Table Of Content

AmericAn cinemA / AmericAn culture looks at the interplay between American cinema and mass culture from the 1890s to 2011. It begins with an examination of the basic narrative and stylistic features of classical Hollywood cinema. It studies the genres of silent melodrama, the musical, American comedy, the war/combat film, film noir, the western, and the horror and science fiction film; investigating the ways in which movies shape and are shaped by the larger cultural concerns of the nation as a whole. The book concludes with a discussion of post–World War II Hollywood, and separate coverage of the effects of the Cold War, 3-D, television, the counterculture of the 1960s, directors from the film school generation, and the cultural concerns of Hollywood from the 1970s through 2011. Ideal for introduction to American cinema courses, American film history courses, and introductory film appreciation courses, this text provides a cultural overview of the phenomenon of the American moviegoing experience. Features oF the Fourth edition • An expanded treatment of digital cinema—new sections on the technology and aesthetics of digital 3-D cinema, and an analysis of Avatar as a fantasy film in 3-D are part of the extensive revisions in Chapter 17, “Into the Twenty-First Century.” • The changing landscape of films about the war in Iraq is examined in a new study of Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker in Chapter 9, “War and Cinema.” • A new segmentation and discussion of David Fincher’s the Social network is included in Chapter 2, “Classical Hollywood Cinema: Narration.” • A new section on recent comedies including The Hangover and Easy A is now included in Chapter 8, “American Comedy.” • A discussion of Joel and Ethan Coen’s true Grit is included in Chapter 11, “The Making of the West.” hallmark Features • Cultural Focus. A reflection on the cultural history of American film, focusing primarily on topics and issues rather than on what happened when. • Scholarship. Basic concepts are presented in a manner that encourages discussion, not so much of individual films, but of films in general. • Accessibility. Methods and discoveries are appropriate for an introductory level course surveying American cinema. Md. Dalim #1173333 12/02/11 Cyan Mag Yelo Black Confi rming Pages AMERICAN CINEMA /AMERICAN CULTURE Fourth Edition John Belton Rutgers University bbeell3355009955__ffmm__ii--xxxxiiii..iinndddd ii 2211//1111//1111 55::1122 PPMM Confi rming Pages AMERICAN CINEMA/AMERICAN CULTURE, FOURTH EDITION Published by McGraw-Hill, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Previous editions © 2009, 2005, and 1994. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States. This book is printed on acid-free paper. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 DOC/DOC 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 ISBN 978-0-07-353509-8 MHID 0-07-353509-5 Vice President & Editor-in-Chief: Michael Ryan Vice President & Director of Specialized Publishing: Janice M. Roerig-Blong Publisher: Christopher Freitag Sponsoring Editor: Jessica Cannavo Marketing Coordinator: Angela R. FitzPatrick Project Manager: Erin Melloy Design Coordinator: Margarite Reynolds Cover Designer: Mary-Presley Adams Cover Image: (c) Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Buyer: Susan K. Culbertson Media Project Manager: Sridevi Palani Compositor: Laserwords Private Limited Typeface: 10/12 PalatinoLTStd Printer: R.R. Donnelley, Crawfordsville All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the copyright page. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Belton, John. American cinema/American culture / John Belton.—4th ed. p. cm. Includes fi lmographies and index. ISBN 978-0-07-353509-8 (alk. paper) 1. Motion pictures—United States—History. 2. Motion picture industry—United States— History. 3. Motion pictures—Social aspects—United States. 4. Popular culture—United States—History—20th century. 5. Culture in motion pictures. I. Title. PN1993.5.U6B365 2012 791.430973—dc23 2011044045 www.mhhe.com bbeell3355009955__ffmm__ii--xxxxiiii..iinndddd iiii 2211//1111//1111 55::1122 PPMM CCoonnfifi rrmmiinngg PPaaggeess To Mike Moore, a teacher of teachers bbeell3355009955__ffmm__ii--xxxxiiii..iinndddd iiiiii 2211//1111//1111 55::1122 PPMM Confi rming Pages CONTENTS Preface xv Introduction xxi PART 1 THE MODE OF PRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 THE EMERGENCE OF THE CINEMA AS AN INSTITUTION 3 “The Cathedral of the Motion Picture” 3 Developing Systems: Society and Technology 4 Edison and the Kinetoscope 6 Capturing Time 6 Peepshows versus Projectors 7 Mass Production, Mass Consumption 9 A Public Spectacle 9 Middle-Class Amusements 9 The Nickelodeon: A Collective Experience 10 Cleaning Up: The Benefi ts of Respectability 12 Spectacle and Storytelling: From Porter to Griffi th 1 3 The Camera as Recorder 13 The Camera as Narrator 14 The “Feature” Film 15 Presenting . . . the Movie Palace 16 “Gardens of Dreams” 16 The Great Showmen 16 An Evolving Institution 19 Select Filmography 20 CHAPTER 2 CLASSICAL HOLLYWOOD CINEMA: NARRATION 21 A National Style 21 “The Temper of an Age . . .” 21 A Narrative Machine 22 Equilibrium and Disruption 23 iv ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ bbeell3355009955__ffmm__ii--xxxxiiii..iinndddd iivv 2211//1111//1111 55::1122 PPMM Confi rming Pages Contents v ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Characters and Goals 24 Problem Solving 24 Through Time and Space 25 High Artifi ce, Invisible Art 27 Denial and Recognition 27 Underlying Patterns 28 Analyzing Film Narratives: Segmentation 28 A Circular Pattern: Chaplin’s The Gold Rush 30 Symmetry 31 At the Center: Imagination 32 Journey to a New Place: S ome Like It Hot 32 Flight and Pursuit 32 Narrative Structure and Sexuality 34 Resolution/Irresolution 35 Modernist Narration: Citizen Kane 35 Unresolved Questions 35 Segmentation of Citizen Kane 36 Artifi ce Exposed 36 The Social Network: “The Citizen Kane of John Hughes Movies” 38 Multiple Points of View 39 Collective Authorship of an Idea 40 A Moral Tale 41 Other Nontraditional Narratives 42 Select Filmography 43 CHAPTER 3 CLASSICAL HOLLYWOOD CINEMA: STYLE 44 Film Form and Character Development 44 Classical Economy: The Opening Sequence of Shadow of a Doubt 44 The Art of Details 46 Mise-en-Scène 46 The Camera 47 Meaning through Context: Camera Angle and Distance 48 Systematic Meaning: Some Defi nitions 49 Camera Movement 50 Lighting 52 Three-Point Lighting 52 High-Key/Low-Key Lighting 53 Star Lighting 54 Sound 55 Miking and Mixing 55 The Musical Score 56 Sound and Continuity 56 bbeell3355009955__ffmm__ii--xxxxiiii..iinndddd vv 2211//1111//1111 55::1122 PPMM Confi rming Pages vi Contents ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Editing from Scene to Scene 57 Transitions 57 Editing and Narrative Structure 58 Editing within Scenes 59 Matches 60 Point-of-View Editing 61 The 180-Degree Rule 61 Select Filmography 63 CHAPTER 4 THE STUDIO SYSTEM 64 Manufacturing Dreams 64 Movies and Mass Production 64 Intangible Goods 66 The Majors and the Minors 67 Origins 67 Vertical Integration 68 Block Booking, Blind Bidding, and Runs, Zones, and Clearances 69 Studio Production: From Story Idea to Ad Campaign 70 Under Contract 70 A Self-Contained World 71 The Chain of Command 72 Studio Style 74 M-G-M and Paramount 76 Warner Bros. 77 20th Century-Fox 77 RKO 80 Columbia Pictures 80 Universal Pictures 81 Poverty Row 81 Collapse: The End of the Studio Era 82 Divestment, Independent Production, and a Changing Marketplace 82 Starting from Scratch: The New “Studios” 83 Select Filmography: From Four Sample Studios 85 CHAPTER 5 THE STAR SYSTEM 87 The Mechanics of Stardom 87 Making Stars 87 Star Power 90 Persona 94 Stardom and Mass Culture: From Persona to Star 96 Stars, the System, and the Public 99 Stars and Culture: A Historical Survey 101 The Early Years 101 bbeell3355009955__ffmm__ii--xxxxiiii..iinndddd vvii 2211//1111//1111 55::1122 PPMM Confi rming Pages Contents vii ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Exoticism, Eroticism, and Modern Morality: Stars of the 1920s 104 Depression/Repression: The 1930s 108 World War II and Its Aftermath 111 Stars and Anti-Stars 113 Different Faces: The Rise of Black Stars 116 Economics and Contemporary Stardom 119 Select Filmography 121 PART 2 GENRE AND THE GENRE SYSTEM CHAPTER 6 SILENT FILM MELODRAMA 125 The Origins of Melodrama 125 Types of Melodrama 127 The Melodramatic Mode 127 A Moral Phenomenon 128 Democratic Virtue 129 A Social Vision 130 Melodrama as a Tool of Reform 130 Politics and Melodrama 132 Two Film Melodramatists: Griffi th and Vidor 133 An Agrarian Past 133 History as Melodrama: The Birth of a Nation 134 Everyman/No Man: The Crowd 136 Escape and Transcendence 138 Home as “Seventh Heaven” 138 The Lure of the City: Sunrise 139 Sound and Melodrama 140 Select Filmography 141 CHAPTER 7 THE MUSICAL 142 From Narrative to Musical Number 142 Setting the Stage 142 Narrative Reality 143 Musical Reality 143 Shifts in Register 145 Chicago 145 Nine 146 Narrative and Musical Number: Degrees of Integration 147 Musical Forms 148 Backstage Musicals 148 Busby Berkeley Musicals 148 Moulin Rouge 149 Showpeople 150 bbeell3355009955__ffmm__ii--xxxxiiii..iinndddd vviiii 2211//1111//1111 55::1122 PPMM Confi rming Pages viii Contents ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Transformation of Space: Performer, Props, Audience 150 Performer 151 Props 151 Audience 153 Stylistic Registers 153 From Black-and-White to Color 153 From Noise to Music 153 The Operetta 154 The Astaire–Rogers Musical 155 The Integrated Musical 157 The Freed Unit 157 Singin’ in the Rain 157 Ideology and the Musical 159 The End of an Era 160 A New Era Begins 161 Select Filmography 162 CHAPTER 8 AMERICAN COMEDY 163 Laughter and Culture 163 Comedy, Repression, and Cultural Dreamwork 163 From Racism to Social Integration 164 Comic Disintegration and Disorder 168 Containing Chaos 170 Comedy, Class, and Democracy 172 A Short History of American Screen Comedy 173 Silent Comedy 173 Early Sound Comedy 177 Screwball Comedy 179 After the Screwball 184 Alienation and Self-Refl ection: The 1960s and Beyond 188 From Animal Comedies to Ironic Romantic Comedies 190 Geek Comedy 191 Serious Jokes 194 Select Filmography 194 CHAPTER 9 WAR AND CINEMA 195 A World of Extremes 195 Breaking Rules 196 A Suspension of Morality 196 Deviant Narratives: From Individual to Group Goals 197 Sexual Combat: Masculinity in the War Film 199 Oedipal Battles 199 Conventional Homoeroticism 199 bbeell3355009955__ffmm__ii--xxxxiiii..iinndddd vviiiiii 2211//1111//1111 55::1122 PPMM Confi rming Pages Contents ix ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Masculine/Feminine 200 Back from the Front 202 Crossovers: War and Genre 203 The Battle for Public Opinion: Propaganda and the Combat Film 205 Preaching War and Peace 205 Mass Conversion: The Politics of Sergeant York 206 Why We Fight: Education and the War Film 207 The Vietnam Reversal 209 Race, Ethnicity, and the War Film 210 Confl icted: The Psychic Violence of War 211 The Enemy Is Us 211 The Aftermath 212 The 1991 Gulf War and World War II Redux 214 The Gulf War 214 World War II 214 The Iraq War 217 Mediation and Representation 219 Select Filmography 220 CHAPTER 10 FILM NOIR: SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT 221 Made in the USA 221 Film Noir: Genre, Series, or Mode? 223 Noir as Genre: A Set of Conventions 223 Noir as Series: A Certain Style 224 Noir as Mode: An Uneasy Feeling 225 Noir Aesthetics, Themes, and Character Types 226 Noir Stylistics: A Shift in Perspective 228 American Expressionism 228 From Disturbing Conventions to Conventional Disturbances 229 Noir and the Production Code 230 Forbidden Subjects, Twisted Treatments 230 The End of Censorship, the End of Noir? 231 Innocence Lost: The Literary Origins of Film Noir 231 Hard-Boiled Fiction 232 The Detective Hero 233 Noir and Verbal Wit 234 Women in Film Noir 235 Women as Social Menace 235 Women as Psychological Terror 236 A Critique of Populism 238 New Culture, Old Myths 238 Capra and Film Noir 239 Film Noir: An Undercurrent in the Mainstream 241 Select Filmography 241 bbeell3355009955__ffmm__ii--xxxxiiii..iinndddd iixx 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