Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi


How to Use This Book xvi


Part I Culture and American Film 1


1 Introduction to the Study of Film Form and Representation 3


Film Form 3


American Ideologies: Discrimination and Resistance 6


Culture and Cultural Studies 12


Case Study: The Lion King (1994) 17


Questions for Discussion 20


Further Reading 20


2 The Structure and History of Hollywood Filmmaking 21


Hollywood vs. Independent Film 21


The Style of Hollywood Cinema 23


The Business of Hollywood 28


The History of Hollywood: The Movies Begin 30


The Classical Hollywood Cinema 34


World War II and Postwar Film 37


“New” Hollywood and the Blockbuster Mentality 40


Questions for Discussion 43


Further Reading 43


Further Screening 44


Part II Race and Ethnicity and American Film 45
Introduction to Part II: What is Race?


3 The Concept of Whiteness and American Film 51


Seeing White 52


Bleaching the Green: The Irish in American Cinema 56


Looking for Respect: Italians in American Cinema 60


A Special Case: Jews and Hollywood 65


Case Study: The Jazz Singer (1927) 68


Veiled and Reviled: Arabs on Film in America 70


Conclusion: Whiteness and American Film Today 76


Questions for Discussion 77


Further Reading 77


Further Screening 77


4 African Americans and American Film 78


African Americans in Early Film 78


Blacks in Classical Hollywood Cinema 82


World War II and the Postwar Social Problem Film 85


The Rise and Fall of Blaxploitation Filmmaking 88


Box: Blacks on TV 90


Hollywood in the 1980s and the Arrival of Spike Lee 90


Black Independent vs. “Neo-Blaxploitation” Filmmaking 93


New Images for a New Century – Or Not? 95


Case Study: Bamboozled (2000) 98


Questions for Discussion 100


Further Reading 100


Further Screening 101


5 Native Americans and American Film 102


The American “Indian” Before Film 103


Ethnographic Films and the Rise of the Hollywood Western 105


The Evolving Western 110


A Kinder, Gentler America? 115


Case Study: Smoke Signals (1998) 118


Conclusion: Twenty-First-Century Indians? 121


Questions for Discussion 122


Further Reading 122


Further Screening 122


6 Asian Americans and American Film 123


Silent Film and Asian Images 124


Asians in Classical Hollywood Cinema 126


World War II and After: War Films, Miscegenation Melodramas, and Kung Fu 130


Contemporary Asian American Actors and Filmmakers 134


Case Study: Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989) 140


Questions for Discussion 142


Further Reading 142


Further Screening 142


7 Latinos and American Film 143


The Greaser and the Latin Lover: Alternating Stereotypes 145


World War II and After: The Good Neighbor Policy 148


The 1950s to the 1970s: Back to Business as Usual? 152


Expanding Opportunities in Recent Decades 154


Conclusion: A Backlash Against Chicanos? 159


Case Study: My Family/Mi Familia (1995) 160


Questions for Discussion 163


Further Reading 163


Further Screening 163


Part III Class and American Film 165
Introduction to Part III: What is Class?


8 Classical Hollywood Cinema and Class 171


Setting the Stage: The Industrial Revolution 171


Early Cinema: The Rise of the Horatio Alger Myth 173


Hollywood and Unionization 178


Class in the Classical Hollywood Cinema 180


Case Study: The Grapes of Wrath (1940) 184


Conclusion: Recloaking Class Consciousness 186


Questions for Discussion 186


Further Reading 186


Further Screening 186


9 Cinematic Class Struggle After the Depression 187


From World War II to the Red Scare 187


From Opulence to Counterculture 191


Box: Class on Television 196


New Hollywood and the Resurrection of the Horatio Alger Myth 198


Case Study: Bulworth (1998) 204


Conclusion: Corporate Hollywood and Labor Today 204


Questions for Discussion 208


Further Reading 208


Further Screening 209


Part IV Gender and American Film 211
Introduction to Part IV: What is Gender?


10 Women in Classical Hollywood Filmmaking 217


Images of Women in Early Cinema 218


Early Female Filmmakers 222


Images of Women in 1930s Classical Hollywood 227


World War II and After 231


Case Study: All that Heaven Allows (1955) 234


Questions for Discussion 236


Further Reading 237


Further Screening 237


11 Exploring the Visual Parameters of Women in Film 238


Ways of Seeing 238


“Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” 242


Case Study: Gilda (1946) 250


Conclusion: Complicating Mulvey’s Arguments 253


Questions for Discussion 255


Further Reading 255


Further Screening 256


12 Masculinity in Classical Hollywood Filmmaking 257


Masculinity and Early Cinema 260


Masculinity and the Male Movie Star 262


World War II and Film Noir 267


Case Study: Dead Reckoning (1947) 272


Masculinity in 1950s American Film 274


Questions for Discussion 277


Further Reading 277


Further Screening 277


13 Gender in American Film Since the 1960s 278


Second Wave Feminism and Hollywood 278


Into the 1980s: A Backlash against Women? 283


Box: Women and American Television 284


A New Generation of Female Filmmakers 291


Case Study: The Ballad of Little Jo (1993) 296


Conclusion: Gender in the Early Twenty-First Century 296


Questions for Discussion 301


Further Reading 301


Further Screening 302


Part V Sexuality and American Film 303
Introduction to Part V: What is Sexuality?


14 Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, and Classical Hollywood 309


(Hetero)Sexuality on Screen 309


(Homo)Sexuality in Early Film 311


Censoring Sexuality during the Classical Hollywood Era 314


Postwar Sexualities and the Weakening of the Production Code 319


Camp and the Underground Cinema 324


Case Study: The Celluloid Closet (1995) 326


Questions for Discussion 328


Further Reading 328


Further Screening 328


15 Sexualities on Film Since the Sexual Revolution 329


Hollywood and the Sexual Revolution 329


Film and Gay Culture from Stonewall to AIDS 331


The AIDS Crisis 336


Queer Theory and New Queer Cinema 339


Box: Queer TV 340


Case Study: Go Fish (1995) 347


Hollywood Responds to New Queer Cinema 347


(Hetero)Sexualities in Contemporary American Cinema 352


Questions for Discussion 354


Further Reading 354


Further Screening 355


Part VI Ability and American Film 357
Introduction to Part VI: What is Ability?


16 Cinematic Images of (Dis)Ability 363


Disabled People in Early American Film: Curiosities and Freaks 364


Romanticizing Disability in Classical Hollywood Melodramas 368


Disability in War Movies and Social Problem Films 370


Disability and the Counterculture 374


Case Study: Children of a Lesser God (1986) 378


A More Enlightened Age? 380


Questions for Discussion 384


Further Reading 384


Further Screening 384


17 Making Connections 385


Case Study 1: Queen Christina (1933) 386


Case Study 2: The Old Maid (1939) 388


Case Study 3: The Gang’s All Here (1943) 390


Case Study 4: A Patch of Blue (1965) 392


Case Study 5: Erin Brockovich (2000) 394


Case Study 6: 8 Mile (2002) 396


Case Study 7: Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) 398


Case Study 8: Saving Face (2004) 400


Case Study 9: Crash (2004) 402


Case Study 10: The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005) 404


Case Study 11: Brokeback Mountain (2005) 406


Case Study 12: Quinceañera (2006) 408


Glossary 410


Index 432

About the Author

Harry M. Benshoff is Associate Professor of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of North Texas.
Sean Griffin is Associate Professor of Cinema and Television at Southern Methodist University.

Reviews

"Concluding each chapter are discussion questions and lists of further reading and relevant films. Particularly valuable are the 28 two-page case studies (e.g., of Lion King , Jazz Singer , Grapes of Wrath , Gilda , Celluloid Closet , Crash , Brokeback Mountain ) scattered throughout. These analyze the films in terms of culture group. A model of sociological criticism and an invaluable tool (in classroom or library) for film students." ( CHOICE , August 2009) " America on Film is a different kind of film studies textbook. It's an invaluable resource for classes examining the politics of Hollywood." Ted Friedman, Associate Professor of Moving Image Studies, Georgia State University "The authors do a remarkable job at presenting contexts for identifying and tracking the historical constructions of race, gender, class and sexuality ... They successfully present a rich history, with references to hundreds of films." Scope Journal " America on Film provides a clear and expansive examination of the complexities of representation and identity in American cinema. I currently use Benshoff and Griffin's book in my introductory film class on multiculturalism, and I look forward to using this new edition." Vicki Callahan , University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee "In this era of diversity, American on Film is a great resource that clarifies critical concepts of inequality and illustrates how film representations can frame groups thus providing tools for thinking critically about the media we consume." Elizabeth Higginbotham, University of Delaware " America on Film does what no other film textbook does: it takes its investigation of film beyond a study of form, production and exhibition, exposing how film functions as a powerful cultural agent for shaping American perceptions of race, gender, class and ability." Alison Landsberg, George Mason University