Synopses & Reviews
A nickelodeon screening a Charlie Chaplin silent classic, the downtown arthouse cinemas that made Antonioni and Cassavetes household names, the modern suburban megaplex and its sold-out Friday night blockbuster: how American and global audiences have viewed movies is as rich a part of cinematic history as what weve seen on the silver screen. Going to the Movies considers the implications of this social and cultural history through an analysis of the diverse historical and geographical circumstances in which audiences have viewed American cinema. Featuring a distinguished group of film scholars—including Richard Abel, Annette Kuhn, Jane Gaines, and Thomas Doherty—whose interests range broadly across time and place, this volume analyzes the role of movie theatres in local communities, the links between film and other entertainment media, non-theatrical exhibition, and trends arising from the globalization of audiences. Emphasizing moviegoing outside of the northeastern United States, as well as the complexities of race in relation to cinema attendance, Going to the Movies appeals to the global citizen of cinema—locating the moviegoing experience in its appeal to the heart and mind of the audience, whether its located in a South African shanty town or the screening room of a Hollywood production lot.
Synopsis
This book analyses the diverse historical and geographical circumstances in which audiences have viewed American cinema. It looks at cinema audiences ranging from Manhattan nickelodeons to the modern suburban megaplex, and from provincial, small-town or rural America to the shanty towns of South Africa.
About the Author
Richard Maltby is professor of screen studies at Flinders University, South Australia and series editor for Exeter Studies in Film History. Melvyn Stokes teaches at University College, London. Robert C. Allen is professor of American studies, history, and communications at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Richard Maltby and Melvyn Stokes
Part I: Studies of Local Cinema Exhibition1. Race, Region, and Rusticity: Relocating U.S. Film History
Robert C. Allen2. Tri-racial Theaters in Robeson County, North Carolina, 1896-1940
Christopher J. McKenna3. The White in the Race Movie Audience
Jane M. Gaines4. Sundays in Norfolk: Toward a Protestant Utopia Through Film Exhibition in Norfolk, Virginia, 1910-1920
Terry Lindvall5. Patchwork Maps of Moviegoing, 1911-1913
Richard Abel6. Next Year at the Moving Pictures: Cinema and Social Change in the Jewish Immigrant Community
Judith Thissen7. ‘Four Hours of Hootin and Hollerin: Moviegoing and Everyday Life Outside of the Movie Palace
Jeffrey Klenotic8. Cinemagoing in the United States in the mid-1930s: A Study Based on the Variety Dataset
Mark Glancy and John Sedgwick9. Race Houses, Jim Crow Roosts, and Lily White Palaces: Desegregating the Motion Picture Theater
Thomas Doherty
Part II: Other Cinema: Alternatives to Theatrical Exhibition10. The Reel of the Month Club: 16mm Projectors, Home Theaters and Film Libraries in the 1920s
Haidee Wasson11. Early Art Cinema in the U.S.: Symon Gould and the Little Cinema Movement of the 1920s
Anne Morey12. Free Talking Picture—Every Farmer is Welcome: Non-theatrical Film and Everyday Life in Rural America during the 1930s
Gregory A. Waller13. Cinemas Shadow: Reconsidering Non-theatrical Exhibition
Barbara Klinger
Part III: Hollywood Movies in Broader Perspective: Audiences at Home and Abroad14. Changing Images of Movie Audiences
Richard Butsch15. ‘Healthy Films from America: The Emergence of a Catholic Film Mass Movement in Belgium and the Realm of Hollywood, 1928-1939
Daniel Biltereyst16. The Child Audience and the ‘Horrific Film in the 1930s Britain
Annette Kuhn17. Hollywood in Vernacular: Translation and Cross-cultural Reception of American Films in Turkey
Ahmet Gürata18. Cowboy Modern: African Audiences, Hollywood Films and Visions of the West
Charles Ambler19. ‘Opening Everywhere: Multiplexes and the Speed of Cinema Culture
Charles R. Acland20. ‘Cinema Come to Life at the Cornerhouse, Nottingham: ‘American Exhibition, Local Politics and Global Culture in the Construction of the Urban Entertainment Centre
Mark Jancovich
Notes
Index