Mommert. Wilfried . "Wartime Germany: Concerts and cinema to the bitter end," Deutsche Presse-Agentur 19 Mar 1995. LexisNexis. 29 Nov 2008

     Nazi Germany had a thriving arts and entertainment culture until all theaters were shut down September of 1944 as a step toward pursuing “total war.” Up until this point, the theaters held regular showings of films and concerts despite the  fact that many were destroyed by Allied bombings.  These theaters were in use until the Nazis were on the edge of defeat.  Despite setbacks with the war and the continued bombings by the Allies, films were still made and shown up until the end of the war.  Twenty eight films were works in progress when the war ended.  Concerts were also still shown regularly. Thirty operas were ready for performance but never actually put on stage.  Resources were still being allocated to put on new operas and films despite the fact that Germany was in "total war," and all resources were allocated to the war effort supposedly.  Film and concerts were the main forms of amusement and diversion for the German people, and the Nazis felt that keeping the masses' minds diverted and happy was still important.
    This article really shows the misguided priorities of the Nazis.  Resources that could have been used for the war effort were misallocated to film production and concert staging.  The Nazis were concerned with appeasing the masses, even though they were about to lose the war.  Maintaining the support of the masses was a core value for the Nazis to attain and maintain their power, but if they lost the war, they would lose their power immediately.  These efforts to keep the masses happy were completely pointless and wasteful.  Goebbels proclaimed that he closed the theaters to put Germany on the track of “total war,” yet this obviously did not shut down the entertainment industry.  The film Kolberg began production in 1942 and was not released until 1945 (Thompson and Bordwell 274).  This film was the costliest of the Nazi cinema projects, and it was made at a time when Germany was losing the war and about to be defeated (Thompson and Bordwell 274).  Goebbels even diverted 200,000 troops from battle to be used in Kolberg's production (Thompson and Bordwell 274).  Overall, the Nazis wasted their resources on film and the arts during a critical time during the war when Germany could not afford it.

Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film History An Introduction. 2nd. New York: McGraw Hill, 2003.

Stewart, Garrett.  "Modern Hard Times: Chaplin and the Cinema of Self Reflection." Critical Inquiry 3 (1976): 295-314.

This article compares the film Modern Times to the Dickens' novel Hard Times both acting a social satires on the pressures and challenges people faced in specific conditions and times.  The article mentions Chaplin's own personal life growing up in Britain may be one reason why these two authors are similar in subject nature of their works.  They both were against the factory system.  Chaplin learned of a true story of a workers going crazy after years working as part of an assembly line.  Chaplin's character during the factory sequence has becomed so accustomed to the 'bolt-tightening' behaviors, he literally cannot stop, even when he is forced away from the assembly line for disrupting the flow.  Comical? Yes.  However, it shows how dangerous this type of work can be on the psyche.

This article is important to my thesis because it specifically demonstrates how Chaplin critiques industrialization in his film scenes. "Charlie as robotized victim of the machine extends this into a frontal assault on industrialization" (Stewart 297-298).  Chaplin attacks industrialization by showing that workers become robot-like in their work.  This robotization extends from the workplace into the rest of their lives (and what little they have of it) creating a homogenized society.  The articles also discusses why Chaplin may have this critique of industrialization and the homogenized society.  The article also mentions that Chaplin's personal reasons may be an implication as to why he createad the film.  A story that he heard or workers in Detriot becoming 'nervous wrecks' after years at the mercy of large machines in factories.  These workers had been functioning individuals with unique personalities.  But after years at the mercy of the assembly line system, they became roboticized to perform, eventually forcing them to break down.

 

Citation: Blair, John. "Nazi Cinema as Enchantment: The Politics of Entertainment in the Third Reich." German Quarterly. 78.2 (Spring 2005): pp. 258-259.

In this book review, Blair discusses the way in which O’Brien expresses the Nazi administration’s obligation to cinema as both entertainment and propaganda. O’Brien emphasizes how Nazi Film followed a similar model to that of classical Hollywood cinema through its promotion of identification. In addition, the book review explains that O’Brien presents the fact that “only 153 of the 1,094 feature films produced in Germany during the Third Reich are "generally considered outright propaganda;" (1) thus, the rest of the propaganda film depicted political agenda in a variety of different genres. Through the close scrutiny of thirteen Nazi films, from five different film dramas, O’Brien determines the impact of each genre on German society and the way in which each particular genre excels. When observing films created during wartime, O’Brien ventures to suggest that the state tried to promote different attitudes in correspondence with different periods of the war. In chapter three, O’Brien focuses on Wunschkonzert and its impact on German society. She explains that the film is full of confidence and optimism about the war and life back at home in addition to suggesting the idea of sacrifice and support of the war efforts on the home front.

The article is significant in understanding that Goebbels and the Nazi regime undeniably strove to provide audiences with a source of entertainment during a difficult time in Germany. However, it can not be overlooked that despite the fact that these films, including Wunschkonzert, centered on a story of love and light heartedness, the film proved to audiences that support o f the Nazis and the idea of warfare was crucial in obtaining success and maintaining the morale of Germany in this period and struggle and hardship.

I have always been intrigued by the period of Nazi power in Germany and the way in which Hitler and the Nazi hierarchy influenced the political, cultural, and leisure aspects of German society. Therefore, I choose to study in greater detail a film entitled Wunschkonzert, which was made in 1940 and directed by Borsody. After careful inspection I have concluded that Wunschkonzert can be defined as a Nazi propaganda film which uses the entertainment genre to instill in its audiences a positive sentiment about war in addition to promote a a unifying, optimistic environment back on the home-front.

Citation: Welch, David. Propaganda and the German Cinema, 1933-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. 112-121

In the fourth chapter of the novel, Welch focuses on the impact of the Olympic Games in Berlin in the section entitled, “Olympiade (1938): The Master Race and Strength through Joy.”  Within this section, Welch explains how the Olympic games and films made surrounding this event served as the perfect medium for Goebbel’s execution of Nazi Propaganda.  As the host of the games, Germany used this opportunity as an exercise in national respectability.  The Olympic games were an opportunity to portray Germany as a peace-minded country in both the eyes of foreign guests as well as German citizens.  Similarly, Welch suggests that, with the creation of one of the most popular films of the Third Reich, Wunschkonzert, this Nazi philosophy was conveyed to an even greater extent.  Wunschkonzert once again displays Germany as peace-loving nation and, through the story of two lovers who meet and fall in love in the Olympic Stadium, helps to convert the feeling of pride, strength, and joy that was felt during the Olympic games to the first phase of the war.    

The significance of Wunschkonzert as a Nazi Propaganda Film is strongly supported within this novel.  Welch explanation of Goebbel’s plan to use the Olympic games as means of uniting Germany and changing the perception of the country in the eyes of foreign and domestic people alike is important in understanding the value of Wunschkonzert.  This film enabled Nazi Germany to instill a sense of joy, strength, and love within the German community that could be converted to similar positive feelings about fighting and being triumphant in the Second World War. 

The article is about federal relief from 1933-1935 in the midst of the Great Depression. It focuses specifically on the distribution of welfare in the South. It is common knowledge that programs such as the New Deal were used to help factory workers and other laborers, but very few people ever mention the American tenant farmer when discussing the issue of emergency relief funds during the era. The article argues that the Communist and Socialist parties demanded relief for the tenant farmer and were in fact able to convince the government to distribute funds to Southern farmers, both white and black. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration was formed during the New Deal as an agency that would properly distribute government funds throughout the country as a way to relieve people from the crippling affects of the Great Depression. The funds were distributed according to many different figures and details such as location, population, power within the region, and need. This meant that farmers in a less populated area that had political power within the region would have been able to negotiate more aid for themselves and those that supported them. It also means that aid was much easier to acquire as a farmer then as a factory worker because of the difference in population.

            This is extremely relevant to the thesis because it shows that life in 1930's America was not necessarily impossible depending on where you were living and what you were doing. Chaplin was very much against the factory system and shows this by criticizing it in Modern Times (1936). He was also in support of the more natural agricultural system. This is shown in the film, because even though Chaplin's character tries to make it in the city, he ultimately cannot. In the end of the film Chaplin and his heroine leave the city and make their way towards the rural farming area. They do not leave in sadness though. They are shown in true triumph walking away from the city without looking back, holding their heads up high. This was done as a way to show that the rural life was better and more possible to survive in at the time. The article agrees with this claim because the aid was more obtainable for rural farmers then factory workers and other city laborers.

 

The article discusses the development of Catholic orphanages in the United States from 1851 to 1996. The Catholic orphanage system was one of the most used child-care systems in America. The orphanage system started by the Catholics was used to take in children and make sure that they were given a proper education of the Catholic religion's belief system. In later years many people believe believed that the orphanage system should be replaced by the foster home system because Catholic orphanages were believed to teach children too much about religion and not enough about life. In the 1930s the Great Depression caused the need for orphanages to multiply rapidly. "In December, 1933, 102,000 dependent and neglected children in the United States were in foster homes, and more than 140,000, a record number, were in orphanages." Such a vast number of orphans caused the government, both local and federal, to increase their ways of assistance. In factory cities such as Cleveland, orphanages were full by the late 1920's because of the increased number of lost jobs. Many children were put in orphanages by parents as a way to get them food. The Depression crippled the family system and caused many families to be broken up and siblings to be separated.

            The article is relevant to the thesis because it portrays a specific part of American life in the 1930's for the lower classes. Modern Times (1936) deals with issue by introducing the heroine co-star to Chaplin's character. She is first shown with her two younger sisters collecting scraps of wood for fuel when suddenly her father is killed in a riot. This causes her and her two much younger sisters to become orphans. The government comes and quickly takes the heroine's sisters away never to be seen again. This problem was very traumatizing and common during the Great Depression. Chaplin, coming from a poor British life, most likely wanted to address this issue in his film as a criticism for the government allowing factory owners to take so much profit while children are losing their families and homes. The lower class life was very traumatizing from all angles during the film's time period and Chaplin tied most of the problems together within the one film.

 

The article discusses how scholars approached the American response to Communism. It is about the development of Communism in America and why it started. The article shows who the main supporters of America changing to a Socialist system were and why they would want to do so. It explains how such a system ever made to the United States and what actions were taken by its supporters. The article also discusses the anti-Communist sentiment in America. It discusses the various fears people had and the things that were done in response to the system. The article traces the development of Communism in the United States starting at the 1930's and working its way forward through time. The true fears of Communism were created by government propaganda such as films and news casts. Many people feared Communists more as spies then as revolutionaries. The government made a point of telling people that Communists were giving the USSR information about the United States and that it could be very dangerous if such information was discovered by the Soviets. Though it is true that some of the fears instilled in the people were practical, most of the anti-Communist movement was a witch hunt in a time of fear because of developments of the USSR and their supporters.

            The film is relevant to the thesis because it discusses another very important part of 1930's America that affected the lower classes and is portrayed in Modern Times (1936). The anti-Communist movement was a very big issue when the film was released. Many of the laboring classes were calling for Communism in hopes of getting jobs and a balancing of monetary power in the United States. Chaplin satirizes this situation by having his character standing in the path of a Communist march while holding a red flag. This ultimately leads the police to think he is the leader of the demonstration and they arrest him promptly. This was done to show that the legal system in America was completely against Communism and wealth distribution and would not allow the people to exercise their right to freedom of speech. The film shows many scenes that can be argued to support Communism instead of the elitist American Capitalism brought on by factories and industrialization.

 

The article is about the change from the old manufacturing system to the factory system. It discusses the change from manual assembly and product movement to the conveyor belt system. This was done to speed up production and cut labor costs. Some factories found that replacing their factories was the best way to make the change, while some found it easier to renovate their existing ones. While the old system focused on each factory doing a specific task, the new factory's goal was to produce finished products from raw materials. The greatest example of industrialization of the factory system is Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford built many different factories from 1900 to 1925 in his attempts to create the most efficient and inexpensive automobile possible. The system of industrialization was subject to rapid change. Ford's three-story mill building on Piquette Avenue was built in 1904. It was seen as a modern factory with some of the best and most efficient technology. By 1909, the factory was obsolete and had to be replaced by Ford's Highland Park plant. This factory was obsolete by 1915. This struggle to always have the fastest and most efficient technology was very difficult for both the factory owner and the laborer.

            This article is relevant because it addresses the overarching problem that Modern Times (1936) is trying to portray and criticize. The industrialized factory was always trying to speed things up and make things more tedious. Such a life style was very hard for workers to cope with. The factory owner is shown speeding up production to levels that were impossible to keep up with. The amount of stress was unbearable. The factory systems quest for efficiency even tried to cut away people's breaks. The film shows a scene where a new invention is tested that makes it possible for a man to work and eat lunch at the same time. This invention ultimately fails because Chaplin believed that such a thing should never be done no matter how efficient a factory gets. The film does a great job of showing the articles points about technological development and quests for efficiency.

 

The article discusses how Modern Times (1936) was able to make a criticism of industrialization without offending the populous. The film was a great success that was loved by the audience of the time. The film dealt with the same issues as Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927). Metropolis was not successful though. It scared audiences and portrayed a future that no one wanted to accept as a possible reality. Another overlying issue critisiced in both films is rationalization. Rationalization is defined in four parts. These are the logical, the historical, the technological, and the psychological. Rationalization is ultimately the process of advancing technology and economics to a point where all things are mass produced based on a system run on fossil fuels, focusing on efficiency and profit above all else. Such a system was supported by factory owners such as Henry Ford. He believed that through rationalization of the factory system the world would become a better place full of department stores and convenience. Chaplin did not see it in this way. Modern Times portrays the evils of industrialization and rationalization from the point of view of the working classes. The film is very critical of the factory system and the repercussions it has on its employees as well as the department store because of its classist system that excludes the proletariat.

            The article is relevant to the thesis because it addresses the idea that Modern Times does in fact portray the factory system of the United States from the point of view of the lower class. The film is stated to be critical of both industrialsization and rationalization, but the article does not focus specifically on the United States. While Metropolis addresses the possible future of the world, Chaplintries only to criticize the contemporary state of things. The article agrees with the thesis that Chaplin was against the system but proceeds to go past such issues and address possible developments not discussed within Chaplin's film. One cannot be sure if Chaplin actually thought about the future of industrialization or if he believed the system would ultimately collapse and never be an issue.

 

The article is about how Modern Times (1936) is a film that celebrates the proletariat and criticizes the modern factory era and the Capitalist owners who drive it. The article states that the film addresses two important parts of the Capitalist system and portrays them both in a negative light. The first system is of course the factory and technological modernism in general. The factory is a mass of tedious gears and axles that sucks the working classes in, which is actually done in the film when Chaplin is pulled into the conveyor belt. The factory then spits out the poor laborers who serve it and leave them to find their own means of survival. The second system criticized by the film is the department store. This representation of mass consumption, waste, and classicism also takes advantage of the poor, but ultimately disposes of them in a similar way to that of the factory. The film was praised by Stalin and the Communist party as a way of criticizing all the evils of a Capitalist system, focusing of course on the United States. The film also honors the working classes by focusing on them and ultimately ending with the two starring roles leaving the Capitalist city and going out to the farming country in triumph against the system as a whole.

            The article agrees with the thesis because it argues that the film is a portrayal of the technocratic, capitalist system that criticizes it for its mistreatment of the working classes. The article agrees with the idea that the film is in support of the lower class and was Chaplin's way of critiquing a system where upper class business owners force hard labor on the proletariat and then ultimately abandons them in them time of need. The film being placed in the United States is clearly making an argument against all of Capitalist industrialization because the United States is the figure head of the system. Many points are argued in the film that support Communism and the working class, nut ultimately show that the system cannot be beaten from within and that the only way to succeed is to altogether leave it and try something else. This point is made apparent at the very end of the film when Chaplin and the heroine leave the city not in sadness but in triumph against the system.

 

The article is about Chaplin's use of metaphor and irony as a way to portray American culture and criticize it at the same time. When looking at Modern Times (1936) as well as many of Chaplin's other films, the main character is seen in the standard Chaplin black suit and hat carrying the gentlemanly cane. This is ironic because in most of Chaplin's films, he does not play such a character. In Modern Times, he is a low class factory worker who ultimately loses his job. The rest of the film is about him trying to find work and survive. At certain times he and his co-star heroine are starving and seen living in an old shack that they do not even own. Even so he is still wearing upper class clothing. Many other ironies are used throughout his films as a way to make criticisms of both the social system as a whole and the behavior of the upper classes. Chaplin, always acting gentlemanly towards women in his films, wears these clothes as a way to show the lower classes as good natured people who can be just as proper as the wealthy even if they do not have money and power. The article traces many of the mannerisms used by Chaplin in his films to criticize the views of certain life styles in comparison to others as well as to criticize certain systems that force stereotypes upon the different classes.

            The article agrees with the thesis, but focuses less on Modern Times specifically and more on Chaplin's works as a whole. It also focuses more on personal actions and criticisms than on the specific aspects of American culture. It makes a very good point by addressing the fact that Chaplin is many times shown using metaphors to portray one lifestyle and juxtapose it with its opposite to make an overlying point. An example of this in Modern Times is when Chaplin's character is drinking tea with an upper class woman in prison. This is ironic because it shows Chaplin acting like a true member of the upper classes, performing all the mannerisms and actions that a gentleman would. This seen just happens to take place in a jail with Chaplin sitting in a prison uniform as a criminal accused of leading a Communist protest. Ironies such as these are used in many of Chaplin's works as a way to criticize the social system of the United States and Capitalism in general.

 

The article is about the relevance of Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936) to today's society. The article does not focus on the film from an cultural standpoint, but actually views at it in economical terms. The main point of the article is to discuss that Hugo Chavez, socialist leader of Venezuela views Modern Times as a criticism of Capitalism as a whole and blieves that the point of the film is to argue for a socialist form of government that supports the working class. Chavez believes that the film is extremely relevant in modern society. "Charlie Chaplin's classic black-and-white movie Modern Times highlighted the exploitation and horrendous conditions faced by US factory workers during the Depression." The Venezuelan government has been showing the film to workers across the country as a way to expose what Chavez believes are the "evils of capitalism, and cement support for his socialist administration." Venezuelan officials said that the film has been showed about 1000 times to workers since January. Venezuelan business owners are very angry about this policy. "In a formal com- plaint to the government, the four main employer associations claimed that showing a film which depicted an employer as an exploiter of workers was designed "to generate hate and resentment in the labour sector [and] satanise the employer"."

            The article is relevant to the thesis because it agrees with the principal that Modern Times was a semi-realistic portrayal of the labor system of the times and also the fact the film is a criticism of such a system. Chavez viewes the film as a representation of life for the lower classes and how they are taken advantage of by the economic system and the employer/business owner. Chaplin's film was made for this very purpose and would most likely agree with Chavez completely. One could assume that such uses of Chaplin's films would make him happy because he truly believed that the lower classes were being mistreated by technology and business so much that he was willing to risk his own life in the United States so that he could make such critical films.

 

Penn on-line library listing of Modern Times (1936) by Charlie Chaplin.

The article discusses Charles Chaplin's film Modern Times (1936) and how it is related to Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times (1854). It says that both the film and the book are social satires of the new social system brought on by industrialization through technological advancement. It is important to realize that much of Chaplin's own life before moving to the United States resembles that of a Dickens's novel. Being a poor vaudevillian actor from Britain, the subject matter was very well understood by Chaplin and was very easy for him to make a film out of. The film is clearly against the factory system and agrees with the novel by showing a poor man having to work in such a system and ultimately being beaten by it. Both works are also are similar in the fact that their creators were British and yet decided to place their stories in the United States.

            The article is relevant to the thesis because it discusses how the film Modern Times is used to portray the factory system. The work agrees with the thesis because it states that the film criticizes the system and works to show industrialized advances due to technology as a bad thing for the common worker. The film focuses on a lower class factory laborer and shows how the system is a burden on the common man and how such a system ultimately leads to many problems for him. Chaplin being critical of many social systems, especially because he had to grow up poor in such systems always portrays characters from the point of view of the down trodden. Chaplin makes his argument against the factory system by comparing it to a natural system. Within the film Chaplin's character is shown going through more than one labor system as a way to show which ones he agreed with. His movement is very unnatural and sporadic while in the factory, but is very smooth when working as a security guard. Chaplin believed that technological advancement was evil and made sure to make this known in Modern Times as well as in other works. It is important to realize that in the 1930's the Great Depression was extremely difficult for the laboring class. This truth is portrayed in the film by showing Chaplin's character suffer through many jobs and situations and ultimately getting nowhere.

 

The article is about the study of Chaplin through his films excluding works where he does not appear such as A Woman of Paris. The article hopes to analyze the relationship between the screen personality and the contemporary culture that it appears in. The author's thesis is "the films of Charlie Chaplin are a function of the American culture at the time of their production." The article's ultimate goal is to show the development of film analysis through with Chaplin as his test character. By looking at each of Chaplin's films and then comparing them to the time period they were made in, one can see that Chaplin is clearly portraying the American culture of the time of production. The author breaks up American culture through Chaplin films into 10 different eras of history. This history starts at the pre-WWI era and ends with post-WWII imperialism. Each of these eras is presented with a film from the Chaplin collection and a description that is relevant to both the American culture of the time as well as the setting and story of the corresponding film. The author also creates a second hypothesis that states that "Chaplin's films depict the American culture as sex-centered, job centered, and/or sex-and-job-centered."

            The article is relevant to the thesis because it is basically the same thesis without focusing on a specific time period. When one focuses on the 1930's, the corresponding era of Modern Times (1936), one can see that the author of the article and the thesis of the project are almost identical. The article refers to the 1930's as "the age of technocracy." His description of the age and film are as follows: "Industrialization had pervaded man's experience. Machines were in the saddle. Men were preparing for war. The uprooted feeling of these days, the riots, the high turnover in jobs, and the monotony of minor jobs on massive assembly lines is the theme of Modern Times." The article does go a little farther in time then the project thesis does by including war thoughts within the description, but other than that it is in total agreement with the overlying idea.

 

Thesis: Charles Chaplin's "Modern Times" (1936) is social portrayal of 1930's America from a lower class point of view. The film criticizes capitalist and classicist systems such as the factory and the department store.

Paramount
Loew's/MGM
Fox
Warner Bros
RKO and the Minors: Universal, Columbia and United Artists.

The second part goes on to cover ‘The Classic Studio Era 1931-51' when the studios were at their apogee producing hundreds of films every year before the threat of declining audiences (because of urbanisation and competition from TV etc). Although the ranking was virtually the same (except that Gomery couples Disney with its distributor RKO and to the minors, and he adds the B-film factories like Republic and Mongram [noted for churning out westerns and serials etc]), this period also saw the sorry demise of RKO- Radio, destroyed by the mismanagement and regrettable taste of the reclusive Howard Hughes who considered the studio to be his play toy.

The last section covers ‘The Modern Hollywood Studio System' and how the studios were taken over by big business including Rupert Murdoch (Twentieth Century Fox) and huge multi-media conglomerates such as Time Warner AOL (Warner Bros) - these businesses even embracing major TV networks. The ranking now being:

Universal
Paramount
Warners
Twentieth Century Fox
Disney
Columbia and Sony Pictures

There are also sections on the Hays Office and the Academy and unions and agents and a chapter on the rise of Lew Wasserman the Hollywood agent who took Universal into the major league of studios and reinvented the studio system.

Blyn, Robin. "Imitating the Siren: West’s The Day of the Locust and the Subject of Sound." Literature/Film Quarterly (Salisbury State Univ., Salisbury, MD). Vol. 47, No. 4 (2004), pp.51-59. Literature Online – Criticism and Reference. 9 Apr. 2008. .

 

This article discusses the ways in which Nathaniel West’s The Day of the Locust is indebted to the history of cinema, and even partially to the Hollywood Cinema that it critiques, for the success of the novel. Blyn continually returns to the theme of the sound of the siren at the end of the film as an allusion to the siren song of mythology. She contextualizes the use of sound in cinema and how in times of technological change, such as following the rise of sync-sound in films, an upheaval occurs in which manifestations of the earlier cinema of attractions arise. She goes on to differentiate between the techniques of cinema of attractions (most notably the “teaser” technique) and how these very techniques are used to disrupt the continuity of reality in the book. The duplicity of the laugh, first exhibited by Harry before his death and most dramatically utilized by Homer after he loses control, as well as disjointed sound serve as methods to disrupt the sense of realism by inhibiting character identification and narrative absorption. As realistic immersion is a staple of Hollywood cinema, it appears that the methods with which West critiques Hollywood are separate from the institution itself.

This article is interesting as it examines the paradox of the novel’s apparent dependence upon that which it critiques. However, following the adaptation of the novel to film, this paradox becomes even more difficult. While the novel may or may not depend on certain narrative techniques and conventions shared with Hollywood, the film most assuredly depends on Hollywood institution as it was produced by a major studio. Whereas the novel remains separate and independently produced, the film assuredly requires involvement in the system and elements of artifice which it critiques. Various Academy awards had already been won by those involved (Conrad Hall, John Schlesinger). Ultimately, the article does not explain the use of a Hollywood film to critique Hollywood culture, but it sheds light on the matter as it confronts the similar paradox of the dependence of a novel to the subject it critiques in terms of technique and convention.

Blyn, Robin. "Imitating the Siren: West’s The Day of the Locust and the Subject of Sound." Literature/Film Quarterly (Salisbury State Univ., Salisbury, MD). Vol. 47, No. 4 (2004), pp.51-59. Literature Online – Criticism and Reference. 9 Apr. 2008. .

 

This article discusses the ways in which Nathaniel West’s The Day of the Locust is indebted to the history of cinema, and even partially to the Hollywood Cinema that it critiques, for the success of the novel. Blyn continually returns to the theme of the sound of the siren at the end of the film as an allusion to the siren song of mythology. She contextualizes the use of sound in cinema and how in times of technological change, such as following the rise of sync-sound in films, an upheaval occurs in which manifestations of the earlier cinema of attractions arise. She goes on to differentiate between the techniques of cinema of attractions (most notably the “teaser” technique) and how these very techniques are used to disrupt the continuity of reality in the book. The duplicity of the laugh, first exhibited by Harry before his death and most dramatically utilized by Homer after he loses control, as well as disjointed sound serve as methods to disrupt the sense of realism by inhibiting character identification and narrative absorption. As realistic immersion is a staple of Hollywood cinema, it appears that the methods with which West critiques Hollywood are separate from the institution itself.

This article is interesting as it examines the paradox of the novel’s apparent dependence upon that which it critiques. However, following the adaptation of the novel to film, this paradox becomes even more difficult. While the novel may or may not depend on certain narrative techniques and conventions shared with Hollywood, the film most assuredly depends on Hollywood institution as it was produced by a major studio. Whereas the novel remains separate and independently produced, the film assuredly requires involvement in the system and elements of artifice which it critiques. Various Academy awards had already been won by those involved (Conrad Hall, John Schlesinger). Ultimately, the article does not explain the use of a Hollywood film to critique Hollywood culture, but it sheds light on the matter as it confronts the similar paradox of the dependence of a novel to the subject it critiques in terms of technique and convention.

Robey, Tim. “THE MYSTERY OF THE FRAT-BOY MOVIE Critics hate them - but gross-out comedies top the charts. Like, why is that, dude, asks

    Tim Robey.” The Daily Telegraph. 2006. April 2008

 <http://proxy.library.upenn.edu:5591/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T3486769422&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T3486769425&cisb=22_T3486769424&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=8109&docNo=1>.

    Robey gives the London perspective on movies as “frat-boy bacchanals,” which is apparently unfamiliar with the concept of a fraternity. His definition of a frat boy is as follows: “Frat boys slip bodily fluids into each other's pints. They view the opposite sex as a first-come, first-served ambulant buffet of hair and breasts.” With this disturbing image, it is easy to see why so many frat films receive awful reviews, being dramatically described as “a plunge into depravity.” What Robey does not understand is why all types of frat films, Jackass Number Two along with American Pie, do well. He describes Jackass as “real frat boys doing real, very painful things to each other, live on camera.” The truth is that frat boys actually do similarly horrible things. The more favorable truth is that they exploit these conquests only to those within the fraternity, not to the entire world. Robey thinks the point of some of these films (or the point of actually seeing them) could be to desensitize audiences and act as an “excruciating endurance test.”
    The film that falls into the opposite of this category, that of great frat flicks, is Animal House. One reason could be that it actually has a plot, but Harold and Kumar also makes it on the list. Robey’s point is that these films should not automatically match the need to entertain with the need to repulse. It seems that these films get more angry response for vulgarity than for racism or misogyny. Tim Matheson’s character puts on an act to sexually take advantage of the friend of his date, who recently died in a kiln explosion. So what? However, when Stevie from Jackass puts a hook through his mouth, audiences react. This is not necessarily wrong, and doesn’t give insight into a culture’s morals. It just points out what an audience isn’t used to in society. Though Animal House is a classic, Jackass is daring: no plot, no shirt, no shoes, and especially no dignity.

    Darrell, Davis. “Reigniting Japanese Tradition with Hana-Bi.” Cinema Journal 40.4 (2001): 55-80. 

    This article, published in a cinema journal in 2001, reviews Kitano Takeshi’s 1997 film Hana-Bi, or “Fireworks,” in the context of Takeshi’s use of traditional Japanese icons in a modern, global gangster-film market. Immediately, the other main subject of the article is Akira Kurosawa, as demonstrated in the first sentence. In order to catch the audience’s interest, Takeshi is introduced as the greatest Japanese filmmaker since Akira Kurosawa by generic Western critics. The author, Darrell Davis, interrogates Takeshi’s personal message, however, when he questions whether “Japaneseness” in cinema is merely a marketing ploy by the filmmakers. He points to Takeshi’s meticulous attention to traditional Japanese customs in his films despite his public desire to be disavowed from a primarily Japanese identity. In a New York Times interview, for example, he criticizes Kurosawa’s adherence to stereotypical Japanese representations, while the next day asks for Kurosawa’s particular input and recommendations. Darrell asserts that perhaps Takeshi exploits the icon of Japanese cinema, Kurosawa, to garter a particular image for himself publicly, and then by censuring him plays a keen political tactic. Darrell moves on to the study of Takeshi’s work and Japanese cinema. He uses the three types of Japanese film as described by Kurosawa to structure the remainder of her analysis. According to Kurosawa, the three modes of Japanese film are the reflectionist, dialogic, and contamination models. Darrell ends by commenting on Hana-Bi’s release at the Cannes Film Festival and an ending remark on the work and Takeshi.

This article is useful to my study of Kurosawa’s Rashomon for two main reasons. First, the detailed descriptions of Kurosawa’s labeling of film genres offer a new level of discussion applicable to the film Rashomon. Secondly, the discourse about Kurosawa’s samurai films among the modern industry provides a look into the sustainability of Kurosawa’s films over time, of which his masterpiece Rashomon is included. Particularly, while many articles today celebrate Kurosawa’s work from a Western perspective, it is interesting to see how he is discussed by his Japanese peers.

Papke, David Ray. “Peace Between the Sexes: Law and Gender in Kramer vs. Kramer.”
University of San Francisco Law Review 30.4 (1996) 1199-1208. (available at http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/usf/papke30.htm)

    “Peace Between the Sexes: Law and Gender in Kramer vs. Kramer,” Papke focuses on the legal intricacies of divorce in America from colonization to the time of Kramer vs. Kramer. He identifies the criteria used to determine child custody by American courts and how this criteria has changed dramatically several times over the past few hundred years. Contemporary to the release of Kramer vs. Kramer, child custody laws were being radically overhauled. In 1979, New York changed it criteria for child custody, moving away from maternal preference to accounting for which situation would be in the “best interest” of the child. Papke identifies the dramatic inaccuracy of Kramer vs. Kramer’s depiction of standard legal proceedings in a child custody case. He demonstrates, however, how these inaccuracies are purposeful and meant to underline the important of gender and gender roles in the movie. An example of this lies in the depiction of a lackadaisical judge who allows Joanna’s attorney to slander him in court without factual basis. Although inaccurate, such actions are derived from common divorce attorney stereotypes and do serve the purpose of eliciting sympathy for Ted Kramer. These mistakes also demonstrate the public resentment towards many figures involved with child custody judicial processes. Papke also discusses the appearance of the “male gaze” in the movie as it relates to the movie’s plot and feminist theory.
    This article is very relevant due to the number of unique views on Kramer vs. Kramer. The article gives a history of the judicial processes handling divorce and child custody, but in addition discusses general public opinion regarding these events and how these attitudes surface in Kramer vs. Kramer. In addition, the article incorporates a prominent idea in feminist cinematic theory, that of the “male gaze,” and it discusses how this element presents bias as truth.

Eiseman, Selise E. and Ira Lurvey. “Divorce Goes to the Movies.” University of San Francisco
Law Review 30.4 (1996) 1209-1219. (available at http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/
usf/lurvey30.htm)

    In this article, Eisemen and Lurvey trace the history of divorce as depicted in cinema. They highlight individual roles, especially those that garnered critical acclaim, that dealt with the issues of divorce. Furthermore, they identify how the presentations of divorced changed in ways that paralleled industry, social, and political changes. During the silent era, films depicted divorce as a tragedy. When talkies emerged, divorce had become a more widely accepted fact of
American life. In fact, in 1930 Norma Shearer won an Academy Award for her depiction of a wife who becomes very flirtatious out of frustration with her husband’s own flirtations. The movie industry’s attempts to not endorse divorce while still providing commentary on it caused several shifts in cinema standards on the topic. The article’s scope is very significant, as the movies discusses transcend genre, including westerns, comedies, dramas, and black satire. The article then focuses on The War of the Roses, a 1989 comedy/thriller about divorce. Through its analysis of The War of the Roses, the article raises a number of essential considerations regarding the relation between movie and reality. Furthermore, the movie and article pay special attention to the issue of family law and the judicial divorce proceedings that punctuate divorce.
    This article is relevant to the research because it discusses a movie remarkably similar to Kramer vs. Kramer along with the industrial and social context it was made. Because The War of the Roses was release a decade after Kramer vs. Kramer, The War of the Roses is an heir to Kramer vs. Kramer in the divorce genre. However, the film is unique in its approach to the topic of divorce, and highlights the social changes that occurred during the time between the two movies. While the article only mentions Kramer vs. Kramer explicitly in passing, it does investigate the changes in the industry during the time period.

Bell Hooks’ “Artistic Integrity : Race and Accountability” deals with racial representation in cinema in a white supremacist aesthetic framework. It begins with the observation of initial inequality between White and Black directors in their subject matters: while White directors seem to be not responsible for their focus on the white world, Black directors constantly need to justify their choices of exclusively black, or whites, subjects.

Like any artists from marginalized groups, Black directors have to find a balance between demonstrations of political and social consciousness and expression of artistry, what Stan Brakhage calls the “aesthetic ecology.” This is particularly difficult, especially for artists who, dealing with a structure of domination, feel pressed to “assume responsibility for producing resisting image.” This appeal is moreover enhanced by the need to fill out the vacuum in the depiction of black subjects.

The threatening phenomenon is the instauration of a racial essentialism which compels artists to obsessionally focus on their environment. As a consequence, there are real difficulties to break with the dominant cinematographic discourse which maintains, even subtly, racist aesthetic and status quo.

In this article, Bell Hooks addresses the tremendous problems faced by directors when trying to escape from a racially defined dominant aesthetics. It provides insight on the difficulties of challenging and reformulating the representation of Black people at the movies. In this sense, it is directly linked to Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, which uses stereotypes as a mean to reject the racial paradigms of institutionalized cinema. Van Peebles’ film appears as one of the first attempts to challenge the dominant discourse and propose a rich and transformative alternative aesthetic to the self-reinforcing dominant discourse.

JSTOR: Hollywood Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 3, (1951 ), pp. 270-281 

Psychoanalysis and cinema / Stanley Cavell -- Hitchcock's Vertigo / Stanley R. Palombo -- Vertigo / William Rothman -- Witnessing and bearing witness / Robert Winer -- Stanley Cavell and the plight of the ordinary / Timothy Gould -- The shows of violence / Irving Schneider -- Kiss of the spiderwoman / Micheline Klagsbrun Frank -- Ingmar Bergman's Cries and whispers / Bruce H. Sklarew -- Chaplin's The kid / Stephen M. Weissman -- Being doubted, being assured / Karen Hanson

Friedberg’s 2006 book discusses the recent emergence of new ideas on visual media perspective through the concept of the “window.” The computer plays host to the idea of presenting several distinct, unrelated displays to the viewer at once. These windows have become the marker of a multi-perceptual outlook. Friedberg traces the development of the concept of a “window” throughout time, with the word becoming a metaphor for one of an infinite number of screens now available to computer users everywhere. The metaphor, she says, implies a delimitation of a view with variable size. She goes on to examine the window in metaphoric, architectural, and virtual registers. All three views emphasize a framed look at a particular subject; spectatorship plays a major role in all three parts. Ultimately, she examines how computer windows have changed these traditional views on spectatorship, demanding a viewer who can handle multiple, adjacent, and postperspectival consumption.

    Her book is unique because it is thus far the most comprehensive view on this very specific topic of screens and windows. She lays out a history behind her theory of “windows,” incorporating the related concepts of perspective, frame, spectatorship, and identification. Though the history gets a bit heavy at times, it’s an incredibly thorough background and a great one to have when considering spectatorship and interaction in the digital age. I also appreciated the fact that she included a section discussing the physical aspects of screens as seen through the writings of Paul Virilio. This is the most thorough discussion I could find on the physical attributes of the screen itself, and the roles it plays as both a boundary for and a provider of information.

    The end sections of the book interest me the most because they discuss new media, and the future of new technologies in terms of Friedberg’s “virtual windows” theory. Sequential narratives here make way for the multiple and simultaneous, within one device as well as among many at once. This can be applied to devices like a PDA, which allows for instant messaging while e-mailing and writing reports; the new iPhone will also hold such capabilities, providing an update on the iPod (which, interestingly, doesn’t provide multiple virtual windows in the same device, but rather allows you to use that while using other small devices). These technologies still differ a great deal, at this moment, from televisions and the cinematic experience, and thus Friedberg’s theory can be directly applied to my paper topic.

Close Up, a film journal published in the years between 1927 and 1933, was the first English language journal dedicated to the cinema as an 'art.' It became the vanguard model for a certain type of writing about cinema. Close Up was the site of a range of speculations about film technology (its publication envelops the transition to sound), film style (its critics advocated a variety of national cinemas), and film subject matter (its editors fought against censorship of Soviet films and had a pioneering interest in, what they called, the 'Negro viewpoint' film.) Both critical and theoretical writing in the journal show an abiding concern with the experimental film, alternate forms of exhibition made possible by the cine-club and film-society movement, cinema as an educational tool, and serious theoretical writing (including numerous translations of articles by Eisenstein.) Many of the contributors to Close Up were writers who are known for their literary careers and not for their interest in cinema. Close Up published a strong contingent of literary women writing on cinema--H. D., Dorothy Richardson, Gertrude Stein, Marianne Moore. The journal also included pieces by a number of prominent psychoanalysts--Hanns Sachs, Barbara Low and the sexologist Havelock Ellis. POOL, the production company which published Close Up, also sponsored several film projects. H. D. and Kenneth Macpherson, the editor-in-chief, worked on at least three film projects together. The most ambitious, a feature-length film Borderline (1930), with Paul Robeson and H. D., displays the influence of Soviet montage theory, theories which Close Up had a central role in transmitting to English-speaking audiences.

De Sica's" Bicycle Thieves" and Italian Humanism

     In the preface to the book Italian film in the light of neorealism, Millicent Marcus includes an enlightening quote from Vittorio de Sica on the effects of the war on Cinema.  de Sica states that everyone involved in Italian cinema post-war felf the need to "liberate ourselves from the weight of our sins, we wanted to look ourselves in the face and tell ourselves the truth, to discover what we really were, and to seek salvation."  With this quote, Marcus sets the tone for what the book is ultimately about, which is linking neorealism to a new identity not just for Italian filmmakers, but for the nation as a whole.  The contributions of de Sica to this movement are likened to a stone that "contributed to the moral reconstruction of" Italy, specifically Italian thought.  Consquently, Marcus makes the argument that neorealism proper goes on to beget a more personalized form of realism that contributes to a culture shift that influences filmmakers as diverse as Bertolucci and Wertmuller.

     The one film that Marcus singles out one film as the premier moment of neorealism as a whole is of course Bicycle Thief, although it should be noted that Rossellini's Rome, Open City is given the distinction of being the founding of neorealism proper.  What sets Bicycle Thief apart for Marcus is the way that de Sica/Zavattini's work focused on the "banality of the stabilized postwar condition."  One line in particular ("No, nothing, just a bicycle") resonates with Marcus because it shows the total dismissal by the powers that be of the loss that Antonio faces in having his bicycle stolen.  The space that is created by de Sica is described as being "fragmented, decentered" and having no sense of cohesion which creates a maze like atmosphere for Antonio as he looks for the bicycle.   This sense of endless, fruitless searching is summed up by Marcus as an inherent pessimism on the part of de Sica that is meant to be a reflection of the disappointment of the Italian people as a whole. 

belongs to Vittorio de Sica's Bicycle Thief project
tagged Cinema Neorealism bicycle_thief de_sica by colliert ...on 09-JUN-06

Rosalind Coward "Dennis Potter and the Question of the Television Author"

Klawans, Stuart, Michelson, Annette, Peqa, Richard, Schamus, James, Turvey, Malcolm. "Round Table: Independence in the Cinema". October, Vol. 91. (Winter, 2000): 3-23.

This roundtable discussion features the five above-named film scholars who gathered to discuss independent cinema. Specifically, the scholars wanted to make an attempt at defining independent cinema and discussing how it came to be over the course of the past forty years. It is noted that in recent times, the film industry is more horizontally integrated than it several decades ago. For this reason, Richard Peqa argues that American cinema has really become a single body and that independent and .dependent. cinema are not truly separate entities, because the smaller studios that put out independent films are being absorbed by big name studios. James Schamus notes however that there are still tensions within the film industry that create distinction between these two types of cinema. The discussion turns to French New Wave cinema at one point and it is noted how the movement and how it spurred independent cinema by offering the public an alternative to the domineering American film industry. The movement was aided by the French government who offered subsidies to independent studios and rewards for directors making their first films. This governmental compensation drew a crowd of younger directors who, in turn, attracted younger audiences. On a large scale, the movement can be seen as a reaction or act of rebellion against the more streamlined big budget movies from big name American studios.

Shapiro, Jerome F.. Atomic bomb cinema : the apocalyptic imagination on film / Jerome F. Shapiro. [0415936594] New York : Routledge, 2002.
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1995.9.W3 S52 2002

 

The devastation of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Cold War may have passed, however they are embedded within the psyches of individuals around the globe. Jerome F. Shapiro's book analyses just how our horror and fear of a nuclear holocaust surface in many aspects of our culture, most specifically, within films from 1945 to the cold war.
Shapiro discusses the themes present in the film Godzilla, relating these themes to the genre of Japanese sci fi horror known as kaiju eiga of "mysterious creature film" the themes are quite moralistic and focus on tradition, nature, family and harmony (not to mention the theme of the dangers of technology and modernity, as present in many sci fi films. Shapiro states that the theme of balance and harmony is the most important. Relating to balance and harmony, Gojira focuses on Tokyo, which is a center of modernity for Japan. He points out that the first to see Gojira are young people on a boat dancing to western music.. The character Serizawa is a parallel to Godzilla in that he is also rebelling from society. When interviewed Honda, the director he explained how the loss of an eye would indicate war experience. Serizawa creates an oxygen destroyer, which he eventually uses to kill Godzilla and himself too.
Shapiro states that there are many ways to interpret Godzilla. one could consider it a rip off of earlier American monster films. However, judging by other scholars' attempts to rationalize the monster in American films by allowing it to represent the main character who by conquering the monster, conquers his own problems. However it is Serizawa who conquers the monster, yet he dies, learning nothing. Therefore, Godzilla as a typical cold war film is useless. Godzilla has a character that develops, unlike American monsters.
In addition, he rejects the theory that Godzilla is about the condemnation of nuclear weapons. Instead, Shapiro believes that Godzilla's sole purpose is to portray the theme of balance and harmony. the two main characters fight, creating a ma in Japanese aesthetics, which signifies a vacuum, or void - and Shapiro states that this concept can be found both in narrative and visual imagery. where as the central character Emiko is the key to restoring balance and harmony, by asserting herself.
We are introduced to the idea that the power of the feminine is able to restore harmony with nature and a balanced society. he goes on to relate this dynamic to following kaiju films, most specifically, mothra series.

PennTags project for Professor Decherney, Spring 2006

Anderson and Richie separate the book into two parts; the first focusing on the “background” of Japanese Film, such as the development of editing techniques, camera angles and techniques, and sound.  The latter part focuses on the “foreground,” which is made up of the directors, techniques and actors that gave Japanese Cinema its international (and national) identity.  The book first mentions Ikiru, which it calls Living  after its English translation, in the chapter on the development of atmosphere in Japanese cinema from 1949-1954 (Chapter 10) .  The authors give a brief synopsis of the film and mentions that “the Quarterly of Film, Radio, and Television […] called [Ikiru] “one of the greatest films of our time.””   Ikiru is described as an example of Kurosawa’s humanist cinema,  which is encapsulated by its mood and atmosphere.  The authors actually do criticize the film, which the other authors I read did not do, saying, “The film’s fault is perhaps that Kurosawa’s genius flows unchecked and that sometimes he carries things too far.”   This quote underlines the strategy taken by Anderson and Richie in their analysis of Kurosawa’s films (as well as the films of other Japanese directors).  Instead of delving deeply into the meaning of various shots and sequences in films, the films are analyzed more in terms of the authors’ views.  Films are listed in relation to the given topic of the chapter, but not much space is given to actually explaining, for example, what in the film creates the atmosphere.  A few interesting facts about Ikiru, learned from the book, is that Watanabe was Takashi Shimura’s only lead role in a Kurosawa film  and that the film was the first film that Kurosawa edited solely by himself.
While the book doesn’t have as much relevant information to Ikiru as other books I read, it does present some new information concerning the film in its own right, not on its aesthetic principles or themes.  The book is able to ground the film in relation to other Japanese films of its time, which no other book does, which is valuable in a complete understanding of the film beyond its importance as an Akira Kurosawa film.

NOW

A book that first explores who the audience for violent films are, such as children. Then categorizes the different kinds of violence such as gunfire or explosions or murder. Eventually wraps up with why violence in movies appeals to people.