Blue-Collar Hollywood : Liberalism, Democracy, and Working People in American Film
Editorial Reviews
Review
"You cannot but be seduced and even sometimes bedazzled by Bodnar's clear, well-informed and impartial analysis."--Nicolas Magenham, Cercles
"An uncommonly well balanced account of the political bases of American movies... A fine read for the generalist yet a scholarly achievement."-- Choice
"Bodnar provides a useful provocation. He asks us to think imaginatively about the subtle and complex ways movies communicate ideas and attitudes."--Robert Brent Toplin, Journal of American History
"Open minded and even handed, he appreciates the nuances and mixed messages of Hollywood cinema."-- American Historical Review
Review
"By examining how movies handled the tension between the two ideals of individualism and democracy from the Depression era to the present, John Bodnar provides us with a refreshing antidote to the general tendency of film and cultural historians to only look at one era or decade. Bodnar gives us a new twist on the old theme of mass culture as a locale that promotes individual freedom and expression and erodes ideas of collectivity by arguing the experience of mass art has an inherent, stable essence that promotes liberalism over community, providing an alternative perspective on the conservative paradigm that has dominated previous scholarship on the subject."--Lary May, author of The Big Tomorrow: Hollywood and the American Way
"John Bodnar's Blue Collar Hollywood makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the interaction of film, politics, and American society from the 1930s through the 1950s. Bodnar shows how working people -- the numerical heart of the nation's population -- were increasingly portrayed as troubled individuals with emotional problems, antisocial tendencies, and an inability to contribute to the collective political good. He argues that Hollywood films undermined ideas about democracy by advancing a dominant vision of working people as folk who do not participate in any meaningful way in American institutional and political life. Blue Collar Hollywood is a perceptive and important study of the impact of film on the evolving -- or more appropriately, devolving -- nature of American democracy."--Steven J. Ross, author of Working-Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America
Blue-Collar Hollywood : Liberalism, Democracy, and Working People in American Film
Blue-Collar Hollywood : Liberalism, Democracy, and Working People in American Film,John Bodnar,The Johns Hopkins University Press,0801871492,Cinema/Film: Book,Film & Video - History & Criticism,History,Motion pictures,Performing Arts,Pop Arts / Pop Culture,United States,United States - General,Working class in motion pictur,Working class in motion pictures,History / United States / General
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