Description
Book SynopsisFocusing on exemplary moments in the American silent era, Hansen explains how the concept of the spectator evolved as a crucial part of the classical Hollywood paradigm—as one of the new industry’s strategies to integrate ethnically, socially, and sexually differentiated audiences in a modern culture of consumption.
Trade ReviewBabel and Babylon is a far-reaching book that leads us to new questions about history and theory. It amply proves that early cinema can be one of the most intriguing and productive domains of film study today. -- Dana Polan * Film Criticism *
Hansen’s expansive, detailed, and exceptionally erudite study assesses key instances when cinema spectatorship opened up the possibility of articulating the contradictions of female experience. -- Constance Balides * Signs *
A bold and strikingly original exploration… Hansen has produced a work that has revolutionized the concept of spectatorship in American silent film and that will be an essential tool for historians and film scholars alike. -- Leslie Fishbein * American Historical Review *
An innovative look at the role and impact of class and gender, Hansen’s work significantly realigns many of the issues that have traditionally dominated the study of American silent film. -- Edward D. C. Campbell, Jr. * Journal of American History *
A brilliant study of silent cinema, characterized by meticulous historical scholarship and rigorous and illuminating textual analyses… A work of the first importance in the wider debates about the nature of cultural production and consumption and about texts and reception… This book is a model of what cultural studies ought to be. -- Richard Dyer, University of Warwick
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Cinema Spectatorship and Public Life PART I: Rebuilding the Tower of Babel: The Emergence of Spectatorship 1. A Cinema in Search of a Spectator: Film-Viewer Relations before Hollywood 2. Early Audiences: Myths and Models 3. Chameleon and Catalyst: The Cinema as an Alternative Public Sphere PART II: Babel in Babylon: D. W. Grffith's Intolerance (1916) 4. Reception, Textual System, and Self-Definition 5. "A Radiant Crazy-Quilt": Patterns of Narration and Address 6. Genesis, Causes, Concepts of History 7. Film History, Archaeology Universal Language 8. Hieroglyphics, Figurations of Writing 9. Riddles of Maternity 10. Crisis of Femininity, Fantasies of Rescue PART III: The Return of Babylon: Rudolph Valentino and Female Spectatorship (1921-1926) 11. Male Star, Female Fans 12. Patterns of Vision, Scenarios of Identification Notes Illustration Credits Index
