111-247 Contemporary Hollywood Cinema

Note

Students may not receive credit for both 111-247/347 Contemporary Hollywood Cinema and 111-247/347 Entertainment Cinema.

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Subject Description

This subject explores developments that occurred in the Hollywood film industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. Students will be expected to grasp some of the key issues emerging during this period, including: the focus on modernist strategies; revisionist approaches to early Hollywood genres; the emergence of the left/right cycle films; the shift from 'hero' to anti-hero; the film school generation and the 'rebirth' of Hollywood cinema as entertainment form; allusionism and the new generation of Hollywood auteurs (including Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola, de Palma) followed by the second wave of Hollywood auteurs (including the Coens, Burton, Tarantino, Lee); and the semi-independent form. Finally, students will also be expected to look critically at film theoretical responses to the social and ideological implications of Hollywood cinema.

Assessment

Written work which may comprise class papers, and essays or take-home examinations totalling about 5000 words.

Prescribed Texts

• Ray R. A, Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema. Princeton University Press, New Jersey 1985.
• Hillier J, The New Hollywood. Studio Vista, London, 1992.