American cinema since 1950
Academic Responsibility: Ken Fox
Module Aims
The module aims to introduce the students to the major social, institutional and aesthetic features of American cinema since the Second World War;
to develop the student's understanding of genre, as a critical concept, as Hollywood industrial practice and as a critical tool for examining audience expectations and pleasure;
to explore the history of Hollywood studio production, its decline during the 1950's and its continuing role in mainstream and independent production;
to examine Hollywood's relationship to notions of American national identity.
By the end of the course the students will be able:
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to employ genre as a critical tool in their writing, discussion and debate about American cinema;
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to describe and problematise the relationship between Hollywood cinema and notions of American national identity;
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to research and prepare an extended essay on American cinema;
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to engage confidently in debates about the place of American cinema within American culture, politics and society;
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to make connections between themes and issues in American cinema and other aspects of American studies.
Module content
The module introduces students to some of the major social, institutional and aesthetic features of American cinema from the 1940's to the 1990's. In particular, the module explores the concepts of genre and national identity in the cinema of the 1950's and the 1980's. The module will examine: the decline of the studio system; specific studios and their films, e.g. M.G.M. and the musical, the nature of studio production and its aesthetic and social significance, the anti-trust legislation leading to the breakdown of the vertical integration of production, exhibition and distribution monopoly used by Hollywood studios.
The module discusses genre as a critical concept; the emergence of genre study as a mode of analysis for popular cultural forms; genre study's capacity to involve audience expectation, pleasure and recognition of generic characteristics; the challenges to genre offered by some mainstream Hollywood directors, Independent film-makers, women film-makers and black and Hispanic film-makers.
The module will examine the meanings ascribed to "national identity" through two case studies of the construction of the national identity: the Eisenhower period of apparent consensus through films such as On The Waterfront (Kazan, 1954), the science fiction/horror cycle including Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (Siegel, 1956); the Reagan-Bush period when films and videos appear to represent a cinema of reassurance but also reveal contesting views of what it is to be an American in the 1980's. The films of Kathryn Bigelow, Stephen Spielberg, Spike Lee, Edward James Olmos, Jim Jarmusch, Martin Scorsese, John Singleton and other contemporary film-makers will be considered.
Assessment
Assessment consists of three course work assignments. There is no examination.