The Uncertain Future of the Camera Cinemas
Nestled in the center of downtown San Jose sits one of the cities few cultural landmarks worth saving. The Camera Cinemas have been an institution since 1975. They serve as the unofficial home to San Jose’s small, but popular independent movie following. Unfortunately, they are at risk of being shut down for good if a new home can not be found in the next few years. This paper discusses the historical fight the Camera Cinemas have had to endure and what they must do to survive into the next century. They may be saving their best performance for last.
Prior to 1975, there were no art movie houses in San Jose. The South of First Area (SOFA) Camera One currently resides in, was a red light district, home to prostitutes, porno theatres, and drug pushers. So what in the world was an art movie house doing in area like this? You could say the Cameras were ahead of their time, paving the way for what soon would be recognized as one of most culturally intellectual areas in the world. Because the closest art movie houses were 50 miles away, independent film fans looked to the Cameras as a source for entertainment in their own backyard. The Camera chain would expand in 1984 adding the Camera 3 theatres to their small but soon-to-be growing chain. It was during this time that the Cameras would start to receive top quality art and foreign films with the likes of those seen in San Francisco. The Cameras would eventually expand to four movie houses adding the Towne and Los Gatos Theatres. The relationship seemed like a match made in heaven; a small independent movie chain showing first run foreign and art films in the large and growing Silicon Valley. What could possibly go wrong? Much like everything else, too much of a good thing hardly ever goes unnoticed.
The Camera Cinemas served as the only theatres downtown for nearly twenty years. So when the area started to flourish, big business started to open its eyes and take notice. With the opening of the brand new Pavilion Shops in downtown, AMC movie theatres looked to capitalize on an untapped market. In many situations, such as with department stores and supermarkets, competition can sometimes help to generate business. However, due to film zoning laws and the sheer commercial power of a chain like AMC, the Cameras stood to be jeopardized and ran out of business.
Hollywood is not simply a point on a map; it is a representation of the human experience. As with any other location, though, Hollywood’s history can be traced and analyzed up to present day. In 1887, Harvey Henderson Wilcox established a 120-acre ranch in an area northwest of Los Angeles, naming it “Hollywood” (Basinger 15). From then on, Hollywood grew from one man’s family to over 5,000 people in 1910. By then, residents around the ranch incorporated it as a municipality, using the name Hollywood for their village. While they voted to become part of the Los Angeles district, their village was also attracting motion-picture companies drawn in by the diverse geography of the mountains and oceanside (15). The Los Angeles area continues to flourish, now containing over nine million people, an overwhelming statistic compared to Wilcox’s original, family unit (U.S. Census Bureau 1). However, these facts only s...
“When the Movies Moved to the Suburbs.” The New York Times. Janet Maslin, 29 Oct. 2011.
...still did a booming business and it was feasible to do all your shopping within a short walking distance. Small businesses flourished at the intersection of Joy and Grand River at this time. Delicatessens, drug stores, dimes stores, barbers, butchers and grocers all set up shop in this district that was growing denser by the day. The neighborhood was becoming so packed that it even had its own hook and ladder company the XXX at 8xxxx Grande River...192X would see the opening of the magnificent Riviera movie palace that could seat 2xxxx patrons per show. So great was the demand that the Rivera Annex was built just one block away to handle the overflow. To put this into context the first talking motion picture, The Jazz Singer was released in October 1927. These were boom times in America’s third largest city and the masses were looking to be entertained.
Stanley, Robert H. The Movie Idiom: Film as a Popular Art Form. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. 2011. Print
Jacobs, Diane. Hollywood Renaissance: The New Generation of Filmmakers and their works. 1977. New York. Dell Publishing.
explode in popularity and the introduction of theaters specifically for film. Firstly, amid the circuses, the wild...
In Hollywood today, most films can be categorized according to the genre system. There are action films, horror flicks, Westerns, comedies and the likes. On a broader scope, films are often separated into two categories: Hollywood films, and independent or foreign ‘art house’ films. Yet, this outlook, albeit superficial, was how many viewed films. Celebrity-packed blockbusters filled with action and drama, with the use of seamless top-of-the-line digital editing and special effects were considered ‘Hollywood films’. Films where unconventional themes like existentialism or paranoia, often with excessive violence or sex or a combination of both, with obvious attempts to displace its audiences from the film were often attributed with the generic label of ‘foreign’ or ‘art house’ cinema.
The madness around the court dominates Ophelia's world as well as men do. But they are men who want too much and who represent too many contradictions. She can not comply with their wills, and she cannot assert her own. She can not live because her selfhood does not exist. When madness seems to take over her mind, she realizes and sees the truth much more clearly. Making Ophelia’s madness be just as sane as the others around her. Concluding, that one must put on a cape of insanity in order to reach saneness.
A new edition to the course lineup, this week's film classic, Sunset Boulevard. This film will focus on the culture and environment of the Hollywood studio system that produces the kind of motion pictures that the whole world recognizes as "Hollywood movies." There have been many movies from the silent era to the present that either glamorize or vilify the culture of Hollywood, typically focusing on the celebrities (both in front of and behind the camera) who populate the "dream factories" of Hollywood. But we cannot completely understand the culture of Hollywood unless we recognize that motion pictures are big business as well as entertainment, and that Hollywood necessarily includes both creative and commercial
In Elizabethan times, Ophelia is restricted as a woman. She is obedient to the commands of the men in her life although she often attempts to do the right thing. Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet all have a grasp on Ophelia and who she is. She does not have the freedom to change her fate as Hamlet does. Shawna Maki states, “Ophelia’s life is determined by the whims of men who control her” (1). Polonius takes advantage of his relationship with Ophelia by using her to achieve a better relationship with Claudius. Polonius and Laertes teach Ophelia how to behave, therefore, abusing their power in allowing Ophelia to become who she wants to be (Brown 2).
An example in the film that highlights the demise of the studio system is when Joe pitches a script idea to a producer of Paramount. Joe is quick to say that the film only needs one main character, has many outdoor locations and can be made ‘for under a million dollars’ (Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard, 1950), which highlights the idea of saving money on a s...
Coca –Cola (KO) is one of the world’s largest beverage companies. Company was incorporated in September 1919 under the State of Delaware law and headquarters is located in Atlanta Georgia. But from 1886, company established its brand in US (Coca-Cola, 2012, p. 1). Currently company is providing for more than 500 varieties of non-alcoholic sparkles to the customers around the world. Apart from this, company also serve for still beverages that includes enhanced water, water, ready-to-drink, juices, energy drink, sport drinks and so on.
Culturally, women have been expected to be soft spoken, gentle, delicate flowers. They should not question a man's opinion or go against their will. Ophelia, in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is an example of a young naive girl who faces the dangers that come from only following what others want, and not thinking for herself. The men in this play use her for their own benefit and she suffers the repercussions, which leads her to madness and “accidental” death.
In the play Hamlet Ophelia is portrayed as an innocent young woman who does not have a say in anything. All the men control Hamlet, her father Polonius, and her brother Laertes. She is portrayed as inferior to all of them and lets herself be pushed around by them. She is unable to convey her opinions or emotions throughout the play. The men dominate her thoughts and behaviors. In Hamlet, Ophelia’s obedience to her father and brother, along with her dismissal by Hamlet, reveals that women were not allowed to assert their opinions, emotions, or desires in a courtly setting.
It is no doubt that Martin Scorsese has heavily influenced the emulating of American film making from European influences. He is a prime example of a ‘New Hollywood Cinema’ director, not only from his ethnicity and background, but from his sheer interest in this form