For 30 years, Texas Book Festival has celebrated stories that explore Texas’ cultural richness, heritage, and the spirit of what it means to call Texas home. In partnership with our friends at the Paramount Theatre and Austin Film Festival, we are proud to present our first Summer Classic Film Series collaboration on Sunday, August 24 at the Paramount Theatre. This event will feature a screening of the 1956 film Giant followed by a conversation between Giant Love author Julie Gilbert and Texas Monthly film, music, and Texas culture contributor Sean O’Neal.
In Giant Love, Julie Gilbert tells the story of her great-aunt’s novel and its movie adaption in a sprawling tale big enough to be claimed by a state like Texas. Broyles and Gilbert will discuss the novel’s adaptation to screen, the historical revelations uncovered while writing Giant Love, and the lasting impact Giant has had on American filmmaking from the 20th century to today. In addition to covering the intrigue surrounding movie stars Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean and the making of this mid-century darling, Giant Love recounts the equally fascinating history and reception of the book that preceded the star-studded epic film.
When Edna Ferber’s novel, Giant, was published in 1952, Texan reception was split. The state’s residents bristled at Ferber’s complicated, true-to-life portrayals of Texas’s diverse population in the book. In 1956, however, Giant was adapted into the film by the same title—starring three of the biggest stars of the day. Texans were proud to see their home state and the West Texas town of Marfa receiving national attention and admiration on the big screen.
Edna Ferber, the Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist, fearlessly addressed complex topics through her work. As a former journalist, Ferber brought unflinching clarity to her representations of race, gender, and social consciousness in fiction. During the 1950s—a time when women and people of color alike were struggling to find agency in the South—Ferber’s epic novel Giant depicted the reality of everyday Texans and their nuanced lives. Ferber’s bold examination did not condemn those Texans, but rather trusted readers to look into a mirror and recognize their own resilience and capability. As a woman writing in a male-dominated field, Ferber brought a unique perspective, grit, and strength to female characters such as Leslie Benedict. Ferber’s legacy defined a genre that was historical, journalistic, and literary in quality; her work paved the way for telling the stories of the working class rather than of the elite. She depicted Texans as complicated, fierce people who were capable of deep and tragic internal lives—so different from the portrayals of the South in Westerns and in television sitcoms. Ferber framed the South and Texas not as stereotypes, but as homes to people of great substance.
Like the groundbreaking novel that shared its name, the movie adaptation of Giant defied cinematic expectations by taking seriously the concerns of those who were previously satirized or stereotyped in the media. Giant exemplified the epic film genre by foregrounding Texans’ struggles with gender and racial discrimination in a sweeping narrative that spans decades. The cinematography of Texas landscapes across the wide screen redefined the visual medium of cinema. Though James Dean’s death during production steeped the film in a tragic lore, Giant influenced future films that would delve into the complexities of capitalism, multi-generational narratives, and movies centered around identity.
Today, in a state where everything is bigger, Texas takes pride in its cultural diversity. The book and movie versions of Giant paved the way for the expansive storytelling depicted in modern Texas media. We hope you will join TBF, the Paramount Theatre, and Austin Film Festival on a late summer afternoon to pay tribute to a great book, a great film—and true to TBF’s mission—a great conversation.
