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Media History

3rd session: Film, Hollywood and History

Steen Christiansensteen@hum.aau.dk

Early cinema history

Kinetoscope, peepshow

Lack of direction

Urban phenomenon

Language not a barrier

Cultural integration

Imagined community

Fixed-camera

Movie Theaters

Industry

Nickelodeon

Movie Industry

Production

Distribution

Exhibition

Vertical integration

Genres

Star system

The Rise of Hollywoods Studio System

LA, California and Hollywood

Double-billing

Popcorn

1948 Supreme Court ended the studio system by ruling vertical integration illegal

Peter Pan effect

Film Industry and Technology

Sound

A challenge to Hollywood

Destroyed Danish cinemas international appeal

Color

Cinemascope

The challenge of TV

SFX and CGI

3D

Controlling the Film Industry

Film is particularly persuasive?

MPPDA

Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America

MPPA

Motion Picture Association of America

Voluntary scrutiny

Production Code

Exploitation movies

Film Production

Risky business

Theaters, DVD, TV, Planes, Hotels, etc

90% of the revenue goes to the distribution company/production company

The Film Form of Hollywood

180 degree rules

Coherent narrative

Specific narrative development

The Hollywood style determines general expectations of films

Hollywood Canonic Narration

Normalized options (Bordwell 1985, 156)

Psychologically defined characters

Conflict

Clear goals or problems

Decisive resolution

Basic plot

Initial stage gets violated and must be set right

Undisturbed

Disturbance introduced

Struggle

Disturbance eliminated

Double causal structure

Romantic relationship

Other sphere: work, war,quest, mission, etc

Distinct but interdependent

Movies and Culture

What is films connection to culture?

How have different styles, narratives, genres, etc been used at different times in history?

The Dominance of Hollywood Films Today

WWI

American companies untouched by war could keep producing movies

WWII

Targeting own national audience, international audiences only add extra money

80% of movies in Denmark are American/Hollywood

Independent movies

Sundance

Film festivals in general

Distribution changes

Juno

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