Hollywood Cinema

Richard Maltby is Professor of Screen Studies and Head of the School of Humanities at Flinders University. At the University of Exeter he established the Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture. He is the author of Harmless Entertainment: Hollywood and the Ideology of Consensus (1983), and editor of Identifying Hollywood's Audiences: Cultural Identity and the Movies (with Melvyn Stokes, 1999) and Hollywood Spectatorship: Changing Perceptions of Cinema Audiences (2001).

"Hollywood Cinema is an important book, one to be included in any consideration of American film and its influence in world cinema." Journal of Film and Video“This updated and enhanced edition of Richard Maltby's Hollywood Cinema is quite simply the best single textbook on the subject. In clear, user-friendly fashion, Maltby provides an astonishing amount of basic information about Hollywood while explaining how both the movies and the critical/theoretical discourse of film study have evolved over time. The book is not only an extremely useful overview but also an important intervention in current debates. An intelligent blending of formal and historical analysis, it should become essential reading for every serious student of film, whether beginner or advanced.” James Naremore, Indiana University "In its first edition, Hollywood Cinema quickly became a ‘must-have’ volume for anyone interested in film. Beautifully reorganized, expanded, and updated with features that enhance its usefulness for research and teaching, this revised edition shows how truly indispensable Maltby’s work on Hollywood is to media studies." Barbara Klinger, Indiana University

• Acknowledgments xiiList of Boxes xivIntroduction 1Part I The Commercial Aesthetic1 Taking Hollywood Seriously 5“Metropolis of Make-Believe” 5Art and Business 7The Commercial Aesthetic of Titanic 10A Classical Cinema? 14Hollywood and its Audiences 19Ratings and Franchises 22Hollywood’s World 28Summary 30Further Reading 312 Entertainment 1 33Escape 33Money on the Screen 40The Multiple Logics of Hollywood Cinema 46Summary 52Further Reading 533 Entertainment 2 54The Play of Emotions 54Regulated Difference 59Singin’ in the Rain: How to Take Gene Kelly Seriously 66Summary 71Further Reading 724 Genre 74Genre Criticism 83Genre Recognition 86The Empire of Genres: Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid 93Genre and Gender 101Summary 107Further Reading 108Part II Histories5 Industry 1: To 1948 113Industry 113Distribution and Exhibition 114Exporting America 126Divorcement 128The Studio System 130The Star System 141How Stars are Made: A Star is Born 146Summary 154Further Reading 1566 Industry 2: From 1948 to 1980 159The Effects of Divorcement 161Roadshows and Teenpix 165Independents, Agents, and Television 170Corporate Consolidation and the “New Hollywood” 173Ratings 177Hollywood in the Multiplex 181Summary 186Further Reading 1877 Industry 3: Since 1980 189Video and New Markets 191The Pursuit of Synergy 205Globalization 212Independence 217Summary 224Further Reading 2258 Technology 227Realism and the Myth of Total Cinema 229Sound 238Sunny Side Up 241Color 248Widescreen 251Technology and Power 255The Triumph of the Digital 259Summary 264Further Reading 2659 Politics 268The Politics of Regulation 270Hollywood Goes to Washington 276Washington Goes to Hollywood 280Representing the Political Machine 287Controversy with Class: The Social Problem Movie 292Ideology 300Summary 306Further Reading 307Part III Conventions10 Space 1 311The Best View 312Making the Picture Speak: Representation and Expression 313The Optics of Expressive Space 319Deep Space: Three-Dimensionality on a Flat Screen 326Mise-en-Scène 328Editing 332Summary 339Further Reading 34011 Space 2 343The Three “Looks” of Cinema 343Points of View 346Safe and Unsafe Space 353Ordinary People 358Summary 365Further Reading 36512 Performance 1 368The Spectacle of Movement 372The Movement of Narrative 375Acting as Impersonation 377The Actor’s Two Bodies 380Star Performance 384Summary 390Further Reading 39113 Performance 2 393The Method 393Acting as a Signifying System 398Valentino 401The Son of the Sheik 406Summary 410Further Reading 41114 Time 413Time Out 414Film Time 419Movie Time 423Deadlines and Coincidences: Madigan 426Mise-en-Temps 429Tense 432Back to the Present: History as a Production Value 436The Politics of History: Forrest Gump 440The Lessons of History: Juárez 443Summary 449Further Reading 45015 Narrative 1 452Narrative and Other Pleasures 452Show and Tell 454Theories of Narration 458Plot, Story, Narration 462Clarity: Transparency and Motivation 465Summary 469Further Reading 47016 Narrative 2 471Regulating Meaning: The Production Code 471Clarity and Ambiguity in Casablanca 475Narrative Pressure 484Summary 488Further Reading 489Part IV Approaches17 Criticism 493From Reviewing to Criticism 494Early Theory and Criticism in America 496From Criticism to Theory 501Criticism in Practice: Only Angels Have Wings 511Summary 521Further Reading 52318 Theories 526Entering the Academy 526Structuralism and Semiology 528Cinema, Ideology, Apparatus 531Psychoanalysis and Cinema 535The Spectator 537Feminist Theory 540Poststructuralism and Cultural Studies 542Neoformalism and Cognitivism 546From Reception to History 549Summary 553Further Reading 555Chronology 557Glossary 578Appendices 5931 The Motion Picture Production Code 5932 The Code and Rating System, 1968 5983 The Classification and Rating System: “What the Ratings Mean” 601Notes 603Bibliography 644Index 666