Hollywood modernism : film and politics in the age of the New Deal / Saverio Giovacchini.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Giovacchini, Saverio, 1963-

Series:

Culture and the moving image

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion picture industry--California--Los Angeles--History.

Motion picture industry.

Europeans.

California--Los Angeles.

History.

Motion pictures--Political aspects--United States.

Motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Political aspects.

United States.

Europeans--California--Los Angeles.

Physical Description:

x, 292 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 2001.

Summary:

Hollywood culture has been dismissed as insignificant for so long that film buffs and critics might be forgiven for forgetting that for two decades an unprecedented interaction of social and cultural forces shaped American film. In this probing account of how a generation of industry newcomers attempted to use the modernist art of the cinema to educate the public in anti-Fascist ideals, Saverio Giovacchini traces the profound transformation that took place in the film industry from the 1930s to the 1950s. Rejecting the notion that European emigres and New Yorkers sought a retreat from politics or simply gravitated toward easy money, he contends that Hollywood became their mecca precisely because they wanted a deeper engagement in the project of democratic modernism.

Seeing Hollywood as a forcefield, Giovacchini examines the social networks, working relationships, and political activities of artists, intellectuals, and film workers who flocked to Hollywood from Europe and the eastern United States before and during the Second World War. He creates a complex and nuanced portrait of this milieu, adding breadth and depth to the conventional view of the era's film industry as little more than an empire for Jewish moguls or the major studios.

Contents:

Introduction: Taking Hollywood Seriously 1

1 Modernism, Intellectual Immigrants, and the Rebirth of Hollywood 13

2 Salons, Bookstores, and Anti-Nazism: The Remaking of the Hollywood Community 40

3 The Making of an Anti-Fascist Community 72

4 Hollywood Unraveled: Community and Style, 1939-1941 108

5 The "Only Respectable Clothes": Progressive Hollywood and Democratic Realism during World War II 138

6 Audiences, "People," and the Avant-Garde: The Collapse of the Hollywood Community 164

7 "Weary Standard-Bearers of Progress": Hollywood Progressive Cinema and the Crisis of the Hollywood Community 190

Conclusion: One Last Hollywood Self-Portrait 216.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1566398622

1566398630

OCLC:

45320479