Hollywood's Impact On American Culture

Movies have the ability to transport people to different times and places and distract them from ordinary everyday reality. They allow for a range of emotions to be experienced. At their core, movies examine the human condition. There are plenty of deeper truths woven into screenplays and plenty of lessons to be learned, even when an individual is solely seeking entertainment.

“The biggest mistake we have made is to consider that films are primarily a form of entertainment. The film is the greatest medium since the invention of movable type for exchanging ideas and information, and it is no more at its best in light entertainment than literature is at its best in the light novel.” - Orson Welles

The invention of television greatly affected filmmaking in America. Although attendance dropped greatly in movie theatres for a significant time certain elements were employed by the film industry to bring the audience back. Additionally, the Production Code changed during this time as well as the reflection of American culture and social tensions in films.

Film is one of the most distinct expressions of a culture and is simultaneously a medium of great cultural impact. From the fashion presented on screen (i.e. clothes worn by characters in The Breakfast Club (1985) that serve as an example of clothes worn in 1980’s America), to the featured artists used for their soundtracks (i.e. Kendrick Lamar’s contributions to the Black Panther (2017) soundtrack), film can influence the same culture from which it itself was influenced.

Hollywood film is a powerful twentieth century art form that has provided entertainment and social commentary since its creation. Film can be used to portray history on the silver screen. Directors can use their films to portray social commentary about current issues. A popular social issue throughout history is war. Directors can use their war films to promote pro-war or anti-war movements. Films have the ability to influence the public and provoke thought amongst them about any social issue. The power of film has the ability to present the audience with history while providing social commentary.

Hollywood has influenced American history since it began. It boosted and shaped the morale of a nation for almost a century. But Hollywood has not only been the influencing American society, it has been influenced by American society. In the 1920s, American society was booming; people were getting rich, spending and borrowing money, and they thought life was looking good. Then in October of 1929 the stock market crashed. Many people lost all they owned. People had invested all their money into the banks before the Crash. After the Crash, the banks had nothing. People were destitute. They had no money to pay for their houses, electrical bills, and food. It became the Great Depression. Likewise, Hollywood was impacted by the Great

In what ways have various forms of entertainment media shaped American culture and its values?

Hollywood is a very powerful modern day institution, where a star's image can characterize, shape and circulate societal myths and ideologies. The construction of a star's image as a commodity of their societal myths and ideologies has the extraordinary power to exert messages so that even the smallest details become significant yet not overtly obvious. How a star's image is produced and then consumed can justify a society's relationship with that image and therefore aid in explaining the social construction of what society deems as their 'reality'. A star's image is created through a range of representations churned out by Hollywood. Capitalism from the commercialization of these images has made Hollywood the dominant force it is

Human history has been kept alive through a variety of mediums over the centuries. Throughout much of time, stories were told verbally to younger generations while written records and artifacts enhanced the story’s authenticity. In the late 19th and early 20th century, technology revolutionized story-telling with the invention of the video camera. Rather than hearing anecdotal stories about historic events, people could now see images of events happening all over the world. In addition, motion pictures were created to present fictional and non-fictional stories for education and entertainment. The United States, and specifically Hollywood, became the center of the film industry world-wide. The widespread social and political changes which

In chapter two of The Cultures of American Film, the main focus is the establishment of studios. As demand for films rose in the early 1900’s, production companies needed to expand; this lead to the creation of large scale studios.

Back in the 1920s people had receive news and entertainment through the radio, which then in turn out-shined newspapers and magazines. Now day’s social media sites have become the most popular form to get the news and information. The biggest tool in the media that generates revenue by the millions every day, is advertising. The media has its way of showing us constructive information when it comes to news channels, travel and other educational shows. Kids benefit from watching these, since it can boost self-esteem, heighten interest levels in a particular subject, or encourage them to ask relevant questions.

In the 1960’s, “for the first time in its history, Hollywood fell behind the rest of the world- aesthetically, commercially, and even technologically” (Cook, 669) It wasn’t until the mid-1970s when a wider license for personal filmmaking and cultural critique was eclipsed by the rapid consolidation of media corporations and the franchised blockbuster, did Hollywood reach a turning point.

The fall of the Golden Age of Hollywood was the result of multiple factors including World War II and its effect on cinema’s normal operations, the United States vs. Paramount Pictures decision, and the invention of the television. Television added challenges to the already struggling film industry and ticket sales plummeted. This series of events resulted in the major film studios “…reorganizing and retooling what remained of their studios to being producing films for television” (Barsam & Monahan, 2013 p.501). Along with all of these changes came changes in the Motion Picture Production Code and changes in society and how people preferred their entertainment.

Genre is a reflection of society. Film noir is a genre that has a distinctive relationship with the American society from 1941 - 1958 because it reflects America’s fears and concerns from when they experienced major upheaval after The Great Depression and during World War I. In particular, the unstable atmosphere from the aftermath of World War 1 as Bruce Crowther, author of the book ‘Film Noir: Reflections in a Dark Mirror’, elaborates on how Film Noir films produce “a dark quality that derived as much from the character's depiction as from the cinematographer’s art.” These dark moods are transparent through the key features of the femme fatale, the film techniques and the impact of the Hay’s code on American film and American society.

This research paper will cover the topic of the American film industry, globalisation and how globalisation has impacted on the change of the American film industry. I will also continue on to how the American film industry and its producers can integrate successfully internationally.