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Very Short Introductions #461
Hollywood: A Very Short Introduction
In this engaging and readable book, Peter Decherney tells the story of Hollywood, from its nineteenth-century origins to the emergence of internet media empires. He recounts how the studio system rose out of the ashes of Thomas Edison's trust to create the handful of companies that have dominated global screens and imaginations for more than 100 years. Throughout, he reveals that the elements we take to be a natural part of the Hollywood experience--stars, genre-driven storytelling, blockbuster franchises, etc.--are really the product of cultural, political, and commercial forces.
In many ways, Hollywood has remained the same for over a century. It has always been a global industry based in the U.S., and its storytelling has always unfolded across media, adapting plays, book, and comics and spinning off product tie-ins, television series, and social media campaigns. But major events have also continually remade Hollywood. The studios have weathered wars, disruptive new technologies, and competition by adopting a strategy of risk management and assimilation. This book explores the challenges of new technologies, including sound, home video, and computer graphics. And it examines Hollywood's responses to World War II, independent film movements, and regulations imposed by Washington.
A Very Short Introduction is filled with discussions of well-known movies, stars, and directors, encapsulating the past century of research on Hollywood while adding many original insights and stories. It is the perfect introduction for readers who want to better understand the history and functioning of our screen-saturated world.
ABOUT THE
The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
In many ways, Hollywood has remained the same for over a century. It has always been a global industry based in the U.S., and its storytelling has always unfolded across media, adapting plays, book, and comics and spinning off product tie-ins, television series, and social media campaigns. But major events have also continually remade Hollywood. The studios have weathered wars, disruptive new technologies, and competition by adopting a strategy of risk management and assimilation. This book explores the challenges of new technologies, including sound, home video, and computer graphics. And it examines Hollywood's responses to World War II, independent film movements, and regulations imposed by Washington.
A Very Short Introduction is filled with discussions of well-known movies, stars, and directors, encapsulating the past century of research on Hollywood while adding many original insights and stories. It is the perfect introduction for readers who want to better understand the history and functioning of our screen-saturated world.
ABOUT THE
The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
144 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2015
37 people are currently reading
292 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 10, 2023
Коротка історія кіно через історію Голлівуда. Нікелодеони, німе кіно, звукове кіно, Друга Світова війна, диски, Нетфлікс і Амазон – загалом культурні і політичні аспекти міцно зчеплені з технічними, і це доволі цікаво читати. Виписав більше сотні нових англійських слів, більше десятка фільмів. Книжка планувалася такою собі підготовкою до прочитання "Одного разу в Голлівуді", а вийшла ще гарним вступом до фільму "Вавилон" – «Jazz Singer», нікелодеони, «Cinerama» зробили можливим розпізнавання алюзій у стрічці.
June 20, 2024
Of the film-related "Very Short Introduction" volumes that I've read (Film, by Michael Wood, and The History of Cinema, by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith), this one is by far my favorite as an introduction to students who have no background in film history or film studies. Peter Decherney's book benefits by having a more limited scope—Hollywood—which I believe gives students a better understanding of what's happening currently in film than the other, broader-focused, books do. Decherney not only relates the history of the Hollywood system, but he connects each era in such a way that the changes and developments now taking place fit into a clear continuity of the history. This is all really good. The book mentions some films and directors, but not an overbearing amount of referencing, which frees the teacher to bring in whatever films he wants to introduce the students to. This is the intro text I would choose even if the class weren't focused exclusively on Hollywood.
August 10, 2021
I didn't like movies at all until quarantine last spring. I would have been lucky if I saw a dozen movies a year, and most of those were literary adaptations, rom coms, or films with actors that I just thought were hot. In March 2020, I decided on a whim to watch Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" with my grandma one night, and that catapulted me into a sincere love and admiration for not only the films of Old Hollywood themselves, but also the actors who played their roles so well and had such fascinating lives off the screen, too.
It's interesting to me that almost all Old Hollywood films were basically propaganda promoting an American, capitalistic way of life; there's a long, complex, and sometimes sordid and sketchy history behind the silly screwball comedies or steamy film noirs that so many people (including myself) love. In many ways, the Old Hollywood film production system wasn't interested in creating high art at all: they were interested in churning out more and more productions with attractive actors to keep people going to the movies, and by making movie after movie that seemed like just repetitions of the same old plot. The Production (Hays) Code, established in the 1930’s, was also a form of propaganda: providing what appeared to be a clear-cut outline of American morality for films to follow, but really developing a series of codes for enlightened viewers to read between the lines of what the government would allow to be shown to the American public. Decherney is very quick to point out that the Production Code wasn’t really censorship, but it did further encode early Hollywood films as commodities rather than pieces of art. In fact, films didn’t even fall under the First Amendment freedom of speech until the 1950s: the movie business was considered just that, a business, which was “capable of evil.”
There’s a disconnect that my brain can’t quite reconcile between the films that I love, for example The Philadelphia Story (1940), with its ridiculous plot, three very attractive and appealing lead actors, funny dialogue and lovable characters, with the fact that it is part of a long history of pro-American propaganda. But anyway, context is important, and so is film history. Decherney does a solid job of condensing the history of American film into 130 pages, and I enjoyed reading his “very short introduction.”
It's interesting to me that almost all Old Hollywood films were basically propaganda promoting an American, capitalistic way of life; there's a long, complex, and sometimes sordid and sketchy history behind the silly screwball comedies or steamy film noirs that so many people (including myself) love. In many ways, the Old Hollywood film production system wasn't interested in creating high art at all: they were interested in churning out more and more productions with attractive actors to keep people going to the movies, and by making movie after movie that seemed like just repetitions of the same old plot. The Production (Hays) Code, established in the 1930’s, was also a form of propaganda: providing what appeared to be a clear-cut outline of American morality for films to follow, but really developing a series of codes for enlightened viewers to read between the lines of what the government would allow to be shown to the American public. Decherney is very quick to point out that the Production Code wasn’t really censorship, but it did further encode early Hollywood films as commodities rather than pieces of art. In fact, films didn’t even fall under the First Amendment freedom of speech until the 1950s: the movie business was considered just that, a business, which was “capable of evil.”
There’s a disconnect that my brain can’t quite reconcile between the films that I love, for example The Philadelphia Story (1940), with its ridiculous plot, three very attractive and appealing lead actors, funny dialogue and lovable characters, with the fact that it is part of a long history of pro-American propaganda. But anyway, context is important, and so is film history. Decherney does a solid job of condensing the history of American film into 130 pages, and I enjoyed reading his “very short introduction.”
January 3, 2025
short and sweet history of Hollywood!
August 14, 2020
A truly "very short" introduction to Hollywood history. Concisely takes the reader from the early nineteenth century to present day. A must read for anyone with even a fleeting interest in the world of film and media. My generation tends to think that we're the first ones seeing a great technological change, but it's really just a cycle of "innovation - resistance - adoption" that's been repeating itself for decades with every evolutionary phase in the industry. Good to have some perspective.
February 14, 2017
A fantastic crash course in Hollywandland history, covering the tech, the politics and the people. Highly recommended
April 22, 2020
Film and Television Studies was my minor at university, which means that a lot of the information in Hollywood: A Very Short Introduction had been familiar to me beforehand. Still, even this introductory account provided at least two additional aspects: more facts about the American film industry and an 'inside' angle of the narrative.
I remain unconvinced that Hollywood has been as much of a self-sufficient, global power throughout the 20th century as suggested by Peter Decherney in this book. India, Nigeria, and China remain the world leaders in terms of quantity, and while Hollywood has the highest revenue, the American industry has never existed in isolation — although Decherney's account leaves that impression.
That caveat aside, I have found Hollywood: A Very Short Introduction to be informative and helpful. Origins of the American film industry are presented as rooted in litigation, standardisation, and self-imposed censorship — this is 1907–1909 onwards. It is hardly surprising that Hollywood continues to progress one court decision at a time; referring to technological and distribution changes, as well as to persons engaged in the industry.
The list of films cited in the books, as well as the bibliography at the end of it, are fantastic sources for further engagement with the topic. (I, certainly, intend to take advantage of both!)
Ultimately, Hollywood: A Very Short Introduction is just that. A good part of this little book is a dry account of fascinating events, with an emphasis on political and technological (rather than artistic or cultural) choices. That is somewhat balanced out by the illustrations, of which they are many, and by the underlying suggestion that the audience is, inevitably, familiar with Hollywood.
I remain unconvinced that Hollywood has been as much of a self-sufficient, global power throughout the 20th century as suggested by Peter Decherney in this book. India, Nigeria, and China remain the world leaders in terms of quantity, and while Hollywood has the highest revenue, the American industry has never existed in isolation — although Decherney's account leaves that impression.
That caveat aside, I have found Hollywood: A Very Short Introduction to be informative and helpful. Origins of the American film industry are presented as rooted in litigation, standardisation, and self-imposed censorship — this is 1907–1909 onwards. It is hardly surprising that Hollywood continues to progress one court decision at a time; referring to technological and distribution changes, as well as to persons engaged in the industry.
The list of films cited in the books, as well as the bibliography at the end of it, are fantastic sources for further engagement with the topic. (I, certainly, intend to take advantage of both!)
Ultimately, Hollywood: A Very Short Introduction is just that. A good part of this little book is a dry account of fascinating events, with an emphasis on political and technological (rather than artistic or cultural) choices. That is somewhat balanced out by the illustrations, of which they are many, and by the underlying suggestion that the audience is, inevitably, familiar with Hollywood.
March 28, 2024
I read this book as a companion to a 4-week online class with Penn professor Decherney. It’s a quick, informative rundown of the history of Hollywood, giving a good perspective on the recurring challenges to the system.
February 26, 2021
popsugar challenge 2021: read a book set somewhere you'd like to visit in 2021
52 book club challenge 2021: read a book by an author with a nine-letter last name
52 book club challenge 2021: read a book by an author with a nine-letter last name
October 23, 2021
Read as a textbook for school, but surprisingly engaging and easy to get through.
April 16, 2022
Informative
I am glad that I purchased this book for my History of Hollywood class. It mentions a lot of things that I didn't know.
I am glad that I purchased this book for my History of Hollywood class. It mentions a lot of things that I didn't know.
April 8, 2024
This was the text book for a University of PA alumni course on the history of Hollywood. I found the book to be highly readable and enjoyable (as was the course itself).
June 12, 2021
L'ho letto per l'università più che per piacere personale, è comunque abbastanza chiaro diventa forse un po' confuso negli ultimi due capitoli sugli anni '70 e '80 o forse ero io che non ne posso più di preparare esami. Però in generale è una buona lettura e soprattutto all'inizio mi è sembrato chiaro nell'esposizione (anche se non sempre appunto)
December 2, 2018
The supplement to edX course with same name is easily digestable and gives the briefest of context for a handful of movies of yesteryear.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews