Chapter 8: Movies

Study

Out of a simple desire to capture fluid, realistic movement, the movie industry was born. Early innovators interested in capturing movement included Etienne-Jules Marey and Eadweard Muybridge. Thomas Edison and the French brothers Auguste-Marie and Louis-Jean Lumiere focused on the recording and presentation of movement, and established standards for this new and promising medium.

The studio system created the first film stars, but the economic practices it adopted--block booking and theater ownership--eventually led to its downfall. United Artists operated under ideas that became the model for the modern day movie industry: purchasing, promoting, and distributing films made by independent filmmakers instead of United Artists principals themselves.

Another significant problem that plagued the movie industry in the late 1940s and early 1950s was the rampant fear of communism within Hollywood, and the potential of the industry to spread it to the American people through film. Those industry figures investigated by the United States government, such as the Hollywood Ten, saw their careers end, and their reputations ruined.

With the 1950s came the television boom and the movie industry faced significant competition from this new visual, electronic medium. In response to this competition, the industry tested creative methods to salvage, if not increase their audience. Over-the-top movies like The Ten Commandments and Spartacus featured numerous A-list actors, exotic set locations, lavish costumes, and effects-heavy scripts. Bigger theaters and gimmicks such as 3-D movies also aimed to bring people back to the theater. The 1970s saw the beginnings of the blockbuster era, which supported the idea that ancillary market tie-ins were as important as the movie itself.

Like all other media, people were and still are, to this day, concerned about the potential effects of movies on their audiences. The Payne Fund studies identified the most prominent movies themes and also found that movie viewers could provide a high level of recall about the movies they watched. Herbert Blumer found that children imitated the behavior they saw in movies, which helped them learn how to act as an adult. The movie The Program nearly became the strongest argument for media effects since its release coincided with the deaths of teenagers apparently imitating behaviors shown in the film, before it was discovered that the causal connection between the movie and the behavior was not as direct as had been originally supposed.

The Production Code was instituted in the 1920s as a way for Hollywood to police itself, and control some of the objectionable ideas and imagery portrayed on the big screen. The Production Code was replaced in the 1960s with the current ratings system. While not perfect and not without controversy , the system has been supported and modified to fit the films being produced and distributed by the modern movie industry.

The Internet provides a means for moviemakers to avoid the traditional process of making movies, and allows small budget, previously unknown filmmakers to grab the spotlight. Films like The Blair Witch Project exemplify how Web-based promotion can allow a small-budget films to succeed on a large scale. The Internet also provides a forum for movie lovers to find out anything about their favorite film or discover new films they may want to watch in the theater or at home. A high speed Internet connection allows computer users to bypass the traditional ticket counter and concession stand and download their favorite movies to their computer desktop.

Learning Objectives

•  Know the individual contributions of Etienne-Jules Marey, Eadweard Muybridge, Thomas Edison, and the Lumiere brothers on early filmmaking technology.

•  Know the significance of D.W. Griffith's films, The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance.

•  Understand how the studio system functioned, and how United Artists differed from the rest of the industry at that time.

•  Know how sound was incorporated into film.

•  Know who the Hollywood Ten were and what they were charged with.

•  Understand how the movie industry tried to compete with television.

•  Know the ratings system and how movies are rated.

•  Know the different ways movies make money.

•  Know what the long tail has to offer in terms of movie entertainment.

Review Questions

1. Who was Edwin S. Porter and what is he remembered for?


2. What is block booking?

3. What is the Production Code and what replaced it?

4. What is Bollywood?


5. What are ancillary markets? Provide some examples.

6. Why did the U.S. Department of Justice investigate the Hollywood studio system? What were the results of the investigations?

7. What characteristics made Jaws such a big success in the theaters?