the films. Garcia Mainar is particularly concerned with analyzing the relevance of spectacle in Kubrick’s films, seeing it as a disruptive mechanism that can call into question the value and necessity of communication. He identifies different kinds of spectacle in the films, and proceeds to a detailed examination of these different forms in 2001 A Space Odyssey, Barry Lyndon, and Full Metal Jacket.

Luis M. Garcia Mainar teaches English at the University of Zaragoza, Spain.