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Screen Decades: American Culture/American Cinema
American Cinema of the 1920s: Themes and Variations
During the 1920s, sound revolutionized the motion picture industry and cinema continued as one of the most significant and popular forms of mass entertainment in the world. Film studios were transformed into major corporations, hiring a host of craftsmen and technicians including cinematographers, editors, screenwriters, and set designers. The birth of the star system supported the meteoric rise and celebrity status of actors including Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and Rudolph Valentino while black performers (relegated to "race films") appeared infrequently in mainstream movies. The classic Hollywood film style was perfected and significant film genres were the melodrama, western, historical epic, and romantic comedy, along with slapstick, science fiction, and fantasy. In ten original essays, American Cinema of the 1920s examines the film industry's continued growth and prosperity while focusing on important themes of the era.
312 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2009
About the author
Lucy Fischer
44 books2 followersLucy Fischer is a Distinguished Professor of English and Film Studies and directed the Film Studies Program at Pitt for three decades. Beyond teaching she has also had film curatorial experience at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City and The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. Her interests in film studies are wide ranging and include international cinema of both the silent and sound era as well as narrative and experimental film.
Her particular fields include cultural and feminist studies, film theory, film aesthetics, women and film, film and literature, and the relationships between film, consciousness and desire. Aside from publishing 9 books, her articles have appeared in many journals, including: Screen, Film History, Sight and Sound, Camera Obscura, Wide Angle, Cinema Journal, Journal of Film and Video, Film Criticism, Women and Performance, Frauen und Film, and Film Quarterly.
Her essays have been anthologized 30 times in volumes of film history, criticism, and theory. She has lectured internationally in Israel, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Scotland, Great Britain, Portugal, and Australia and has taught abroad in Germany, Sweden, and on the Semester at Sea program of the University of Pittsburgh (which traveled around the world). She recently completed editing an issue of the Portuguese journal, Anglo-Saxonia, and her latest book, Cinema by Design: Art Nouveau, Modernism, and Film History.
Her particular fields include cultural and feminist studies, film theory, film aesthetics, women and film, film and literature, and the relationships between film, consciousness and desire. Aside from publishing 9 books, her articles have appeared in many journals, including: Screen, Film History, Sight and Sound, Camera Obscura, Wide Angle, Cinema Journal, Journal of Film and Video, Film Criticism, Women and Performance, Frauen und Film, and Film Quarterly.
Her essays have been anthologized 30 times in volumes of film history, criticism, and theory. She has lectured internationally in Israel, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Scotland, Great Britain, Portugal, and Australia and has taught abroad in Germany, Sweden, and on the Semester at Sea program of the University of Pittsburgh (which traveled around the world). She recently completed editing an issue of the Portuguese journal, Anglo-Saxonia, and her latest book, Cinema by Design: Art Nouveau, Modernism, and Film History.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 4, 2011
One of a series which analyzes representative or interesting films from each year in a decade, viewed in the context of historical/social developments. The contributions, each year by a different author, are of variable quality. Film choices are not always the expected ones, and i was thrilled that the 1925 analysis included two of my favorite proto-feminist films, Smouldering Fires and The Home Maker. Angela Dalle Vacche's article on 1928 is particularly insightful.
May 18, 2024
Hollywood in antiquity
The 1920s Hollywood make a pivotal decade for the movie industry transitioning from silent films to "talkies." This era also founded the studio system with major players like MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros., and Universal Studios. They also created the star system that helped to produce a large number of creative films. European directors and actors migrated to Hollywood enriching the cinematic landscape. This cross-pollination led to a blend of styles and techniques. The industry was dominated by flappers, a new generation of young women who defied traditional norms of behavior and fashion. The twenties began on the heels of the WWI which led to the making of successful war films.
Some great movies include: "The Gold Rush" (1925), starring Charlie Chaplin, with his iconic "Little Tramp" character through various misadventures in the Klondike Gold Rush. "Metropolis" (1927), an epic that explores themes of industrialization and class struggle. "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ" (1925), directed by Fred Niblo for its chariot race scene and massive scale. It was one of the most expensive movies of the silent era. "Wings" (1927), a World War I movie that shows the fighter pilots engaged in aerial combat sequences, and "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925), starring Lon Chaney is a successful experiment in making a horror film.
African Americans were demeaned by racist portrayals in early days of Hollywood. For example, in Max and Dave Fleischer's comic film Chemical Ko-Ko (1929), a black janitor drinks a magic potion and turns white, and then he loses interest in doing a menial job. The 1927 film “The Jazz Singer" reflects the racial attitudes and prejudices of 1920s, showcasing how deeply embedded these stereotypes were in American popular culture. Al Jolson plays a Whiteman performing with a blackface, this practice of white actors playing the roles of black actors were common but shows that this practice was culturally accepted at that time. "Hearts in Dixie," a 1929 movie is significant in the history of American cinema in the context of race relations and representation. It is one of the first all-talking, all black-cast films produced in Hollywood, which aimed to portray African American life in a humanized way. This story is about an elderly African American who tries to save his grandson from his shiftless father. A major studio's early attempt to create a film with a predominantly African American cast intended for mainstream audiences was an audacious effort. Despite its progressive intentions, "Hearts in Dixie" still relied on several stereotypes common in the portrayal of African Americans at the time. Characters often embodied the archetypes of the "happy-go-lucky" Black person or the "loyal servant."
You will come to appreciate this book if you have time to watch the movies of 1920s many of which are aired on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM). This is a fascinating book to read and highly recommended to readers interested in the history of Hollywood and the early days of Hollywood’s Golden age.
The 1920s Hollywood make a pivotal decade for the movie industry transitioning from silent films to "talkies." This era also founded the studio system with major players like MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros., and Universal Studios. They also created the star system that helped to produce a large number of creative films. European directors and actors migrated to Hollywood enriching the cinematic landscape. This cross-pollination led to a blend of styles and techniques. The industry was dominated by flappers, a new generation of young women who defied traditional norms of behavior and fashion. The twenties began on the heels of the WWI which led to the making of successful war films.
Some great movies include: "The Gold Rush" (1925), starring Charlie Chaplin, with his iconic "Little Tramp" character through various misadventures in the Klondike Gold Rush. "Metropolis" (1927), an epic that explores themes of industrialization and class struggle. "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ" (1925), directed by Fred Niblo for its chariot race scene and massive scale. It was one of the most expensive movies of the silent era. "Wings" (1927), a World War I movie that shows the fighter pilots engaged in aerial combat sequences, and "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925), starring Lon Chaney is a successful experiment in making a horror film.
African Americans were demeaned by racist portrayals in early days of Hollywood. For example, in Max and Dave Fleischer's comic film Chemical Ko-Ko (1929), a black janitor drinks a magic potion and turns white, and then he loses interest in doing a menial job. The 1927 film “The Jazz Singer" reflects the racial attitudes and prejudices of 1920s, showcasing how deeply embedded these stereotypes were in American popular culture. Al Jolson plays a Whiteman performing with a blackface, this practice of white actors playing the roles of black actors were common but shows that this practice was culturally accepted at that time. "Hearts in Dixie," a 1929 movie is significant in the history of American cinema in the context of race relations and representation. It is one of the first all-talking, all black-cast films produced in Hollywood, which aimed to portray African American life in a humanized way. This story is about an elderly African American who tries to save his grandson from his shiftless father. A major studio's early attempt to create a film with a predominantly African American cast intended for mainstream audiences was an audacious effort. Despite its progressive intentions, "Hearts in Dixie" still relied on several stereotypes common in the portrayal of African Americans at the time. Characters often embodied the archetypes of the "happy-go-lucky" Black person or the "loyal servant."
You will come to appreciate this book if you have time to watch the movies of 1920s many of which are aired on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM). This is a fascinating book to read and highly recommended to readers interested in the history of Hollywood and the early days of Hollywood’s Golden age.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews