January 13-14, 2024: Vaughn Joy’s Hollywood Histories

[January10th marks the 100th anniversary of the renaming,rebranding, and relaunchof Columbia Pictures, one of the foundational and most iconicAmerican film studios. So this week I’ve AmericanStudied a handfulof Columbia’s many film innovations over its first few decades, leading up tothis special weekend tribute to one of our preeminent 21st centuryFilmStudiers!]

I couldn’t write a weeklong series on aHollywood film studio without paying tribute to the most thoughtful current FilmStudierand historian of all things Hollywood: the business and industry, the politicaland social ramifications, and those fraught and fantastic films themselves. Youcan learn a lot more about Vaughn Joy’s work on her website and her prolific Twitter account; here I’lljust highlight a handful of exemplary examples:

1)     Vaughnwritten a couple of excellentarticles (both available at that hyperlink) on the Paramount Decrees,monopolization, and Hollywood for the University of Chicago Business School’sPromarket magazine;

2)     She’scompiled a number of vital Twitter threads on different aspects of the past,present, and future of Hollywood, with many compiled in this thread ofthreads…

3)     …anda newaddition to the list from December on the proposed and deeply problematicmerger between Warner Brothers and Paramount;

4)     Her articleon Miracle on 34th Streetfor a special ChristmasStudies issue of Comparative AmericanStudies makes clear how she connects her multilayered analyses of filmsto those historical, social, and political contexts;

5)     Andfor lots more examples of those multilayered analyses, make sure to subscribeto her weekly Review Roulettenewsletter!

I lookforward to learning a lot more about Hollywood’s histories and future fromVaughn in 2024! Speaking of, a Spring semester previews series start Monday,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Hollywood histories or historians you’d highlight?