Adventure Movies: Cinema of the Quest

by Harvey O'Brien

This volume examines the cinema of adventure, distinct from action and action-adventure. It argues that the adventurer is separate from the action hero and that the cinema of adventure?from tales of gods and monsters defied by mythic heroes to stories of crusaders conquering far-flung territories, from true-life accounts of survival or death at the extreme reaches of human endurance to science-fiction stories of journeys beyond human conception?represents a life-affirming confrontation with our collective mortality and spiritual immortality. Adventure heroes do not fear death like action heroes. They embrace and transcend death with a conviction grounded in a faith that extends behind and before them into eternity. They achieve immortality by telling and retelling their tales across media forms in spite of social and technological change.