Description
Book SynopsisAt the end of World War II, Hollywood basked in unprecedented prosperity. Since then, numerous challenges and crises have changed the American film industry in ways beyond imagination in 1945. Nonetheless, at the start of a new century Hollywood''s worldwide dominance is intact-indeed, in today''s global economy the products of the American entertainment industry (of which movies are now only one part) are more globally pervasive than ever.
How does today''s ''Hollywood''-absorbed into transnational media conglomerates like NewsCorp., Sony and Viacom-differ from the legendary studios of Hollywood''s Golden Age? What are the dominant frameworks and conventions, the historical contexts and the governing attitudes through which films are made, marketed and consumed today? How have these changed across the last seven decades? And how have these evolving contexts helped shape the form, the style and the content of Hollywood movies, from Singin'' in the Rain to Pirates of the Caribbean?
Barry Langford explains and interrogates the concept of ''post-classical'' Hollywood cinema-its coherence, its historical justification and how it can help or hinder our understanding of Hollywood from the forties to the present. Integrating film history, discussion of movies'' social and political dimensions, and analysis of Hollywood''s distinctive methods of storytelling, Post-Classical Hollywood charts key critical debates alongside the histories they interpret, while offering its own account of the ''post-classical''. Wide-ranging yet concise, challenging and insightful, Post-Classical Hollywood offers a new perspective on the most enduringly fascinating art form of our age
Trade ReviewThe book's strengths are real strengths: a good deal of original research, smart writing, and interpretative originality that increases as the book progresses. Highly recommended. -- S. C. Dillon, Bates College Choice Langford's study is both comprehensive and detailed, always keeping the different levels of analysis distinct, while allowing them to inform each other and broaden our understanding of the permutations of Hollywood after 1945. -- Steen Christiansen, Aalborg University, Denmark SCOPE: An Online Journal of Film Studies The book's strengths are real strengths: a good deal of original research, smart writing, and interpretative originality that increases as the book progresses. Highly recommended. Langford's study is both comprehensive and detailed, always keeping the different levels of analysis distinct, while allowing them to inform each other and broaden our understanding of the permutations of Hollywood after 1945.
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I: Hollywood in Transition 1946-1965; Introduction; 1, The Autumn of the Patriarchs; 2, The Communication of Ideas; 3, Modernising Hollywood; Part II: Crisis and Renaissance 1966-1981; Introduction; 4, Changing of the Guard; 5, New Wave Hollywood; 6, Who Lost the Picture Show?; Part III: New Hollywood 1982-2006; Introduction; 7, Corporate Hollywood; 8, Culture Wars; 9, Post-Classical Style?; Conclusion: "Hollywood" Now; Further Reading The Biggest, The Best - case studies; 1946: The Best Years of Our Lives; 1955: Marty, Cinerama Holiday; 1965: The Sound of Music; 1975: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Jaws; 1985: Out of Africa, Back to the Future; 1995: Braveheart, Toy Story; 2005: Crash, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
