Sociology on Film

Postwar Hollywood's Prestige Commodity

Chris Cagle (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

194 Seiten

2016
Rutgers University Press (Verlag)
978-0-8135-7693-0 (ISBN)

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After World War II, Hollywood’s “social problem films”—tackling topical issues that included racism, crime, mental illness, and drug abuse—were hits with critics and general moviegoers alike. In an era of film famed for its reliance on pop psychology, these movies were a form of popular sociology, bringing the academic discipline’s concerns to a much broader audience. Sociology on Film examines how the postwar “problem film” translated contemporary policy debates and intellectual discussions into cinematic form in order to become one of the preeminent genres of prestige drama. Chris Cagle chronicles how these movies were often politically fractious, the work of progressive directors and screenwriters who drew scrutiny from the House Un-American Activities Committee. Yet he also proposes that the genre helped to construct an abstract discourse of “society” that served to unify a middlebrow American audience. As he considers the many forms of print media that served to inspire social problem films, including journalism, realist novels, and sociological texts, Cagle also explores their distinctive cinematic aesthetics. Through a close analysis of films like Gentleman’s Agreement, The Lost Weekend, and Intruder in the Dust, he presents a compelling case that the visual style of these films was intimately connected to their more expressly political and sociological aspirations. Sociology on Film demonstrates how the social problem picture both shaped and reflected the middle-class viewer’s national self-image, making a lasting impact on Hollywood’s aesthetic direction.

CHRIS CAGLE is an associate professor of film and media arts at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1Two Modes of Prestige Film
2Hollywood as Popular Sociology
3Hollywood and the Public Sphere
4A Genre Out of Cycles
5Realist Melodrama
Epilogue
NotesIndex

Erscheinungsdatum	17.12.2016
Zusatzinfo	15 photographs, 6 tables
Verlagsort	New Brunswick NJ
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV
	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
ISBN-10	0-8135-7693-8 / 0813576938
ISBN-13	978-0-8135-7693-0 / 9780813576930
Zustand	Neuware