The United States is responsible for many films that stand the test of time. Their studio system produced lavish productions in order to remain dominant over global film markets.
Political concerns are rarely explicit in these images, yet still present. A common theme seen across several pictures is Negro-White relations.
Origins
Lumiere Brothers may have pioneered modern cinema, but American filmmakers established film as a dominant form of entertainment in the twentieth century. This course investigates how economic, technological and political forces transformed American film as both art and commerce; we will study films by some of its most iconic directors while considering current debates regarding moviemaking in digital age.
As soon as silent movies ceased production in the 1920s, studios started producing movies like automobiles on Henry Ford’s assembly lines. Creative teams often worked together on multiple films produced by one studio; this led to genres such as westerns, slapstick comedies, musicals and film noir emerging. Movie stars gained more control over production of their films and were more selective about which ones they accepted to star in.
As television gained in popularity during the 1950s, Hollywood producers worried that audiences may no longer watch films – leading many studios to produce various sound formats such as talkies. Furthermore, some maverick directors such as Orson Welles made careers by challenging studio norms with movies that explored artistic expression to the limits.
Influence
Major milestones in American cinema don’t necessarily depend on fan or critic popularity alone; rather, they represent movies that had an important effect on film-making in general and set new standards for quality storytelling and acting. They had an enormous effect on modern film culture while having lasting ramifications on how directors approach their craft.
Maverick filmmakers of the 1960s and 1970s introduced American cinema with an entirely new aesthetic, often drawing upon European styles. Directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese and George Lucas helped define blockbuster cinema with films that paid homage to predecessors while expanding existing genres while pioneering innovative techniques of film-making.
Ross Melnick of UCSB’s Center for Media Studies spent over two decades studying how cinematic embassy programs worked to project American power abroad; these findings were then published as Hollywood’s Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected It Around the Globe.
Recently, there has been a shift toward more independent filmmaking. This movement was driven by films like Do the Right Thing, Clerks, and Pulp Fiction which helped revive independent filmmaking as a viable commercial industry. These filmmakers took inspiration from non-American directors such as Jean Luc Godard and Satyajit Ray; using their styles to challenge Hollywood conventions.
Styles
American cinema offers an enormous variety of traditions to explore, some of which may have been overlooked or undervalued. The books in this series explore how diverse filmic approaches intersect with cultural, economic, and technological contexts to form a vital twentieth-century art form.
In the 1950s and 60s, American filmmakers who became known as members of the first new wave emerged, usually centered in New York. While their work encompassed multiple genres, they shared an antipathy towards mainstream film as they strived to capture life truthfully on screen. Furthermore, these filmmakers adopted techniques from free cinema in England, nouvelle vague in France, Poland Italy Russia.
The pioneers of new wave cinema used handheld cameras to capture everyday life. Instead of relying on narration or other devices to tell their tale, these directors allowed actors to speak freely while using their bodies to convey inner emotions. John Cassavetes’ Shadows is an example of new wave cinema. Cassavetes shot his film over two years on Manhattan streets using a hand-held camera and cast from Cassavetes’ method acting workshops, giving a raw and realistic glimpse into working class American lives while exploring both its beauty and moral corruption.
Representation
American film is the dominant force in global cinema. From Marvel and Star Wars flicks to Bridget Jones movies, most major releases in theaters come from American studios. This trend began in New York as early 20th-century America saw Kaufman Astoria Studios open up shop in Queens; many silent era stars, like W.C. Fields and Marx Brothers made Queens their base. Additionally, New York became a center for independent filmmaking including avant-garde documentary projects being created there as well.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Fox studios expanded their international operations during the early 1920s by purchasing movie theaters worldwide as “cultural embassies,” providing a window into America while increasing global awareness of US films. Furthermore, using large screen ratio theaters allowed these studios to present films in grand style.
American cinema, while incredibly popular, has long been beset with representational issues. Early scholarship on American cinema was relatively silent on questions of race; however, recent scholarship has begun examining how Hollywood films of the silent and early sound eras contributed to creating deep-seated racism founded on colonialism and slavery. Western genre films have also been examined closely due to depictions of Native Americans; similarly Russian people as antagonists became an enduring motif during Cold War films.
