Modernist America : art, music, movies, and the globalization of American culture / Richard Pells.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pells, Richard H.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Arts and globalization--United States.

Arts and globalization.

Arts, American--20th century.

Arts, American.

Modernism (Aesthetics)--History--20th century.

Modernism (Aesthetics).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 498 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Art, music, movies, and the globalization of American culture

Place of Publication:

New Haven [Conn.] : Yale University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

America's global cultural impact is largely seen as one-sided, with critics claiming that it has undermined other countries' languages and traditions. But contrary to popular belief, the cultural relationship between the United States and the world has been reciprocal, says Richard Pells. The United States not only plays a large role in shaping international entertainment and tastes, it is also a consumer of foreign intellectual and artistic influences.Pells reveals how the American artists, novelists, composers, jazz musicians, and filmmakers who were part of the Modernist movement were greatly influenced by outside ideas and techniques. People across the globe found familiarities in American entertainment, resulting in a universal culture that has dominated the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and fulfilled the aim of the Modernist movement-to make the modern world seem more intelligible.Modernist America brilliantly explains why George Gershwin's music, Cole Porter's lyrics, Jackson Pollock's paintings, Bob Fosse's choreography, Marlon Brando's acting, and Orson Welles's storytelling were so influential, and why these and other artists and entertainers simultaneously represent both an American and a modern global culture.

Contents:

Modernism in Europe and America

Painting modernity

The globalization of American architecture

Modernism in the marketplace

From The rite of spring to Appalachian spring

All that jazz

They're writing songs of love

"I was just making pictures" : from Charlie Chaplin to Charlie Kane

Night and fog : from German expressionism to film noir

The new wave abroad

The new wave at home

A method they couldn't refuse

The global popularity of American movies

Epilogue. The modernism of American culture.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613057914

9781283057912

1283057913

9780300171730

0300171730

OCLC:

709605926