This book constitutes the first monograph dedicated to an academic analysis of David Bowie’s appearances in film. Through close textual analysis together with production and reception histories, Bowie’s ‘silver screen’ career is explored in full. The book covers performance documentaries such as
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
, star vehicles ranging from the eulogised
The Man Who Fell to Earth
to the excoriated
Just a Gigolo
, plus roles from the horror chic of
The Hunger
and cult fantasy of
Labyrinth
to the valiant high-brow
Baal
and vainglorious high-budget
Absolute Beginners
, ending with Bowie as Bowie in
Bandslam
and others as ‘Bowie’ in
Velvet Goldmine
and
Stardust
. Alongside showing his willingness to experiment (and at times fail) across a variety of genres, this study investigates Bowie’s performative style that, while struggling to accommodate the requirements of cinematic realism, fits more harmoniously with alternative production codes and aesthetics. More broadly, by exploring the commercial, socio-cultural and ideological significance of Bowie on film, the book demonstrates how notions of gender, sexuality and identity formation, plus commodity and cultural capital, function and fluctuate in contemporary society.