A celebration of Nicolas Cage — the man and the meme

Nicolas Cage: leading man or character actor? Action hero or goofball comedian? Internet joke or one of the greatest actors of his generation? Beyond the gif bait and easy punchline, Nicolas Cage continually frustrates easy categorization or understanding. In National Treasure, pop culture writer Lindsay Gibb studies Nicolas Cage’s acting style and makes sense of the trajectory of his eclectic career. In the process, Gibb debunks the common claim that Cage makes bad choices.

While his selection of roles is seemingly inscrutable, Cage challenges critics and audiences alike by refusing to be predictable or to conform to the Hollywood approach to acting. Much like one of his mentors, David Lynch, Cage aims for art in movie-making. Is there a method to his madness? Is he in on the joke? In this clear-eyed and well-argued volume of the Pop Classics series, Gibb answers both questions with a resounding hell yes.

About the Pop Classics Series

Short books that pack a big punch, Pop Classics offer intelligent, fun, and accessible arguments about why a particular pop phenomenon matters.

Lindsay Gibb's profile page

• Winner, IPPY

Lindsay Gibb is a librarian and journalist with a specific interest in zines, film, and comics. She co-programs the Toronto Comic Arts Festival’s Librarian and Educator Day and her writing has appeared in Shameless, This Magazine, and Playback. She was the editor of Broken Pencil magazine and co-founded Spacing magazine. Lindsay lives in Toronto, Ontario.

“Future scholars will pity modern moviegoers who failed to recognize the magnificence of Nicolas Cage because he ate a live cockroach, yelled about bees, and wore many mullets in the name of his art. Lindsay Gibb gives Cage’s defenders all the ammo they need with an entertaining and insightful study that celebrates the man in all his wild contradictions.” — Jason Anderson, film journalist and programmer

“I didn’t know I wanted to understand Nicolas Cage, until I read Lindsay Gibb’s book. Now I’m sure of it.” — Jesse Wente, head of film programmes, TIFF Bell Lightbox

“Beyond this concerted effort to legitimize the seriousness of what is sometimes considered ‘trashy,’ there is actually something truly beautiful about spending a hundred pages with an author who is smartly passionate about their subject matter — especially if you yourself would never have actually considered its value before they did deft work of convincing you of it. At the risk of sounding like a hater, I readily admit my opinion of Nicolas Cage was somewhere in the realm of ‘slightly amused mockery’ until Gibb persuaded me otherwise.” — Stacey May Fowles, author of Infidelity

“A fun, thoughtful and quirky look at the machinations of hollywood and being a fan.” — National Post

“You don’t need to be a fan of Nicolas Cage to enjoy this fun romp through his strange and wonderful film career. On the contrary, Gibb’s heartfelt tribute will convince you to start a Nic Cage binge-watch-a-thon faster than you can say, ‘No, not the bees!’” — Broken Pencil

“Lindsay Gibb’s book makes for an accomplished case study in Cage’s dual status as cult actor who appears in indie art films and A-list celebrity who stars in mega-budget blockbusters … Gibb’s book raises the points of Cage’s genius in a convincing manner.” — Hong Kong Review of Books

“This book is hilarious, well researched and aims to convince us all that Nicolas Cage is in fact the greatest actor of all time.” — Toronto Public Library's The Buzz … About Books blog