There has always been an interesting connection between Hollywood and Europe. Hollywood has dominated European cinema since the First World War and at present accounts for approximately 80% of market share in the majority of European countries, while European share of the American market is weak at 5.02% in 2001. The Hollywood advantage is concentrated in one very particular kind of moviemaking: films that are entertaining, highly visible, and have broad global appeal. The typical European film has about one percent of the audience of the typical Hollywood film, and this differential has been growing. American movies have become increasingly popular in international markets, while European movies have become less so. A great effort has been made by Europe to try and regain some control over their film industry as American films have always experienced more success than European films in the European film industry and around the world. One of the main problems within the European film industry is that there is great cultural and linguistic diversity in Europe, which includes very nation specific humour (thus comedies don't travel well), and a lack of interest in regionally specific films. How can a divided European film industry successfully compete against a united Hollywood industry? European cinema is generally associated with art cinema. Innovation is emphasised strongly which, over the years, has resulted in the creation of terms such as the French Nouvelle Vague, Italian Neo-Realism and New German cinema. There are also typical European genres such as the Film Noir, European heritage film and the German Heimatfilm. In contrast to Hollywood, there is little conventional action in European art-house films. Many foreign film... ... middle of paper ... ...ng to have the option of seeing something more thought provoking. A different vision is offered which is so un-American and thus so attractive. Word Count: 1,434 Bibliography: Dyer, Richard (1992), Popular European Cinema, London Finney, Angus (1997), The State of European Cinema, London Hjort, Mette and Scott Mackenzie (2000), Cinema and Nation, London and New York Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey and Steven Ricci (1998), Hollywood and Europe, London Retrieved on 3rd of March 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://www.mediasalles.it/eurousa.htm Retrieved on 3rd of March 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://www.screendigest.com Retrieved on 3rd of March 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://www.infoculture.cbc.ca
The overall appeal of the cinema to the masses was particularly evident during the interwar era. Audiences worldwide wanted to watch the variety of films, particularly American produced films, and they always went back. The visibly attractive and glamorous Hollywood movies often depicted the success of the underdog over unjust authority. Values of cash over culture were often a theme in the early American films and societies with restricted social mobility, such as those in Europe, could dream of such a triumph. The working class and unemployed could fantasise about wealth, fame and freedom which America as a country was portrayed as offering.
With the loss of its centralized structure, the film industry produced filmmakers with radical new ideas. The unique nature of these films was a product of the loss of unified identity.
German Cinema since Unification. Edited by David Clarke. Continuum, in association with University of Birmingham Press. 2006
In Hollywood today, most films can be categorized according to the genre system. There are action films, horror flicks, Westerns, comedies and the likes. On a broader scope, films are often separated into two categories: Hollywood films, and independent or foreign ‘art house’ films. Yet, this outlook, albeit superficial, was how many viewed films. Celebrity-packed blockbusters filled with action and drama, with the use of seamless top-of-the-line digital editing and special effects were considered ‘Hollywood films’. Films where unconventional themes like existentialism or paranoia, often with excessive violence or sex or a combination of both, with obvious attempts to displace its audiences from the film were often attributed with the generic label of ‘foreign’ or ‘art house’ cinema.
Classic film noir originated after World War II. This is the time where post World War II pessimism, anxiety, and suspicion was taking the world by storm. Many films that were released in the U.S. Between 1939s and 1940s were considered propaganda films that were designed for entertainment during the Depression and World War II. During the 1930s many German and Europeans immigrated to the U.S. and helped the American film industry with powerf...
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
Modernization in the 1980s paved the way for the Hong Kong New Wave, as the studio system set up in the 1950s was dismantled, the film industry experienced more freedom. Since decolonization was heavily present 75% of Hong Kong’s box office revenue were home grown movies, while the meager 15% was left for the foreign market. As one can see the political context of Ho...
The French New Wave, particularly the works of Jean Luc Godard, has an important in the history of modern cinema. The new sense of realism that came out of his works would change film as an art form for the rest of time. A group of trailblazing directors who formed there own critical school called Cahiers du Cinema, set a new form of filmmaking in motion in the mid 1950’s. André Bazin is one of the most well known of these critics. The new style of the “Nouvelle Vague” rejected the linear tropes of the hollywood films that preceded, bring about complex narratives drawing focus to the common man or woman. These films also highlighted auteurism, and the us of a single director’s ability to engage with an audience, allowing them to discern meaning
Although in shambles, It did not take long for film to make a resurgence in France. Domestic production was boosted following the introduction of The Centre National de la Cinématographe, a government organization that provided assistance to the industry in the form of loans and training. Imported films, especially those from America, began flowing into France following its liberation by Allied forces, and moviegoers were suddenly exposed to years of new films they had been previously cut off from all at once. As the market for films began to heat up, French filmmakers were presented with two choices; continue producing films adapted from relatively outdated literary works in the classic French tradition, or imitate the Hollywood Studio system of production, creating big-budget features for an international audience with the assistance of the CNC. These contrasting styles of filmmaking...
The expressionist movement in German art and cinema was very sensitive to the current state of the country after a huge worldwide conflict. Prior to the rise of the next Nazi Regime, German filmmakers incorporated many aspects to their films that had never been used together before this period of time. M is no exception to
Friedman, L., Desser, D., Kozloff, S., Nichimson, M., & Prince, S. (2014). An introduction to film genres. New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company.
Thompson, K 2003, ‘The struggle for the expanding american film industry’, in Film history : an introduction, 2nd ed, McGraw-Hill, Boston, pp. 37-54
In this essay the following will be discussed; the change from the age of classical Hollywood film making to the new Hollywood era, the influence of European film making in American films from Martin Scorsese and how the film Taxi Driver shows the innovative and fresh techniques of this ‘New Hollywood Cinema’.
Nevertheless Italian NeoRealism was essential to Italy’s film industry at the time the war ended and while Europe was recovering from the war. Its impact on modern film has been monumental, not only in Italian film but also on French New Wave cinema, and ultimately on films all over the world.
‘Then came the films’; writes the German cultural theorist Walter Benjamin, evoking the arrival of a powerful new art form at the end of 19th century. By this statement, he tried to explain that films were not just another visual medium, but it has a clear differentiation from all previous mediums of visual culture.