Projections of War – Hollywood, American Culture & World War II (Paper): Hollywood, American Culture and World War II (Film and Culture Series) - Softcover

Doherty, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231082452 ISBN 13: 9780231082457

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 1994

Synopsis

In this cultural history of the USA during World War II, Thomas Doherty examines the interaction between Hollywood cinema and America's involvement in the war. He reveals how and why Hollywood marshalled its artistic resources on behalf of the war effort, giving a voice to many different groups' viewpoints: the motion picture industry itself; government agencies; and audiences at home and overseas. Doherty proves that war-time Hollywood was not a rigidly controlled propaganda machine, as is often assumed, but an ad-hoc collaborative effort between the government and the film industry. He explains the social, political and economic forces that created genre classics such as "Mrs Miniver" and "Air Force" as well as comedies, musicals, newsreels, documentaries, cartoons and army training films.

About this title

Review:

"This is a model social history of war movies -- both a penetrating examination of Hollywood at war and a bracing argument about the effects of the war on the nature of Hollywood entertainment." -- "Kirkus Reviews"

"A wide-ranging, lively study which combines close readings of various key films with discussions of genre, ethnicity, and beauracracy.... [A] vivid blend of polemic and social history." -- "Times Literary Supplement"

"This is a model social history of war movies -- both a penetrating examination of Hollywood at war and a bracing argument about the effects of the war on the nature of Hollywood entertainment." -- Kirkus Reviews

"A wide-ranging, lively study which combines close readings of various key films with discussions of genre, ethnicity, and beauracracy.... [A] vivid blend of polemic and social history." -- Times Literary Supplement

"This is a model social history of war movies -- both a penetrating examination of Hollywood at war and a bracing argument about the effects of the war on the nature of Hollywood entertainment." -- "Kirkus Reviews"

"A wide-ranging, lively study which combines close readings of various key films with discussions of genre, ethnicity, and beauracracy.... [A] vivid blend of polemic and social history." -- "Times Literary Supplement"

About the Author:

Thomas Doherty is associate professor of the American Studies Department and chair of the Film Studies Program at Brandeis University. He is author of Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934 (Columbia, 1999) and Teenagers and Teenpics: The Juvenilizatzion of American Movies in the 1950s, and is associate editor of the film journal Cineaste.

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0231082452
• ISBN 13: 9780231082457
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 376