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Hollywood Reactions To New Governments In Power In The United States

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My topic of the essay will be about Hollywood and how the industry reacts to new governments in power in the US. In the last 70 years, notable films seem to fall in line with some societal agenda by influential people/events. Therefore, my thesis is: “Hollywood is an echo of the US governments political motivations and this impact films negatively”. I will argue my thesis by comparing the different types of actions & films Hollywood did that were produced that either encouraged or hindered agendas pushed by political figures. Firstly, I will explain the political climate in the 1940-50s when conservatives were rejecting the ‘New Deal’ era of Roosevelt as well as Hollywood flip-flopping allegiance to the government. That saw propaganda films …show more content…

This film depicts an owner of an upscale nightclub being gifted with letters of transit and must choose between the woman he loves and her husband who is actively fighting in the war. It was green-lite the day after pearl harbor was attacked to persuade Americans join the war, since it was not universally agreed upon before. I will use this film to show how Hollywood echoed the political landscape at the time to reinforce American values by promoting propaganda films.

Kellner, D. (2000). Hollywood Film and Society: Some Theoretical Perspectives. In American Cinema and Hollywood: Critical Approaches (pp. 128-136). New York: Oxford University Press.

In this required reading, Kellner links Hollywood and society through many lens: political, social, genres, etc. Demonstrating the two-way relationship film has with American society by enforcing/replicating dominate norms to help people conform to the notion of being American. I will use this article to show the struggle for representation of liberals and conservatives and how Hollywood played into it by leaning towards conservatism as it proved to be profitable in the 1970-1980s through blockbuster films.

Moody, P. (2017). Embassy cinema: what WikiLeaks reveals about US state support for Hollywood. Media, Culture & Society, 39(7), 1063-1077. Retrieved from …show more content…

This was to find out communists and resulted in Hollywood being forced into submission with the creation of the Blacklist. I will use this in my essay to emphasize the integration of Hollywood and the government at the time and how it backfired with the blacklist. That this affected the art aspect of film making to pursue the political capital in a newly conservative government.

Stallone, S. (Director), Stallone, S. (Writer), Chartoff, R., & Winkler, I., (Producer). (1985). Rocky IV [Motion Picture]. United States: United Artists. Retrieved October 23, 2017 A sports drama film from 1985 representing the animosity between Americans and Soviets. This film depicts the Russians as the big bad enemy and that patriotic boxers are needed to win the fight for American values. It was made in a time were Conservatism has been gaining ground in American society. I will use this film to indicate how the success of this movie helped Hollywood to make even more conservative films that foreshadows a conservative

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