Going to the Movies

by Maltby, Richard; Stokes, Melvyn; Allen, Robert C.

• ISBN13: 9780859898119
• ISBN10: 0859898113
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-03-15
• Publisher: Univ of Exeter Pr

Summary

A nickelodeon screening a Charlie Chaplin silent classic, the downtown arthouse cinemas that made Antonioni and Cassavetes household names, the modern suburban megaplex and its sold-out Friday night blockbuster:howAmerican and global audiences have viewed movies is as rich a part of cinematic history aswhatwe've seen on the silver screen.Going to the Moviesconsiders the implications of this social and cultural history through an analysis of the diverse historical and geographical circumstances in which audiences have viewed American cinema. Featuring a distinguished group of film scholarsincluding Richard Abel, Annette Kuhn, Jane Gaines, and Thomas Dohertywhose interests range broadly across time and place, this volume analyzes the role of movie theatres in local communities, the links between film and other entertainment media, non-theatrical exhibition, and trends arising from the globalization of audiences. Emphasizing moviegoing outside of the northeastern United States, as well as the complexities of race in relation to cinema attendance,Going to the Moviesappeals to the global citizen of cinemalocating the moviegoing experience in its appeal to the heart and mind of the audience, whether it's located in a South African shanty town or the screening room of a Hollywood production lot.

Author Biography

Richard Maltby is professor of screen studies at Flinders University, South Australia and series editor for Exeter Studies in Film History. Melvyn Stokes teaches at University College, London. Robert C. Allen is professor of American studies, history, and communications at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Introduction	p. 1
Studies of Local Cinema Exhibition
Race, Region, and Rusticity: Relocating U.S. Film History	p. 25
Tri-racial Theaters in Robeson County, North Carolina, 1896-1940	p. 45
The White in the Race Movie Audience	p. 60
Sundays in Norfolk: Toward a Protestant Utopia Through Film Exhibition in Norfolk, Virginia, 1910-1920	p. 76
Patchwork Maps of Moviegoing, 1911-1913	p. 94
Next Year at the Moving Pictures: Cinema and Social Change in the Jewish Immigrant Community	p. 113
'Four Hours of Hootin' and Hollerin": Moviegoing and Everyday Life Outside the Movie Palace	p. 130
Cinemagoing in the United States in the mid-1930s: A Study Based on the Variety Dataset	p. 155
Race Houses, Jim Crow Roosts, and Lily White Palaces: Desegregating the Motion Picture Theater	p. 196
Other Cinema: Alternatives to Theatrical Exhibition
The Reel of the Month Club: 16mm Projectors, Home Theaters and Film Libraries in the 1920s	p. 217
Early Art Cinema in the U.S.: Symon Gould and the Little Cinema Movement of the 1920s	p. 235
Free Talking Picture - Every Farmer is Welcome: Non- theatrical Film and Everyday Life in Rural America during the 1930s	p. 248
Cinema's Shadow: Reconsidering Non-theatrical Exhibition	p. 273
Hollywood Movies in Broader Perspective: Audiences at Home and Abroad
Changing Images of Movie Audiences	p. 293
'Healthy Films from America': The Emergence of a Catholic Film Mass Movement in Belgium and the Realm of Hollywood, 1928-1939	p. 307
The Child Audience and the 'Horrific' Film in 1930s Britain	p. 323
Hollywood in Vernacular: Translation and Cross-cultural Reception of American Films in Turkey	p. 333
Cowboy Modern: African Audiences, Hollywood Films, and Visions of the West	p. 348
'Opening Everywhere': Multiplexes and the Speed of Cinema Culture	p. 364
'Cinema Comes to Life at the Cornerhouse, Nottingham': 'American' Exhibition, Local Politics and Global Culture in the Construction of the Urban Entertainment Centre	p. 383
Notes	p. 394
Index	p. 462
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