Hollywood

1
Chapter 2

• Hollywoods Commercial Aesthetic
• Its all about money.
• --opening line, Pretty Woman (1990)

2
What gives the movies life?

• The viewers eye
• Persistence of vision
• Critical flicker fusion
• Speed of projection
• The viewers psychic energy
• Transformed into segments of action on the screen
• Provokes an emotional response from the viewer
• Releases tension, creating pleasure

3
What is entertainment?

• Pleasure
• Non-cerebral activity
• Leisure (not working) time
• No lasting impact on participant
• Escape from reality into Utopia
• Actions disassociated from consequences
• Resolutions based on wish fulfillment, not on
  likelihood

4
Why is formula so important?

• Hollywoods product, the experience of escape
  packed into a two-hour story in which a
  sympathetic character overcomes a series of
  obstacles to achieve his or her desire, has
  consistently provided the basis of Hollywoods
  appeal to its audiences
• --Maltby, Hollywood Cinema

5
Does Garry Marshall know his audience?

• Welcome to Hollywood, whats your dream? This
  is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come
  true, some dont, but keep on dreamin. This is
  Hollywood, always time to dream, so keep on
  dreamin.
• --Homeless Man, Pretty Woman (1990)

6
What is Hollywoods Commercial Aesthetic?

• Entertainment is a commercial commodity
• Hollywood turns pleasure into a product we can
  buy
• Formal conventions ensure our pleasure through
  their predictability and the variation within
  that predictability
• Economic and social forces regulate the kind and
  amount of pleasure offered

7
What is Hollywoods Commercial Aesthetic?

• Pleasure depends on the principles of regulated
  difference
• Standardization
• Interchangeability
• Minor variation
• Market placement
• How did your test group feel about these
  principles?

8
How well does standardization work?

• This can be measured by box office figures
• What patterns can you find in the 2007 box office
  figures for the top 50 grosses?
• Is there a pattern in what kind of movies do
  best?
• Are there patterns in domestic vs. international
  box office for these films?

9
Singin in the Rain

• In Singin in the Rain, we can see Hollywood
  assessing itself, reflecting back on 50 years of
  movie history and telling the story in what was
  then one of the most popular and enduring genres
  the musical.