America on Film : Representing Race, Class, Gender,and Sexuality at the Movies

by Harry M. Benshoff (University of North Texas); Sean Griffin (Southern Methodist University)

• ISBN13: 9780631225836
• ISBN10: 0631225838
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-10-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in the Movies is a lively introduction to issues of diversity as represented within the American cinema. Introduces issues of diversity as represented within the American cinema in a lively and accessible manner. Provides a comprehensive overview of the industrial, socio-cultural, and aesthetic factors that contribute to cinematic representations of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Is designed specifically for students and includes 101 illustrations, a glossary of key terms, questions for discussion, and lists for futher reading and further viewing. Includes case studies of a number of films, including The Lion King, The Jazz Singer, Smoke Signals, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Celluloid Closet. Each chapter features a concise overview of the topic at hand, a discussion of representative films, figures, and movements, and an in-depth analysis of a single film.

Author Biography

Harry M. Benshoff is Assistant Professor of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of North Texas. He is author of Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film (1997).

Sean Griffin is Assistant Professor of Cinema and Television at Southern Methodist University. He is author of Tinker Bells and Evil Queens: The Walt Disney Company from the Inside Out (2000).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	x
How to Use This Book	xv
Part I Culture and American Film	1	(46)
1 Introduction to the Study of Film Form and Representation	3	(20)
Film Form	4	(2)
American Ideologies: Discrimination and Resistance	6	(7)
Culture and Cultural Studies	13	(5)
Case Study: The Lion King (1994)	18	(3)
Questions for Discussion	21	(1)
Further Reading	22	(1)
2 The Structure and History of Hollywood Filmmaking	23	(24)
Hollywood vs. Independent Film	24	(2)
The Style of Hollywood Cinema	26	(5)
The Business of Hollywood	31	(2)
The History of Hollywood: The Movies Begin	33	(3)
The Classical Hollywood Cinema	36	(3)
World War II and Postwar Film	39	(4)
"New" Hollywood and the Blockbuster Mentality	43	(3)
Questions for Discussion	46	(1)
Further Reading	46	(1)
Further Screening	46	(1)
Part II Race and Ethnicity and American Film	47	(108)
Introduction to Part II: What is Race?	49	(4)
3 The Concept of Whiteness and American Film	53	(22)
Seeing White	54	(4)
Bleaching the Green: The Irish in American Cinema	58	(5)
Looking for Respect: Italians in American Cinema	63	(4)
A Special Case: Jews and Hollywood	67	(5)
Case Study: The Jazz Singer (1927)	72	(1)
Questions for Discussion	73	(1)
Further Reading	74	(1)
Further Screening	74	(1)
4 African Americans and American Film	75	(21)
African Americans in Early Film	76	(4)
Blacks in Classical Hollywood Cinema	80	(2)
World War II and the Postwar Social Problem Film	82	(3)
The Rise and Fall of Blaxploitation Filmmaking	85	(2)
Box: Blacks on TV	87	(1)
Hollywood in the 1980's and the Arrival of Spike Lee	88	(3)
Black Independent Film vs. "Neo-Blaxploitation" Today	91	(2)
Case Study: Bamboozled (2000)	93	(2)
Questions for Discussion	95	(1)
Further Reading	95	(1)
Further Screening	95	(1)
5 Native Americans and American Film	96	(20)
The American "Indian" Before Film	97	(3)
Ethnographic Films and the Rise of the Hollywood Western	100	(4)
The Evolving Western	104	(5)
A Kinder, Gentler America?	109	(4)
Case Study: Smoke Signals (1998)	113	(1)
Questions for Discussion	114	(1)
Further Reading	114	(1)
Further Screening	115	(1)
6 Asian Americans and American Film	116	(19)
Silent Film and Asian Images	117	(2)
Asians in Classical Hollywood Cinema	119	(5)
World War II and After: War Films, Miscegenation Melodramas, and Kung Fu	124	(4)
Asian American Actors and Filmmakers Today	128	(3)
Case Study: Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989)	131	(2)
Questions for Discussion	133	(1)
Further Reading	134	(1)
Further Screening	134	(1)
7 Latinos and American Film	135	(20)
The Greaser and the Latin Lover: Alternating Stereotypes	137	(3)
World War II and After: The Good Neighbor Policy	140	(6)
The 1950's to the 1970's: Back to Business as Usual?	146	(2)
Expanding Opportunities in Recent Decades	148	(4)
Case Study: My Family/Mi Familia (1995)	152	(1)
Questions for Discussion	153	(1)
Further Reading	154	(1)
Further Screening	154	(1)
Part III Class and American Film	155	(46)
Introduction to Part III: What is Class?	157	(4)
8 Classical Hollywood Cinema and Class	161	(17)
Setting the Stage: The Industrial Revolution	162	(1)
Early Cinema: The Rise of the Horatio Alger Myth	163	(5)
Hollywood and Unionization	168	(3)
Class in the Classical Hollywood Cinema	171	(3)
Case Study: The Grapes of Wrath (1940)	174	(2)
Conclusion: Recloaking Class Consciousness	176	(1)
Questions for Discussion	177	(1)
Further Reading	177	(1)
Further Screening	177	(1)
9 Cinematic Class Struggle After the Depression	178	(23)
From World War II to the Red Scare	179	(3)
From Opulence to Counterculture	182	(3)
Box: Class on Television	185	(4)
New Hollywood and the Resurrection of the Horatio Alger Myth	189	(6)
Case Study: Bulworth (1998)	195	(2)
Conclusion: Corporate Hollywood and Labor Today	197	(1)
Questions for Discussion	198	(1)
Further Reading	199	(1)
Further Screening	199	(2)
Part IV Gender and American Film	201	(90)
Introduction to Part IV: What is Gender?	203	(4)
10 Women in Classical Hollywood Filmmaking	207	(22)
Images of Women in Early Cinema	208	(5)
Early Female Filmmakers	213	(4)
Images of Women in 1930's Classical Hollywood	217	(4)
World War II and After	221	(4)
Case Study: All that Heaven Allows (1955)	225	(3)
Questions for Discussion	228	(1)
Further Reading	228	(1)
Further Screening	228	(1)
11 Exploring the Visual Parameters of Women in Film	229	(20)
Ways of Seeing	230	(3)
"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema"	233	(9)
Case Study: Gilda (1946)	242	(2)
Conclusion: Complicating Mulvey's Arguments	244	(3)
Questions for Discussion	247	(1)
Further Reading	247	(1)
Further Screening	248	(1)
12 Masculinity in Classical Hollywood Filmmaking	249	(22)
Masculinity and Early Cinema	252	(2)
Masculinity and the Male Movie Star	254	(6)
World War II and Film Noir	260	(5)
Case Study: Dead Reckoning (1947)	265	(2)
Conclusion: Masculinity in 1950's American Film	267	(3)
Questions for Discussion	270	(1)
Further Reading	270	(1)
Further Screening	270	(1)
13 Gender in American Film Since the 1960's	271	(20)
Second Wave Feminism and Hollywood	272	(5)
Into the 1980's: A Backlash against Women?	277	(4)
A New Generation of Female Filmmakers	281	(4)
Case Study: The Ballad of Little Jo (1993)	285	(3)
Conclusion: Gender at the Turn of the Millennium	288	(1)
Questions for Discussion	289	(1)
Further Reading	290	(1)
Further Screening	290	(1)
Part V Sexuality and American Film	291	(48)
Introduction to Part V: What is Sexuality?	293	(4)
14 Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, and Classical Hollywood	297	(21)
(Hetero)Sexuality on Screen	298	(2)
(Homo)Sexuality in Early Film	300	(2)
Censoring Sexuality during the Classical Hollywood Era	302	(5)
Postwar Sexualities and the Weakening of the Production Code	307	(6)
Camp and the Underground Cinema	313	(2)
Case Study: The Celluloid Closet (1995)	315	(2)
Questions for Discussion	317	(1)
Further Reading	317	(1)
Further Screening	317	(1)
i5 Sexualities on Film Since the Sexual Revolution	318	(21)
Hollywood and the Sexual Revolution	319	(1)
Film and Gay Culture from Stonewall to AIDS	320	(5)
The AIDS Crisis	325	(3)
Queer Theory and New Queer Cinema	328	(7)
Case Study: Go Fish (1995)	335	(1)
Conclusion: Hollywood Today	335	(2)
Questions for Discussion	337	(1)
Further Reading	337	(1)
Further Screening	338	(1)
Glossary	339	(17)
Index	356