Description
Book SynopsisAn investigation of the cultural practices and belief systems of Los Angelesbased film and video production workers.
Trade Review“
Production Culture offers a unified and thought-provoking interpretation of Hollywood’s cultural residues while also interfacing with the discourses reproduced by its workers and the processes of production in which these workers engage. What is more, this work calls attention to the fact that one need not be an anthropologist, or even an academic, to ‘do ethnography.’” - Sasha David,
American Ethnologist“For anyone interested in real 'behind the scenes' information regarding film and television production,
Production Culture will prove invaluable. It should also encourage an overdue reality check tilting critical attention away from over-hyped auteur analysis, and help give credit where credit is due in terms of who and what goes into increasingly complex media production.” - Sean Maher,
M/C Reviews“
Production Culture treats the film and television industries as important sites of cultural meaning that can enrich investigations of film and television texts, their production, and their reception. . . .
Production Culture is ground-breaking in scope and ambition. . . .” - Travis Vogan,
Journal of Popular Culture“The strengths of
Production Culture are numerous and Caldwell provides a compelling study of an industry in flux. . . .
Production Culture is a valuable addition to the growing literature exploring creative work and, in some senses, has opened a can of worms by exposing the potential for future work in this area. Many of the insights and conclusions drawn could be applied to the contemporary workplace more broadly, therefore its value moves beyond media and film studies to the sociology of work, industrial practices and management studies.” - Maggie Magor,
Media, Culture, & Society“[T]he research itself is very insightful and there is much of value in the book. Caldwell skillfully negotiates the complications of studying an industrial culture that already invests significant efforts in producing analysis and critical knowledge about itself. He also rightly stresses the importance of this type of work in the field of film studies, noting ‘the need to reconsider how we study and understand cultures of production’ (342). As such, his work provides important tools for film scholars who would use industry materials as secondary sources in their analyses of individual films.” - Heather Macdougall,
Scope“
Production Culture is a stunningly original contribution to film and television studies. John Thornton Caldwell’s argument—that we can learn a lot about the production of culture by looking at the cultures of production—is borne out in an analysis that ranges across texts, populations, and institutional and physical spaces. This is a superb book.”—
Anna McCarthy, author of
Ambient Television: Visual Culture and Public Space“John Thornton Caldwell’s study of ‘production cultures’ adds enormously to our knowledge of a larger media culture. Descriptions of proper ‘uniforms’ for ‘pitch meetings,’ executive autobiographical narratives, trade press accounts—such details, large and small, become sites for rich analysis. The result is a distinct perspective on how television and film are created and, more significantly, on how the creators understand and explain their work.”—
Horace Newcomb, Director of the Peabody Awards and Professor of Telecommunications, University of Georgia
“
Production Culture offers a unified and thought-provoking interpretation of Hollywood’s cultural residues while also interfacing with the discourses reproduced by its workers and the processes of production in which these workers engage. What is more, this work calls attention to the fact that one need not be an anthropologist, or even an academic, to ‘do ethnography.’” -- Sasha David * American Ethnologist *
“
Production Culture treats the film and television industries as important sites of cultural meaning that can enrich investigations of film and television texts, their production, and their reception. . . .
Production Culture is ground-breaking in scope and ambition. . . .” -- Travis Vogan * Journal of Popular Culture *
“[T]he research itself is very insightful and there is much of value in the book. Caldwell skillfully negotiates the complications of studying an industrial culture that already invests significant efforts in producing analysis and critical knowledge about itself. He also rightly stresses the importance of this type of work in the field of film studies, noting ‘the need to reconsider how we study and understand cultures of production’ (342). As such, his work provides important tools for film scholars who would use industry materials as secondary sources in their analyses of individual films.” -- Heather Macdougall * Scope *
“For anyone interested in real 'behind the scenes' information regarding film and television production,
Production Culture will prove invaluable. It should also encourage an overdue reality check tilting critical attention away from over-hyped auteur analysis, and help give credit where credit is due in terms of who and what goes into increasingly complex media production.” -- Sean Maher * M/C Reviews *
“The strengths of
Production Culture are numerous and Caldwell provides a compelling study of an industry in flux. . . .
Production Culture is a valuable addition to the growing literature exploring creative work and, in some senses, has opened a can of worms by exposing the potential for future work in this area. Many of the insights and conclusions drawn could be applied to the contemporary workplace more broadly, therefore its value moves beyond media and film studies to the sociology of work, industrial practices and management studies.” -- Maggie Magor * Media, Culture & Society *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii
Introduction: Industry Reflexivity and Common Sense 1
Chapter 1: Trade Stories and Career Capital 37
Chapter 2: Trade Rituals and Turf Marking 69
Chapter 3: Trade Images and Imagined Communities (Below the Line) 110
Chapter 4: Trade Machines and Manufactured Identities (Below the Line) 150
Chapter 5: Industrial Auteur Theory (Above the Line/Creative) 197
Chapter 6: Industrial Identity Theory (Above the Line/Business) 232
Chapter 7: Industrial Reflexivity as Viral Marketing 274
Conclusion: Shoot-Outs, Bake-Offs, and Speed Dating (Manic Disclosure/Non-Disclosure 316
Appendix 1: Method: Artifacts and Cultural Practices in Production Studies 345
Appendix 2: A Taxonomy of DVD Bonus Track Strategies and Functions 362
Appendix 3: Practitioner Avowal/Disavowal (Industrial Doublespeak) 368
Appendix 4: Corporate Reflexivity vs. Worker Reflexivity (The Two Warring Flipsides of Industrial Self-Disclosure) 370
Notes 373
Works Cited 433
Index 445
