Hollywood: Politics and Society

Description

At the beginning of the 21st century, the US film industry had overtaken aeronautics and car industries to become one of the highest exporters of American products. Mark Wheeler's important new book provides both a political history of Hollywood and a reflection on the relationship between cinema and politics in America, from 1900 to the present day. Wheeler considers the interplay between the movies studios, state and national government and cultural policy and legislation, with case studies of the censorship that followed in the wake of the Hays Code 1930 and the investigations of the House Committee of Un-American Activities (HUAC) in the 1950s that led to the notorious blacklisting of alleged or known Communist sympathisers. His history of political constituencies within Hollywood ranges from the conservative right to the liberal and the communist left, from trades unionists to movie moguls. The book concludes with a look at the politics of show business, addressing links between Hollywood and political activism, films such as ‘The Candidate’ and ‘Bulworth’ that have themselves engaged with the political process, and considering the irony that despite the fact that Hollywood is perceived as a bastion of liberalism the two most famous actors-turned-politicians have been Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cover Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. ‘Trade Follows Film’: The History of the US Film Trade from 1900 to 1950 2. The US Film Industry and Trade from 1950 to the Present Day 3. The MPPDA, the Production Code and the Ratings System 4. The Political History of Classical Hollywood: Moguls, Liberals and Radicals 5. The Politics of Hollywood Labour 6. Contemporary Hollywood Trade Unionism and the Rights of a Diverse Workforce 7. Campaign Politics, Activism and Hollywood Showbiz Conclusion Bibliography Index