Movies and American Society

ISBN-13: 9780470673645 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 416 str.

Steven J. Ross

Opis

The second edition of Movies and American Society is a comprehensive collection of essays and primary documents that explore the ways in which movies have changed--and been changed by--American society from 1905 to the present.

• Each chapter includes an introduction, discussion questions, an essay examining the issues of the period, primary documents, and a list of further reading and screenings
• Includes a new chapter on "American Film in the Age of Terror" and new essays for Chapter 9 ("Race, Violence, and Film") and Chapter 13 ("Hollywood Goes Global"), as well as updated Reading and Screenings sections
• Discusses all the major periods in American film history from the first nickelodeons to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the globalization of Hollywood
• Demonstrates the unique influence of movies on all aspects of American culture, from ideology, politics, and gender to class, war, and race relations
• Engaging and accessible for students, with jargon-free essays and primary documents that show social practices and controversies as well as the fun and cultural influence of movies and movie-going

This collection of thirteen essays and supporting primary documents explores how films have changed—and been changed by—American society. Each chapter covers a distinct period and contains an introduction, essay, discussion questions, primary documents, and suggestions for further reading and film screenings.

Spis treści

Preface ix

Preface to the First Edition x

Source Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction: Why Movies Matter 1

1 Going to the Movies: Early Audiences 14

Introduction to Article 14

The Celluloid Stage: Nickelodeon Audiences by Richard Butsch 15

Documents 32

Introduction to Documents 32

The Nickel Madness by Barton W. Carrie 32

Report of Censorship of Motion Pictures and of Investigation of Motion Picture Theatres of Cleveland by Robert O. Bartholomew 38

House Fly Panics Pittsburgh Movie Audience 40

Readings and Screenings 41

2 Heroes and Heroines of Their Own Entertainment: Progressive–Era Cinema 43

Introduction to Article 43

Front Page Movies by Kay Sloan 44

Documents 58

Introduction to Documents 58

The Social Uses of the Moving Picture by W. Stephen Bush 59

Los Angeles Socialist Movie Theater 62

Readings and Screenings 64

3 The Rise of Hollywood: Movies, Ideology, and Audiences in the Roaring Twenties 66

Introduction to Article 66

Fantasy and Politics: Moviegoing and Movies in the 1920s by Steven J. Ross 67

Documents 91

Introduction to Documents 91

The Deluxe Picture Palace by Lloyd Lewis 92

Petting at the Movies by E. J. Mitchell 94

The Actor s Part by Milton Sills 95

Readings and Screenings 98

4 Who Controls What We See? Censorship and the Attack on Hollywood Immorality 100

Introduction to Article 100

Hollywood Censored: The Production Code Administration and the Hollywood Film Industry, 1930 1940
by Gregory D. Black 101

Documents 123

Introduction to Documents 123

Quotes from Censorship of the Theater and Moving Pictures edited by Lamar T. Beman 123

Readings and Screenings 129

5 Confronting the Great Depression: Renewing Democracy in Hard Times 130

Introduction to Article 130

The Recreation of America: Hybrid Moviemakers and the Multicultural Republic by Lary May 131

Documents 160

Introduction to Documents 160

Responses to Edward G. Robinson s Declaration of Democratic Independence 161

Readings and Screenings 163

6 Alternatives Cinemas: Movies on the Margins 165

Introduction to Article 165

Others Movies by Thomas Cripps 166

Documents 185

Introduction to Documents 185

The Negro and the Photo–Play by Oscar Micheaux 185

The Symbol of the Unconquered, New Play 187

Some New American Documentaries: In Defense of Liberty by John H. Winge 188

Readings and Screenings 191

7 Seeing Red: Cold War Hollywood 193

Introduction to Article 193

Hollywood and the Cold War by John Belton 194

Documents 214

Introduction to Documents 214

FBI Report, Communist Political Influence and Activities in the Motion Picture Business in Hollywood, California 215

The Waldorf Statement, Issued by the Association of Motion Picture Producers 219

Readings and Screenings 220

8 Eisenhower s America: Prosperity and Problems in the 1950s 222

Introduction to Article 222

The Fifties by Leonard Quart and Albert Auster 223

Documents 242

Introduction to Documents 242

Teen Idol: Hedda Hopper Interviews James Dean 243

Reviews of Rebel Without a Cause 246

Readings and Screenings 249

9 Race, Violence, and Film: From the Blaxploitation Era of the 1960s to the Hood–Homeboy Movies of the 1990s 252

Introduction to Article 252

Black Violence as Cinema: From Cheap Thrills to Historical Agonies by Ed Guerrero 253

Documents 269

Introduction to Documents 269

Variety Reports Reactions to Guess Who s Coming to Dinner? 269

Blaxploitation Movies: Cheap Thrills That Degrade Blacks by Alvin F. Poussaint 271

Readings and Screenings 274

10 Vietnam and the Crisis of American Power: Movies, War, and Militarism 277

Introduction to Article 277

Vietnam and the New Militarism by Michael Ryan and Douglas Kellner 278

Documents 300

Introduction to Documents 300

Correspondence Regarding the Making of The Green Berets 300

Platoon Marks End of a Cycle for Oliver Stone by Sean Mitchell 302

Reunion: Men of a Real Platoon by Jay Sharbutt 306

Readings and Screenings 308

11 Reagan s America: The Backlash Against Women and Men 310

Introduction to Article 310

Fatal and Fetal Visions: The Backlash in the Movies by Susan Faludi 311

Documents 333

Introduction to Documents 333

Equal Rights Amendment, 1972 334

A Backlash Manifesto by Phyllis Schlafly 334

A New Stereotype: The Crazy Career Woman by Richard Cohen 338

Readings and Screenings 339

12 American Film in the Age of Terror: The Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq 342

Introduction to Article 342

Limited Engagement: The Iraq War on Film by Susan L. Carruthers 343

Documents 358

Introduction to Documents 358

Why Iraq War Films Fail by Tom Streithorst 359

Total Receipts and Production Costs for Films About Afghanistan and Iraq by John Markert 362

Readings and Screenings 363

13 Hollywood Goes Global: The Internationalization of American Cinema 365

Introduction to Article 365

Why Hollywood Rules the World, and Whether We Should Care by Tyler Cowen 366

Documents 382

Introduction to Documents 382

Testimony Before Congressional Hearings on Television Broadcasting and the European Community 383

Global Box Office Climb Continues in 2011 385

Readings and Screenings 386

Index 389

O autorze

Steven J. Ross is Professor of History at the University of Southern California. He is co–director of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities and author of Workers On the Edge: Work, Leisure, and Politics in Industrializing Cincinnati, 1788–1890 (1985), Working–Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America (1998), and Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics (2011). Ross is the recipient of the Theater Library Association Book Award and a Film Scholars Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Blurb

Movies are more than just an evening s entertainment.  As historical documents, they reflect how Americans see and think about their world. Movies and American Society is a comprehensive collection of thirteen essays and supporting primary documents that explore how films have changed and been changed by American society from 1905 to the present. 

 

Each chapter contains an introduction by the editor, an essay that explores how movies made during a specific period dealt with problems of the time, discussion questions, primary documents, and suggestions for further reading and film screenings. The second edition includes a new chapter on American Film in the Age of Terror, as well as new essays for the chapters on Race, Violence, and Film and Hollywood Goes Global and fully updated Readings and Screenings sections.  The book provides sustained discussion and insight into each period while examining a broad range of topics, from ideology, politics, and gender to class, war, and race relations.  The jargon–free essays are engaging and accessible for students and the documents explore not only social practices and controversies but also the fun and cultural influence of movies and movie–going.

 

Bringing together the best scholarship and many never–before–collected documents, this is an essential resource for those wishing to understand the social and cultural impact of film on 20^th– and 21^st–century American life.