Robert C. Allen

Douglas Gomery

Theory and Practice

Film History

Robert Clyde Allen

Film History: Theory and Practice

Clara Pafort-Overduin

How can we understand the history of film? Historical facts don't answer the basic questions of film history. History, as this book shows, is more than the simple accumulation of film titles, facts and figures.

A Survey

Movie History

Covering everything from Edison to Avatar, Gomery and Pafort-Overduin have written the clearest, best organized, and most user-friendly film history textbook on the market. It masterfully distills the major trends and movements of film history, so that the subject can be taught in one semester. And each chapter includes a compelling case study that highlights an important moment in movie history and, at the same time, subtly introduces a methodological approach. This book is a pleasure to read and to teach. Peter Decherney, University of Pennsylvania, USA In addition to providing a comprehensive overview of the development of film around the world, the book gives us examples of how to do film history, including organizing the details and discussing their implications.Hugh McCarney, Western Connecticut State University, USA Douglas Gomery and Clara Pafort-Overduin have created an outstanding textbook with an impressive breadth of content, covering over 100 years in the evolution of cinema. Movie History: A Survey is an engaging book that will reward readers with a contemporary perspective of the history of motion pictures and provide a solid foundation for the study of film. Matthew Hanson, Eastern Michigan University, USA How can we understand the history of film? Historical facts don't answer the basic questions of film history. History, as this fascinating book shows, is more than the simple accumulation of film titles, facts and figures. This is a survey of over 100 years of cinema history, from its beginnings in 1895, to its current state in the twenty-first century. An accessible, introductory text, Movie History: A Survey looks at not only the major films, filmmakers, and cinema institutions throughout the years, but also extends to the production, distribution, exhibition, technology and reception of films. The textbook is divided chronologically into four sections, using the timeline of technological changes: Section One looks at the era of silent movies from 1895 to 1927; Section Two starts with the coming of sound and covers 1928 until 1950; Section Three runs from 1951 to 1975 and deals with the coming and development of television; and Section Four focuses on the coming of home video and the transition to digital, from 1975 to 2010. Key pedagogical features include: timelines in each section help students to situate the films within a broader historical context case study boxes with close-up analysis of specific film histories and a particular emphasis on film reception lavishly illustrated with over 450 color images to put faces to names, and to connect pictures to film titles margin notes add background information and clarity glossary for clear understanding of the key terms described references and further reading at the end of each chapter to enhance further study. A supporting website is available at www.routledge.com/textbooks/moviehistory, with lots of extra materials, useful for the classroom or independent study, including: additional case studies - new, in-depth and unique to the website international case studies - for the Netherlands in Dutch and English timeline - A movie history timeline charting key dates in the history of cinema from 1890 to the present day revision flash cards - ideal for getting to grips with key terms in film studies related resources - on the website you will find every link from the book for ease of use, plus access to additional online material students are also invited to submit their own movie history case studies - see website for details Written by two highly respected film scholars and experienced teachers, Movie History is the ideal textbook for students studying film history.

The coming of sound to film was an event whose importance can hardly be overestimated; sound transformed not only the Hollywood film industry but all of world cinema as well. As economic and film historian Douglas Gomery explains, the business of film became not only bigger but much more complex. As sound spread its power, the talkies became an agent of economic and social change through the globe, extending America's reach in ways that had never before been imaginable. This is an essential work for anyone interested in early film, film history and economics, and the history of the American media.

The Coming of Sound

l'âge d'or des studios

Hollywood

Looks at management, labor, distribution, production, and exhibition practices in Hollywood between 1930 and 1949

The Hollywood Studio System

Benjamin M. Compaine

This thorough update to Benjamin Compaine's original 1979 benchmark and 1982 revisit of media ownership tackles the question of media ownership, providing a detailed examination of the current state of the media industry. Retaining the wealth of data of the earlier volumes, Compaine and his co-author Douglas Gomery chronicle the myriad changes in the media industry and the factors contributing to these changes. They also examine how the media industry is being reshaped by technological forces in all segments, as well as by social and cultural reactions to these forces. This third edition of Who Owns the Media? has been reorganized and expanded, reflecting the evolution of the media industry structure. Looking beyond conventional wisdom and expectations, Compaine and Gomery examine the characteristics of competition in the media marketplace, present alternative positions on the meanings of concentration, and ultimately urge readers to draw their own conclusions on an issue that is neither black nor white. Appropriate for media practitioners and sociologists, historians, and economists studying mass media, this volume can also be used for advanced courses in broadcasting, journalism, mass communication, telecommunications, and media education. As a new benchmark for the current state of media ownership, it is invaluable to anyone needing to understand who controls the media and thus the information and entertainment messages received by media consumers.

Competition and Concentration in the Mass Media industry

Who Owns the Media?

Shared Pleasures presents the first comprehensive history of how Americans have watched their favorite movies. Douglas Gomery tells the complete story of the film exhibition business, from the humble nickelodeon to movie palaces to today's mass markets of cable TV and home video rentals. Along the way Gomery shows us how the American economy and society altered going to the movies. Shared Pleasures answers such questions as: How and where have Americans gone to the movies? What factors prompted the growth of specialized theaters? To what extent have corporations controlled the means of moviegoing? How has television changed the watching of motion pictures? Gomery analyzes social, technological, and economic transformations inside and outside the movie industry-sound, color (and later, colorization), television movies, cable movie networks, and home video, as well as automobiles, air conditioning, and mass transit. He traces the effects of immigration, growing urban and suburban cultures, two world wars, racial and ethnic segregation, and the baby boom on the movie theater industry, noting such developments as newsreel theaters and art cinemas. Gomery shows how the movie theater business has remained a profitable industry, transforming movie houses from storefronts to ornate movie palaces to the sticky-floored mall multiplexes of today. Contrary to some gloomy predictions, Gomery contends that movie watching is not declining as a form of entertainment. With the growth of cable TV, home movie rental, and other technical changes, more Americans are watching (and enjoying) more movies than ever before.

A History of Movie Presentation in the United States

Shared Pleasures

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A History

Competition and Concentration in the Mass Media Industry

Covering everything from Edison to Avatar, Gomery and Pafort-Overduin have written the clearest, best organized, and most user-friendly film history textbook on the market. It masterfully distills the major trends and movements of film history, so that the subject can be taught in one semester. And each chapter includes a compelling case study that highlights an important moment in movie history and, at the same time, subtly introduces a methodological approach. This book is a pleasure to read and to teach. Peter Decherney, University of Pennsylvania, USA In addition to providing a comprehensive overview of the development of film around the world, the book gives us examples of how to do film history, including organizing the details and discussing their implications.Hugh McCarney, Western Connecticut State University, USA Douglas Gomery and Clara Pafort-Overduin have created an outstanding textbook with an impressive breadth of content, covering over 100 years in the evolution of cinema. Movie History: A Survey is an engaging book that will reward readers with a contemporary perspective of the history of motion pictures and provide a solid foundation for the study of film. Matthew Hanson, Eastern Michigan University, USA How can we understand the history of film? Historical facts don’t answer the basic questions of film history. History, as this fascinating book shows, is more than the simple accumulation of film titles, facts and figures. This is a survey of over 100 years of cinema history, from its beginnings in 1895, to its current state in the twenty-first century. An accessible, introductory text, Movie History: A Survey looks at not only the major films, filmmakers, and cinema institutions throughout the years, but also extends to the production, distribution, exhibition, technology and reception of films. The textbook is divided chronologically into four sections, using the timeline of technological changes: Section One looks at the era of silent movies from 1895 to 1927; Section Two starts with the coming of sound and covers 1928 until 1950; Section Three runs from 1951 to 1975 and deals with the coming and development of television; and Section Four focuses on the coming of home video and the transition to digital, from 1975 to 2010. Key pedagogical features include: timelines in each section help students to situate the films within a broader historical context case study boxes with close-up analysis of specific film histories and a particular emphasis on film reception lavishly illustrated with over 450 color images to put faces to names, and to connect pictures to film titles margin notes add background information and clarity glossary for clear understanding of the key terms described references and further reading at the end of each chapter to enhance further study. A supporting website is available at www.routledge.com/textbooks/moviehistory, with lots of extra materials, useful for the classroom or independent study, including: additional case studies – new, in-depth and unique to the website international case studies – for the Netherlands in Dutch and English timeline - A movie history timeline charting key dates in the history of cinema from 1890 to the present day revision flash cards – ideal for getting to grips with key terms in film studies related resources – on the website you will find every link from the book for ease of use, plus access to additional online material students are also invited to submit their own movie history case studies - see website for details Written by two highly respected film scholars and experienced teachers, Movie History is the ideal textbook for students studying film history.

Second Edition

Movie History: A Survey

Patsy Cline remains a much beloved singer, even though she died in 1963. By 1996, Patsy Cline had become such an icon that The New York Times magazine positioned her among a pantheon of women celebrities who transcended any single cultural genre. A series of essays on "Heroine Worship" included Patsy Cline with such "feminine icons" as Eleanor Roosevelt, Martha Graham, Indira Gandhi, Aretha Franklin, and Jackie Onassis. The making of an icon is a cultural process that transcends traditional biographical analysis. One does not need to know the whole life story of the subject to understand how the subject became an icon. This book explores how Patsy Cline transcended class and poverty to become the country music singer that non-country music fans embraced. It goes beyond a traditional biography to explore the years beyond her death. This is the first thoroughly researched book on Patsy Cline. It is true to Patsy and her legacy. Judy Sue Huyett-Kempf President, Celebrating Patsy Cline The Patsy Cline Historic House Winchester, Virginia Douglas Gomery taught mass media history at the University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University, New York University, the University of Utrecht the Netherlands), and the University of Maryland. He retired in 2005 to become the Official Historian for Celebrating Patsy Cline and Resident Scholar at the Library of American Broadcasting.

Douglas Gomery

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