McMahan, Alison 1960–

PERSONAL:

Born July 27, 1960, in Los Angeles, CA; daughter of David Bruce and Jill Lauren McMahan; married Steven Mark Bluestone, June 11, 1988; children: a daughter. Education: Catholic University, B.F.A., 1982; New York University, M.F.A., 1987. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Roman Catholic. Hobbies and other interests: Mountain climbing, backpacking, martial arts, and folk dancing.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—alison@homunculusprods.com.

CAREER:

Writer and film director and producer. Manhattan Day School, New York, NY, manager, 1984-85; freelance writer, New York, NY, 1986; Interactive Media Communications, New York, NY, production coordinator, 1986-87; Guadalupe Productions, New York, NY, film producer, 1987-88; University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, associate professor, 1997-2001; Homunculus Productions, LLC, and Homunculus Music, New York, NY, president, c. 2003—. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, Mellon Fellow in Visual Culture, 2001-03. Co-president of Cinewomen NY, an all-volunteer organization that supports women filmmakers. Board member of You and Me Together, a foundation that supports enrichment activities for impoverished children in Argentina.

MEMBER:

Association for Independent Film and Video Makers, Film Video Arts, International Women's Writing Guild.

WRITINGS:

Lola (one-act play), produced at the Catholic University of America, 1982.

Magdalen under a Cloud (three-act play), produced at the Ensemble Studio Theatre and Playwrights Horizons, 1988.

Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema (nonfiction), Continuum (New York, NY), 2002.

The Films of Tim Burton: Animating Live Action in Contemporary Hollywood (nonfiction), Continuum (New York, NY), 2005.

Cambodia: Living with Landmines (documentary film), Homunculus Productions, LLC, 2005.

(Director and producer) Bare Hands and Wooden Limbs: Healing, Recovery and Reconciliation in Cambodia (documentary film), Homunculus Productions, LLC, 2006.

Also the writer, producer, and director of the documentary The Eight Faces of Jane. Contributor to journals and periodicals.

SIDELIGHTS:

Alison McMahan is a writer and president of a film company that makes training, educational, and documentary films. In her first book, Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema, the author profiles the life and career of the French and American film pioneer. Born in 1873, Blaché was the world's first female filmmaker and one of the key figures in the development of narrative film. "McMahan's study … provides a valuable commentary on the way film history has been constructed, identifying cultural or academic tendencies that have resulted in flawed or misleading historical interpretations," noted Jeannette Delmoir in Screening the Past.

"The first step in this study was to find the surviving films," the author notes in her introduction, adding: "When I began this study in 1992, about 40 films were known to exist. As a result of the efforts of many archivists and others like myself, the number now hovers at 110 (some in need of preservation), only two of which are feature length, from at least twenty-two that she directed."

According to McMahan, Blaché directed some four hundred films, including more than ten synchronized sound films, from 1896 to 1920. Blaché also produced hundreds of other films and was the first and only woman to both own and run her own studio, named the Solax Studio. Although Blaché wrote her own memoir, McMahan's book, published in 1976, fills in many gaps left by the memoir and also provides an in-depth analysis of the surviving Blaché films. The author begins her book with a discussion of the development of narrative film and then explores Blaché's work in silent film production at Gaumont studios and the development of the Solax Studio. Alice Guy Blaché also describes Blaché's feature-length films and the end of the Solax Studio. McMahan concludes with an analysis of cross-dressing in Blaché's comedies. The book includes more than seventy-five photographs and illustrations.

"I have tried to meet the requirements of modern scholarship by situating Guy's work in the context of the various discourses—both political and filmic—in which she took part," McMahan writes in the book's conclusion. "Much of my work has consisted of piecing together a filmography of the extant films on which she worked." The author also notes: "Even though Roberta Blaché confirmed some of the evidence of the films, namely Guy's feminism and her cultural Catholicism, my aim has not been to ascribe intent to Guy but to show … that the discourses in early cinema were infinitely richer and more varied, than previously supposed. Once we learn their language, these films have much to say to us."

Alice Guy Blaché received numerous favorable reviews. Writing on the Pop Matters Web site, Tara Taghizadeh noted that the author's "research is inevitably worthy of shedding light on an important figure in film history whose extensive body of work should be studied by film students everywhere." Amelie Hastie wrote in Cineaste that "the book as a whole testifies to the richness of Alice Guy Blaché's cinematic output and makes an excellent case as to how her work might allow us to understand the field of early silent film differently." Hastie also commented on the author's scholarship. The reviewer noted: "Her exhaustive research is a model for other scholars who seek to rediscover early filmmakers."

In her next book, The Films of Tim Burton: Animating Live Action in Contemporary Hollywood, McMahan turns her attention to modern American filmmaker Tim Burton. McMahan focuses less on Burton's idiosyncratic personality and more on his films, many of which have been major blockbusters, including Beetlejuice, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands. In her analysis of Burton's films, McMahan presents her case that Burton has played a seminal role in transforming science fiction, fantasy, and horror films beginning in the 1980s. The author also explores the many influences on Burton's work, including the work of surrealist filmmakers as well as computer games. Cineaste contributor Rahul Hamid notes that MacMahan discusses how Burton "combines his animation esthetic with elements inspired by myths and fairytales" in Batman and Batman Returns.

McMahan's approach to Burton's films is comprehensive as she examines the director's entire body of work, from early films such as the animated short Vincent to movies such as Big Fish and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Her analysis includes a discussion of many contributors to Burton's films, including Danny Elfman, who has written the music scores for many of Burton's movies. Throughout The Films of Tim Burton, the author focuses on how Burton is at the forefront of a style of filmmaking she refers to as "pataphysical," or films that are full of intertextual references and spectacular special effects. According to McMahan, Burton's work and films by other directors have, in many ways, abandoned the classical Hollywood narrative style. Hamid added that the author presents "a convincing argument that pataphysics is an interesting way of looking at Burton's films. … McMahan brings together many interesting elements and takes a highly original and creative approach."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

McMahan, Alison, Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema, Continuum (New York, NY), 2002.

PERIODICALS

Choice, November, 2002, S. Vander Closter, review of Alice Guy Blaché, p. 477; January, 2006, T. Lindvall, review of The Films of Tim Burton: Animating Live Action in Contemporary Hollywood, p. 861.

Cineaste, winter, 2003, Amelie Hastie, review of Alice Guy Blaché, p. 81; fall, 2006, Rahul Hamid, review of The Films of Tim Burton, p. 92.

Feminist Review, summer, 2007, review of Alice Guy Blaché, p. 196.

Library Journal, March 15, 2002, Jayne Plymale, review of Alice Guy Blaché, p. 84.

Screening the Past, December 16, 2004, Jeannette Delmoir, review of Alice Guy Blaché.

ONLINE

Alison McMahan Home Page,http://www.alisonmcmahan.com (June 16, 2008).

Bare Hands and Wooden Limbs Web site,http://www.barehandswoodenlimbs.com (June 16, 2008).

Cambodia Living with Land Mines Web site,http://www.livingwithlandmines.com (June 16, 2008).

Homunculus Productions, LLC, Web site,http://www.homunculusprods.com/ (June 16, 2008), profile of author.

Internet Movie Database,http://www.imdb.com/ (June 16, 2008), information on author's film work.

Lostvisionary.com,http://www.lostvisionary.com/ (June 16, 2008), profile of author.

McMahan Philanthropy,http://www.mcmahan-philanthropy.com/ (June 16, 2008), profile of author.

Pop Matters,http://www.popmatters.com/ (June 16, 2008), Tara Taghizadeh, review of Alice Guy Blaché.

The Eight Faces of Jane Web site,http://www.8facesofjane.com (June 16, 2008).