The Hollywood Machine. . Battle of World Views HOLLYWOOD AL QAIDA VS

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The Hollywood Machine

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Battle of World Views

HOLLYWOOD AL QAIDA

VS

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1. Social conformity:Soviet Socialist Realism German Heimat Cinema

2. Social criticism:Italian NeorealismBritish Social Realism

What is the purpose of film?

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1. Social conformity:Soviet Socialist Realism German Heimat Cinema

2. Social criticism:Italian NeorealismBritish Social Realism

3. Art cinema:French New WaveBergmanFellini

What is the purpose of film?

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1. Social conformity:Soviet Socialist Realism German Heimat Cinema

2. Social criticism:Italian NeorealismBritish Social Realism

3. Art cinema:French New Wave, Bergman

4. “Spiritual” enhancement:Tarkovsky, Kieslowski

What is the purpose of film?

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1. Social conformity:Soviet Socialist Realism German Heimat Cinema

2. Social criticism:Italian NeorealismBritish Social Realism

3. Art cinema:French New Wave, Bergman

4. “Spiritual” enhancement:Tarkovsky, Kieslowski

5. Entertain (Movies as products)Hollywood

What is the purpose of film?

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Reality “as it is”

NaturalisticEmpirical / RationalSocial documentarySocial realism

How can/should film depict reality?

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How can/should film depict reality?

Reality as the symbolic representation of the “spiritual”

NoumenalistIdealistRomanticismSymbolism Mysticism

Reality “as it is”

NaturalisticEmpirical / RationalSocial documentarySocial realism

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Who controls cinema controls reality!

Reality “as it ought to be”

Soviet Socialist RealismNazi propaganda films German Heimat cinema

MTVHollywood

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Who controls cinema controls reality!

Reality “as it ought to be”

Soviet Socialist RealismNazi propaganda films German Heimat cinema

MTVHollywood

Your identity & aestheticsare shaped largely byHollywood and the media !

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Jean Baudrillard (1929-)

America is a spectacle

Hyper-reality

An illusionary paradise

TV is the world

Advertising gives consumers illusion of freedom

“All is well” is the party line

Illusion perpetuated by media & culture

The Myth of America

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All films and literature are propaganda!

Deconstruct any work of literature, and you will find a logocentric idealogy:

Nazi propaganda

Anti-capitalism

Feminism

New Testament Christianity

Secular humanism

American hedonism & materialism

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The role of the auteur

The great film auteurs of the 20th Century fought against two dominant forces which they believed threatened man’s humanity.

They viewed both forces as dehumanizing byproducts of modernity:

1. Government-regulated views of life

2. Hollywood (commercial materialism)

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Great traditions are reactions to status quo

Nazi & Heimat: New German Cinema

French “Tradition of Quality” French New Wave

Fascism Italian Neorealism

Myth of the British Empire British Social Realism

Soviet Socialist Realism Czech New WaveKadarForman

Lodz SchoolKieslowskiPolanski

Soviet ThawTarkovskyParadjanov

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The Power of Cinema

“Americans have turned every cinema in the

world into the equivalent of an American

consulate.”

--UK government report

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The Hollywood Machine

Production

Distribution

Megaplexes

Video sales

Video rentals

Cable and pay-per view

Merchandise

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The Hollywood Machine

Titanic Harry Potter Star Wars Forest Gump Matrix Oceans 11 Meet the Parents

$1.8 billion

$1.0 billion

900 million

700 million

500 million

400 million

300 million

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The Hollywood Machine

Titanic Harry Potter Star Wars Forest Gump Matrix Oceans 11 Meet the Parents Trainspotting Secrets & Lies Run Lola Run Red No Man’s Land

$1.8 billion

$1.0 billion

900 million

700 million

500 million

400 million

300 million

80 million

20 million

7 million

4 million

1 million

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The Hollywood Machine

AT Austria GR Greece BE Belgium IE Ireland DK Denmark IT Italy FR France LU Luxembourg FI Finland NL Netherlands DE Germany NO Norway SE

Sweden PT Portugal CH Switzerland ES Spain CEE Central Europe & Turkey UK United Kingdom

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The Hollywood Machine

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The Hollywood Machine

US = 36,000

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The Hollywood Aesthetic

The aesthetic of pretense

Studio system (manufactured films)

Star-centric

Formula approach to narrative

Hero - Problem - Overcome- Happy Ending

Shot-reverse-shot

Camera followed the order of the text

Alternate characters speaking

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Reactions to Hollywood

“The average Western film requires nothing from the viewer. Its narrative sets up a series of questions in order to preserve an air of suspense...“Will Lassie bring the insulin to the diabetic hunter with the broken leg before he dies?” Then it logically answers each question ...Thus the typical western film gives us what we want by telling us what we already know.”

--Stuart Hancock

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Reactions to Hollywood

“Many worthless films are created which imitate American models.”

--Krystrof Zanussi

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Reactions to Hollywood

“But the profound lack of spirituality of those people who see art and condemn it, the fact that they are neither willing nor ready to consider the meaning and aim of their existence in any higher sense is often masked by the vulgarly simplistic cry, ‘I don’t like it!’ ‘It’s boring!’ It is not a point that one can argue; but it is like the utterance of a man born blind who is being told about a rainbow. He simply remains deaf to the pain undergone by the artist in order to share with others the truth he has reached.”

--Andrei Tarkovsky

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Impact of Hollywood

Worldwide dominance of the Hollywood machine: Production-distribution-TV

65-80% of films shown in Europe are US. US: 37,000 screens UK: “Secrets & Lies” -- 20 screens

Transnational productions

Emigration of directors and actors

Commercial producers copy Hollywood

Few auteurs took aesthetic stance against Hollywood mis en scene

Death of national cinemas/identity?