Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Topics on how American film affects culture
The development of cinema as an art form
The influence of Hollywood
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Topics on how American film affects culture
In a country where there was no such thing as a “movie” or a “photo”, America had no idea what they were missing out on. Until, came the era of the motion picture industry. This is also known as, cinema. It was captivating for the American culture and engaged people’s emotions and mentally conveyed them into a whole other world. From looking at the very start of the motion picture industry it is easy to understand that there were several factors that went into not only the development, but the evolvement of American culture overall. This has played a critical role in the shaping of how Hollywood has impacted Americans throughout the course of history and how it stands today. Initially, films did not just start out as a single idea. It was more known to be thought of as an evolvement. It was pictures that actually started the notion of a movie. More specifically, “…films are constructed from individual shots- an unbroken span of action captured by an uninterrupted run of motion-picture camera- that allow visual elements to rearrange themselves and the viewer’s perspective itself to shift within any composition” (Monahan, 4). In other words, motion picture industry was originally and simply a lot of pictures quickly moved one after another into the concept of film. After this, film was eradicating into a new …show more content…
It was on the move for becoming one of the most extravagant ideas not just for America but soon for the entire world too. But, there was a need for a literary element. In the beginning, there was a lack of sound, dialogue, and advanced effects. Then came the progression of conversation and the talent of storytelling. This soon became the foundation of growth in the entire film industry. Along with this also came the popularity of Hollywood. It shaped America’s culture is several ways consisting of fame, fortune, and
The overall appeal of the cinema to the masses was particularly evident during the interwar era. Audiences worldwide wanted to watch the variety of films, particularly American produced films, and they always went back. The visibly attractive and glamorous Hollywood movies often depicted the success of the underdog over unjust authority. Values of cash over culture were often a theme in the early American films and societies with restricted social mobility, such as those in Europe, could dream of such a triumph. The working class and unemployed could fantasise about wealth, fame and freedom which America as a country was portrayed as offering.
Recognize that the "Culture of Hollywood" is based on motion pictures as big business as well as entertainment.
Beginning the mid 1920s, Hollywood’s ostensibly all-powerful film studios controlled the American film industry, creating a period of film history now recognized as “Classical Hollywood”. Distinguished by a practical, workmanlike, “invisible” method of filmmaking- whose purpose was to demand as little attention to the camera as possible, Classical Hollywood cinema supported undeviating storylines (with the occasional flashback being an exception), an observance of a the three act structure, frontality, and visibly identified goals for the “hero” to work toward and well-defined conflict/story resolution, most commonly illustrated with the employment of the “happy ending”. Studios understood precisely what an audience desired, and accommodated their wants and needs, resulting in films that were generally all the same, starring similar (sometimes the same) actors, crafted in a similar manner. It became the principal style throughout the western world against which all other styles were judged. While there have been some deviations and experiments with the format in the past 50 plus ye...
Have you ever had one of those days that were so bad that you desperately needed a night at the ice cream or candy store? The 1970’s was that really bad day, while the night of self- indulgence was the 1980’s. Americans love to escape from our daily stress, and of all the products that allow us to do so, none is more popular than the movies. Movies are key cultural artifacts that offer a view of American culture and social history. They not only offer a snapshot of hair styles and fashions of the times but they also provide a host of insights into Americans’ ever-changing ideals. Like any cultural artifact, the movies can be approached in a number of ways. Cultural historians have treated movies as a document that records the look and mood of the time that promotes a particular political or moral value or highlights individual or social anxieties and tensions. These cultural documents present a particular image of gender, ethnicity, romance, and violence. Out of the political and economic unrest of the 1970’s that saw the mood and esteem of the country, as reflected in the artistry and messages in the movies, sink to a new low, came a new sense of pride in who we are, not seen since the post-World War II economic boom of the 1950’s. Of this need to change, Oscar Award winner Paul Newman stated,
Wasser, Frederick. "Is Hollywood America?", in Movies and American Society. Ross, Steven T., ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002.
Within every history class, English class, and even some science classes, the art of storytelling is a primary foundation for human communication and understanding. Whether it be through myths – Greek, Roman, Egyptian, you pick – or wives tales or even Grandpa telling his old war stories, stories have power. Now, through technological advancements in the last 150+ years (thank you Thomas Edison for your obsession), we have film as a mode to tell stories. Fictional or not, films tell a story; they have the power to give you not only entertainment but enlightenment too. Through continuing advancements, filmmakers have the ability to challenge and manipulate the power of the story through creative resistance; by exploring other elements of storytelling via film, filmmakers can create dramatically different films from similar ideas by using a multitude of techniques. Films are even used to create social commentary.
Hollywood has influenced American history since it began. It boosted and shaped the morale of a nation for almost a century. But Hollywood has not only been the influencing American society, it has been influenced by American society. In the 1920s, American society was booming; people were getting rich, spending and borrowing money, and they thought life was looking good. Then in October of 1929 the stock market crashed. Many people lost all they owned. People had invested all their money into the banks before the Crash. After the Crash, the banks had nothing. People were destitute. They had no money to pay for their houses, electrical bills, and food. It became the Great Depression. Likewise, Hollywood was impacted by the Great Depression. Hollywood lost money and felt the same loss as people all over the United States. But Hollywood used this depression for their gain. They altered their course of action to please the American people during this time. Hollywood then produced the Golden Age of Hollywood to boost American morale. This period required many innovations for Hollywood officials. This time period lead to the transformation of Hollywood. To understand the Golden Era of Hollywood, historians must accredit the Great Depression and Hollywood's tactics of satisfying society's whims.
Thompson, K 2003, ‘The struggle for the expanding american film industry’, in Film history : an introduction, 2nd ed, McGraw-Hill, Boston, pp. 37-54
The dawn of Hollywood as a center of motion picture production accrued in the years from 1907 and 1914. According to E. Ann Kaplan "Classical Hollywood film was the dominant popular form through which the bourgeoisie increasingly represented itself, its values, and the working classes- to whom cinema was earlier largely addressed" in the first half of the twentieth century (American Cinema and Hollywood, 2000:46). "Hollywood has always drawn upon the national ethos of the United States for cinematic inspiration" (T.Cowen,2001). This essay will describe Classical Hollywood style and explain how it has come to dominate film production in the West.
The film industry has always influenced the way society views the world. In today’s day and age it certainly influences trends and the way people view the world. This is the reason the film industry and Hollywood has had a huge impact on society throughout the years. This impact has not always being a good one. If we try to go back and analyze the film industry through the years we can see that there has being a huge amount of misrepresentation.
The cinema industry has various ways to produce movies. In the early 1900’s, the movies were black and white due to the technology, and the sound wasn’t uploaded yet.Nowadays, time has changed and sound is crucial in movies. Despite the cliche, there are still some outstanding artists whose legacies throughout time. Among such artists, are Charlie Chaplin , a famous actor and comic in the 1920’s, and Rowan Atkinson, famous actor in the 1978’s. This shows that American culture is always moving forward.
Many people don’t think about it so much, but movies (or just film in general) have become such a big part of our lives that we don’t think much of it because it just feels like a usual part of living. But have you ever wondered why this is, and how far back film started? Movies and film have been around for a long time, have developed in big ways throughout time, and has advanced in such a big and new way to this day.
Movies take us inside the skin of people quite different from ourselves and to places different from our routine surroundings. As humans, we always seek enlargement of our being and wanted to be more than ourselves. Each one of us, by nature, sees the world with a perspective and selectivity different from others. But, we want to see the world through other’s eyes; imagine with other’s imaginations; feel with other’s hearts, at a same time as with our own. Movies offer us a window onto the wider world, broadening our perspective and opening our eyes to new wonders.
Film was meant to show the traditions and customs of specific cultures to the rest of the world. However, because of Hollywood's need for a large market to sell a movie ...
It can come to define who’s being influenced. Movies are a huge source of influence, because they’re also a form of entertainment. Movies can influence us because they influence storytelling, entertainment, and culture. Works Cited http://novan.com/storytel.htm http://www.bubblews.com/news/1030442-influence-of-movies http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/film/socialhist.html http://tribecafilm.com/future-of-film/513103f31c7d761e9300000b-storytelling-audiences-an http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article