Americanizing the movies and "movie-mad" audiences, 1910-1914 / Richard Abel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abel, Richard, 1941-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion pictures--United States--History.

Motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Social aspects--United States.

Nationalism--United States.

Nationalism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (392 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Imagined community of United States cinema

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This engaging, deeply researched study provides the richest and most nuanced picture we have to date of cinema-both movies and movie-going-in the early 1910's. At the same time, it makes clear the profound relationship between early cinema and the construction of a national identity in this important transitional period in the United States. Richard Abel looks closely at sensational melodramas, including westerns (cowboy, cowboy-girl, and Indian pictures), Civil War films (especially girl-spy films), detective films, and animal pictures-all popular genres of the day that have received little critical attention. He simultaneously analyzes film distribution and exhibition practices in order to reconstruct a context for understanding moviegoing at a time when American cities were coming to grips with new groups of immigrants and women working outside the home. Drawing from a wealth of research in archive prints, the trade press, fan magazines, newspaper advertising, reviews, and syndicated columns-the latter of which highlight the importance of the emerging star system-Abel sheds new light on the history of the film industry, on working-class and immigrant culture at the turn of the century, and on the process of imaging a national community.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

L'Envoi of Moving Pictures

Introduction

Chapter 1. American Variety and/or Foreign Features

Entr'acte 1. Mapping the Local Terrain of Exhibition

Chapter 2. The "Usable Past" of Westerns

Entr'acte 2. Moviegoing Habits and Everyday Life

Chapter 3. The "Usable Past" of Westerns

Entr'acte 3. A "Forgotten" Part of the Program

Chapter 4. The "Usable Past" of Civil War Films

Entr'acte 4. Another "Forgotten" Part of the Program

Chapter 5. The "Usable Present" of Thrillers

Entr'acte 5. Trash Twins

Chapter 6. "The Power of Personality in Pictures"

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9786612358395

9781282358393

1282358391

9780520939523

0520939522

OCLC:

227038187