Hollywood's Censor by Thomas DohertyCultural historian Thomas Doherty recounts the untold tale of the man who dictated "final cut" over more movies than anyone in the history of American cinema. Empowered by industry insiders and millions of like-minded Catholics, Joseph I. Breen oversaw the editing of A-list feature films, low-budget B movies, short subjects, previews of coming attractions, and even cartoons. Populated by a colorful cast of characters, including Catholic priests, Jewish moguls, visionary auteurs, hardnosed journalists, and bluenose agitators, Doherty's insightful, behind-the-scenes portrait brings a tumultuous era#65533;and an individual both feared and admired-to vivid life.
ISBN: 9780231512848
Publication Date: 2009-03-31
Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures by Scott MacKenzie (Editor)Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures is the first book to collect manifestoes from the global history of cinema, providing the first historical and theoretical account of the role played by film manifestos in filmmaking and film culture. Focusing equally on political and aesthetic manifestoes, Scott MacKenzie uncovers a neglected, yet nevertheless central history of the cinema, exploring a series of documents that postulate ways in which to re-imagine the cinema and, in the process, re-imagine the world. This volume collects the major European "waves" and figures (Eisenstein, Truffaut, Bergman, Free Cinema, Oberhausen, Dogme '95); Latin American Third Cinemas (Birri, Sanjinés, Espinosa, Solanas); radical art and the avant-garde (Buñuel, Brakhage, Deren, Mekas, Ono, Sanborn); and world cinemas (Iimura, Makhmalbaf, Sembene, Sen). It also contains previously untranslated manifestos co-written by figures including Bollaín, Debord, Hermosillo, Isou, Kieslowski, Painlevé, Straub, and many others. Thematic sections address documentary cinema, aesthetics, feminist and queer film cultures, pornography, film archives, Hollywood, and film and digital media. Also included are texts traditionally left out of the film manifestos canon, such as the Motion Picture Production Code and Pius XI's Vigilanti Cura, which nevertheless played a central role in film culture.
ISBN: 0520957415
Publication Date: 2014-03-26
Film Censorship by Sheri Chinen BiesenFilm Censorship is a concise overview of Hollywood censorship and efforts to regulate American films. Sheri Chinen Biesen unveils the behind-the-scenes history of cinema censorship and explore how Hollywood responded to censorial constraints on screen content in a changing cultural and industrial landscape.
ISBN: 0231851138
Publication Date: 2018-08-01
Media, Ideology and Hegemony by Savaş Çoban (Volume Editor)Media, Ideology and Hegemony contains a range of topics that provide readers with opportunities to think critically about the new digital world. This includes work on old and new media, on the corporate power structure in communication and information technology, and on government use of media to control citizens. Demonstrating that the new world of media is a hotly contested terrain, the book also uncovers the contradictions inherent in the system of digital power and documents how citizens are using media and information technology to actively resist repressive power. This collection of essays is grounded with a critical theoretical foundation, and is informed by the importance of undertaking the analysis in historical perspective. Contributors are: Alfonso M. Rodr guez de Austria Gim nez de Aragon, Burton Lee Artz, Arthur Asa Berger, Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Marco Briziarelli, Savaş oban, Jeffrey Hoffmann, Junhao Hong, Robert Jensen, Douglas Kellner, Thomas Klikauer, Peter Ludes, Tanner Mirrlees, Vincent Mosco, Victor Pickard, Padmaja Shaw, Nick Stevenson, Gerald Sussman, Minghua Xu.
ISBN: 9004357572
Publication Date: 2018-09-20
The Last Word by Justin GautreauThe Last Word argues that the Hollywood novel opened up space for cultural critique of the film industry at a time when the industry lacked the capacity to critique itself. While the young studio system worked tirelessly to burnish its public image in the wake of celebrity scandal, several industry insiders wrote fiction to fill in what newspapers and fan magazines left out. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, these novels aimed to expose the invisible machinery of classical Hollywood cinema, including not only the evolving artifice of the screen but also the promotional discourse that complemented it. As likeminded filmmakers in the 1940s and 1950s gradually brought the dark side of the industry to the screen, however, the Hollywood novel found itself struggling to live up to its original promise of delivering the unfilmable. By the 1960s, desperate to remain relevant, the genre had devolved into little more than erotic fantasy of movie stars behind closed doors, perhaps the only thing the public couldn't already find elsewhere. Still, given their unique ability to speak beyond the institutional restraints of their time, these earlier works offer a window into the industry's dynamic creation and re-creation of itself in the public imagination.
ISBN: 9780190944551
Publication Date: 2020-11-02
Evading the Issue by Amanda J. FieldTino Balio, in his book The American Film Industry, said that the Production Code meant that American films could not deal with political or social issues 'in an honest and truthful fashion'. This incisive essay tests out the legitimacy of Balio'...
ISBN: 1909183784
Publication Date: 2015-03-24
Beyond the Looking Glass by Ana SalzbergAs living subjects rather than static icons, studio-era Hollywood actresses actively negotiated a balance between their public personas, film roles, and corporeal presence. The contemporary audience's engagement with the experience of these actresses unsettles the traditional model of narcissistic identification, which divides the off-screen spectator from his/her on-screen ideal. nbsp;nbsp;Exploring the fan's desire for a material connection to the performer - as well as the star's own dialogue between embodied experience and idealized image - Beyond the Looking Glass traces on- and off-screen representations of narcissistic femininity in classical Hollywood through studies of stars like Greta Garbo, Ava Gardner, and Marilyn Monroe. nbsp;Merging historical and theoretical concerns, with particular attention to the resonance of golden-age Hollywood in new media, this book explores the movie screen as a medium of shared experience between spectator and star.
ISBN: 1782383999
Publication Date: 2014-08-01
Hollywood and the Law by Paul McDonald; Eric Hoyt; Emily CarmanSince the earliest days of cinema the law has influenced the conditions in which Hollywood films are made, sold, circulated or presented - from the talent contracts that enable a film to go into production, to the copyright laws that govern its distribution and the censorship laws that may block exhibition. Equally, Hollywood has left its own impression on the American legal system by lobbying to expand the duration of copyright, providing a highly visible stage for contract disputes and representing the legal system on screen. In this comprehensive collection, international experts offer chapters on key topics, including copyright, trademark, piracy, antitrust, censorship, international exhibition, contracts, labour and tax. Drawing on historical and contemporary case studies, Hollywood and the Law provides readers with a wide range of perspectives on how legal frameworks shape the culture and commerce of popular film.
ISBN: 1844579298
Publication Date: 2017-10-07
Tyrone Power by Gillian KellyOne of the most popular actors of the Classical Hollywood period, Tyrone Power's appeal was initially based around his outstanding beauty, his looks remaining key to his star persona throughout his 25-year career and almost 50 films. This book presents the first substantial academic study of Power and employs a range of approaches, including stardom and genre theory, to reappraise his career from various angles including gender, genre and image. Textual analysis coincides with discussions of Power's multi-layered performances in a variety of genres while engaging with industry systems, specifically Twentieth Century-Fox, his home studio for almost two decades, and situates Power's performances within the contexts of industry regulations, such as the Production Code, and industry technological advances, such as CinemaScope.
ISBN: 1474452949
Publication Date: 2021-02-16
Queer Images by Benshoff; GriffinQueer Images chronicles representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer sexualities over one hundred years of American film. The most up-to-date and comprehensive book of its kind, it explores the ever-changing images of queer characters onscreen as well as the work of queer filmmakers and the cultural histories of queer audiences--from the works of discreetly homosexual filmmakers during Hollywood''s Golden Age and classical Hollywood''s attempt to purge sex perversion from films, to queer exploitation and physique films, cinematic responses to AIDS, and how contemporary Hollywood deals with queer issues. An essential volume for film buffs and anyone interested in sexuality and culture. Visit our website for sample chapter
ISBN: 9780742568570
Publication Date: 2006-01-01
Sex Scene by Eric Schaefer (Editor)Sex Scene suggests that what we have come to understand as the sexual revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s was actually a media revolution. In lively essays, the contributors examine a range of mass media--film and television, recorded sound, and publishing--that provide evidence of the circulation of sex in the public sphere, from the mainstream to the fringe. They discuss art films such as I am Curious (Yellow), mainstream movies including Midnight Cowboy, sexploitation films such as Mantis in Lace, the emergence of erotic film festivals and of gay pornography, the use of multimedia in sex education, and the sexual innuendo of The Love Boat. Scholars of cultural studies, history, and media studies, the contributors bring shared concerns to their diverse topics. They highlight the increasingly fluid divide between public and private, the rise of consumer and therapeutic cultures, and the relationship between identity politics and individual rights. The provocative surveys and case studies in this nuanced cultural history reframe the "sexual revolution" as the mass sexualization of our mediated world. Contributors. Joseph Lam Duong, Jeffrey Escoffier, Kevin M. Flanagan, Elena Gorfinkel, Raymond J. Haberski Jr., Joan Hawkins, Kevin Heffernan, Eithne Johnson, Arthur Knight, Elana Levine, Christie Milliken, Eric Schaefer, Jeffrey Sconce, Jacob Smith, Leigh Ann Wheeler, Linda Williams
ISBN: 0822356546
Publication Date: 2014-03-21
Controversial Cinema by Kendall R. PhillipsAt the heart of any history of controversial films is a strange paradox: while films, especially popular and mainstream films, are often portrayed as meaningless products of popular culture, those popular films involved in public controversies become the focal point of enormous cultural energy, political attention, and profoundly conflicting sets of principles. The ongoing culture wars continue to shape the American political landscape, and controversial films continue to be a major point of conflict. Controversial Cinema: The Films that Outraged America traces the history of controversial films and offers insights into why it is that certain films spark controversies, and how Americans typically react to controversial moviemaking. Since the widespread banning of DW Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, the American film industry has found itself embroiled in one political controversy after another. These controversies have centered on everything from the portrayal of the past, as in Griffith's film, to depictions of sex and sexuality, to the use of graphic violence, and issues of race, religion, and politics. In turn, segments of the American public have been driven to boycott, picket, and even censor those films they felt challenged their sense of decency. At the heart of this history of controversial films is a strange paradox: while films, especially popular and mainstream films, are often portrayed as meaningless products of popular culture, popular films involved in public controversies become the focal point of enormous cultural energy and political attention. The ongoing culture wars thus continue to shape the American political landscape, and controversial films continue to be a major point of conflict. In the course of this wide-ranging work, Kendall Phillips offers insights into the kinds of films that spark controversies, and the ways that Americans typically react to them. Organized around broad controversial themes and with particular attention to mainstream films since the dissolution of the Motion Picture Production Code in the mid-1960s, Controversial Cinema explores why films spark broad cultural controversies, how these controversies play out, and the long-term results. The four broad areas of controversy examined in the work are: Sex and Sexuality, Violence, Race, and Religion. Each chapter offers a broad overview of the history of these topics in controversial American films as well as more in-depth examinations of recent examples, including The Silence of the Lambs, Natural Born Killers, Do the Right Thing, and The Passion of the Christ. A final section of the book considers the broader issues of cultural politics in light of the long history of controversial cinema.
ISBN: 9780275994648
Publication Date: 2008-06-30
The Classical Hollywood Reader by Steve Neale (Editor)The Classical Hollywood Reader brings together essential readings to provide a history of Hollywood from the 1910s to the mid 1960s. Following on from a Prologue that discusses the aesthetic characteristics of Classical Hollywood films, Part 1 covers the period between the 1910s and the mid-to-late 1920s. It deals with the advent of feature-length films in the US and the growing national and international dominance of the companies responsible for their production, distribution and exhibition. In doing so, it also deals with film making practices, aspects of style, the changing roles played by women in an increasingly business-oriented environment, and the different audiences in the US for which Hollywood sought to cater. Part 2 covers the period between the coming of sound in the mid 1920s and the beginnings of the demise of the `studio system` in late 1940s. In doing so it deals with the impact of sound on films and film production in the US and Europe, the subsequent impact of the Depression and World War II on the industry and its audiences, the growth of unions, and the roles played by production managers and film stars at the height of the studio era. Part 3 deals with aspects of style, censorship, technology, and film production. It includes articles on the Production Code, music and sound, cinematography, and the often neglected topic of animation. Part 4 covers the period between 1946 and 1966. It deals with the demise of the studio system and the advent of independent production. In an era of demographic and social change, it looks at the growth of drive-in theatres, the impact of television, the advent of new technologies, the increasing importance of international markets, the Hollywood blacklist, the rise in art house imports and in overseas production, and the eventual demise of the Production Code. Designed especially for courses on Hollywood Cinema, the Reader includes a number of newly researched and written chapters and a series of introductions to each of its parts. It concludes with an epilogue, a list of resources for further research, and an extensive bibliography.