The Big Tomorrow

by May, Lary

• ISBN13: 9780226511627
• ISBN10: 0226511626
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-06-21
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

In this daring reexamination of the connections between national politics and Hollywood movies, Lary May offers a fresh interpretation of American culture from the New Deal through the Cold Warone in which a populist, egalitarian ethos found itself eventually supplanted by a far different view of the nation. "One of the best books ever written about the movies." Tom Ryan, The Age "The most exhilarating work of revisionist film history since Pauline Kael's Citizen Kane. . . . May's take on what movies once were (energizing, as opposed to enervating), and hence can become again, is enough to get you believing in them again as one of the regenerative forces America so sorely needs."Jay Carr, Boston Globe "A startling, revisionist history of Hollywood's impact on politics and American culture. . . . A convincing and important addition to American cultural criticism."Publishers Weekly "A controversial overview of 30 years of American film history; must reading for any serious student of the subject."Choice "A provocative social history of Hollywood's influence in American life from the 1930s to the 1950s. May argues persuasively that movies in the period offered a good deal of tough criticism of economic and social conditions in U.S. society. . . . May challenges us to engage in some serious rethinking about Hollywood's impact on American society in the middle of the twentieth century."Robert Brent Toplin, American Historical Review

Author Biography

Elizabeth A. Kaye specializes in communications as part of her coaching and consulting practice. She has edited Requirements for Certification since the 2000-01 edition.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Acknowledgments	xiii
Prologue: Nothing Is More American	1	(10)
Part One: The Modern Republic Comes of Age
``My Ancestors Did Not Come Over on the Mayflower'': Will Rogers and the Radicalism of Tradition	11	(44)
The Recreation of America: Hybrid Moviemakers and the Multicultural Republic	55	(46)
Utopia on Main Street: Modern Theaters and the ``New'' Audiences	101	(38)
Part Two: The American Way and Its Discontent
The Birth of the White Consumer Democracy: Hollywood and the World War II Conversion Narrative	139	(36)
Movie Star Politics: Hollywood and the Making of Cold War Americanism	175	(40)
``Outside the Groove of History'': Film Noir and the Birth of a Counterculture	215	(42)
Epilogue: Reimagining Postwar America	257	(14)
Appendix 1: Sampling Methods and Research Data	271	(2)
Appendix 2: Trends in Film Plots and the Changing Face of American Ideology	273	(21)
Appendix 3: Examples of Film Reviews from Motion Picture Herald	294	(7)
Notes	301	(40)
Film Index	341	(4)
Subject Index	345