Movies and the Impact
of Images
Chapter 7
“Star Wars effectively brought to an
end the golden era of early-1970s
personal filmmaking and focused the
industry on big-budget special-effects
blockbusters.”
—Roger Ebert
Movies as Modern Mythmakers
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Movies tell communal stories.
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Evoke and symbolize our most enduring values and secret
desires
Make the world seem clearer, more manageable, and more
understandable
Movies distract us from our daily struggles.
Movies encourage us to rethink contemporary ideas.
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What may be considered violent, unpatriotic, or
sacrilegious can change a viewer’s outlook for the better.
Early Film Technology
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1889 celluloid
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Bought by Eastman
Edison patented kinetoscope and vitascope.
Méliès and narrative film
Nickelodeons
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Silent films, “shorts”
Popular with new immigrants—images crossed
language barriers
Numbers of nickelodeons rise rapidly.
The Power of the Studio System
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Edison’s “Trust”
 Cartel of major U.S. and French producers
 Exclusive deal with Eastman
Defeated by Zukor and Fox
 Went on to create their own oligopoly
The studio system (1920s)
 Created stars
Mary Pickford key figure
Helped create directors as “auteurs”
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Zukor’s block booking
 Exhibitors forced to rent new or marginal films along
with popular films
Zukor and Fox worked to control distribution and exhibition.
Hollywood Storytelling
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Talkies
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Fox studio’s newsreels
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1927 Warner Brothers’ film The Jazz Singer
 Starring Al Jolson
Movietone captured first film footage with sound.
 Takeoff and return of Charles Lindbergh
Blockbusters
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The Birth of a Nation (1915), D. W. Griffith’s epic,
is considered the first such film.
Hollywood Genres
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Action/Adventure
Comedy
Drama
Fantasy/Science Fiction
Film Noir
Gangster
Horror
Musicals
Mystery/Suspense
Romance
Westerns
(See listings on pages 224 and 225)
1960s and 1970s:
The Rise of Star Directors
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Dennis Hopper, Easy Rider
George Lucas, American Graffiti
Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather
Brian De Palma, Carrie
Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver
Steven Spielberg, Jaws
Female directors receive few opportunities.
 Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) and Nancy
Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give) are among the
few female American directors to achieve critical,
commercial success.
Breaking the Racial Barrier
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Minority groups, including African Americans,
Asian Americans, and Native Americans
struggle for recognition
Some have succeeded as directors
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Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, 1989)
Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, 2005)
Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals, 1998)
Documentary Film
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Nanook of the North, 1922
Cinema verité
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Portable cameras
Rough, grainy look
Robert Drew: key innovator
Michael Moore
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Controversial
 Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004): a critique of the Bush
administration’s Middle East policies and the Iraq
war
 Sicko (2007): an investigation of the U.S. health-care
system
The Transformation of the
Hollywood System
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The Hollywood Ten
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Investigations of alleged subversive and communist ties
Led by the House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC)
Blacklisted
 Hollywood Ten boycotted by major studios
Paramount decision
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Major studios forced to end vertical integration
Television Changes Hollywood
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By the mid-1950s TV replaces radio
and movies for family entertainment.
Movies begin to take on more serious
content in response.
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Anti-Semitism: Gentleman’s Agreement,
1947
Sexuality: Peyton Place, 1957
Also develop new technologies
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CinemaScope, Technicolor
By 2008…
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More than 50% of domestic revenue for
Hollywood studios came from video/DVD rentals.
Continued popularity of DVD players
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Sales began to outpace rentals, but rentals still
profitable.
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DVD introduced 1997
Netflix
High-definition DVD battle won by Sony’s Blu-ray
discs
Figure 7.1
Hollywood and Home
Entertainment
“In a world where Amazon offers every book,
and iTunes offers every song, people aren’t
going to put up with, or even understand, that
the film they want to watch is simply
unavailable.”
—Saul Hansell, New York Times, 2008
The Movie Business
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1.4 billion movie tickets sold in 2007
2007 gross revenues = $9.63 billion
Sales and rental business still
produces more revenue: $15.7
billion
Movie business revamped its
production, distribution, and
exhibition system and consolidated
its ownership to survive.
The Blockbuster Mentality
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In the 1970s, suburban moviegoers made
hits of Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977).
Studios devised strategies to create future
blockbusters.
Studios need one major hit each year to
offset costs of other films.
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80–90% of films fail at box office
Figure 7.2
The Major Players
Warner Brothers
 Paramount
 Twentieth Century Fox
 Universal
 Columbia Pictures
 Disney
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Only Disney not owned by larger conglomerate
Figure 7.3
What Disney Owns
Movies
• Walt Disney Pictures
– Walt Disney Animation
Studios
– Pixar Animation Studios
– DisneyToon Studios
– Touchstone Pictures
– Hollywood Pictures
– Miramax Films
• Walt Disney Studios Motion
Pictures International
• Walt Disney Studios Home
Entertainment
• Disney Theatrical
Productions
• ImageMovers Digital
Music
• Disney Music Group
– Walt Disney Records
– Hollywood Records
– Lyric Street Records
Publishing
• Disney Publishing
Worldwide
– Hyperion Books for
Children
– Disney Press
• ESPN The Magazine
• Wondertime magazine
• FamilyFun magazine
Television/Radio
• Disney-ABC Television
Group
– ABC
– ABC Family
– ABC Studios
– Disney Channel
Worldwide
– SOAPnet
– The Radio Disney
Network
– Lifetime Entertainment
Services
– A&E Television Networks
• ESPN, Inc (80% ownership)
• ABC-owned television
stations (10)
Internet/Mobile Content
• The Walt Disney Internet
Group
– Disney.com
– ESPN360.com
– ESPN Mobile Properties
– mDisney mobile
– Movies.com
Disney Parks and Resorts
• (5) Disneyland Resorts and
Parks
• Disney Cruise Line
• Adventures by Disney
Film and the Internet
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One of the biggest challenges facing the
movie industry is the Internet.
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More and more online portals to watch films
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With broadband Internet, movie watchers likely to
get films from the Web.
Apple’s iTunes store began selling films in 2006,
renting in 2008
Hulu: Free streaming TV and movie clips
How often do you watch movies online?
The American Way
Do U.S. films contribute to a global village in
which people share a universal culture?
Or do U.S. films stifle local culture and
diversity?