Motion picture biographies : the Hollywood spin on historical figures / John W. Cones.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cones, John W., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biographical films--United States--History and criticism.

Biographical films.

Motion pictures and history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (200 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Algora Publishing, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Hollywood movies are famous for promoting negative stereotypes of all kinds, especially against minorities, women, Southerners, and Christians. To what extent are biographical films selected for production according to certain biases, conscious or unconscious, among the Hollywood elite? An expert on the U.S. film industry gives readers brief synopses of Hollywood biopics produced and/ or released from 1912 through 1994. This survey provides the basis for discussion and analysis.Tracking these one-sided depictions over a longer period of time, the patterns of bias - and the source of the problem - become more clear. the problem appears to be that most of the people who have green-light authority in the U.S. film industry - for either the production and/or distribution of a motion picture - share a common ethnic/religious/cultural background. Thus, the stories of their own cohort and those of all other ethnic, religious and/or cultural groups (whose members seldom achieve positions of power in Hollywood) are being filtered through the cultural sensibilities of a single group.John Cones suggests that the solution could lie in increasing diversity at the highest levels in the U.S. film industry.

Contents:

""Table of Contents""; ""Introduction""; ""Chapter 1. The Early Years Revisited""; ""Chapter 2. Biopics of the 1930's""; ""Chapter 3. Motion Picture Biographies of the 1940's ""; ""Chapter 4. The Peak Mid-Century Years""; ""Chapter 5. Motion Picture Biographies of the Turbulent 1960's""; ""Chapter 6. Biopics of the 1970's""; ""Chapter 7. Movie Biographies of the 1980's""; ""Chapter 8. Biopics of the Early 1990's""; ""Chapter 9. Concluding Observations ""; ""Endnotes""; ""Selected Bibliography""; ""Articles, Films, Media Reports and Papers""; ""Books""; ""About the Author""

""Other Books by the Same Author""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-62894-116-2

OCLC:

909898312