Vitagraph

For more than a century, the origin story of the American film industry has been that the founders of Paramount and Fox invented the feature film, that Universal created the star system, and that these three companies (along with the heads of MGM and Warner Bros.) were responsible for developing the multi-billion-dollar business we now know as Hollywood. Unfortunately for history, this is simply not true. Andrew A. Erish's definitive history of this important but oft-forgotten studio compels a reassessment of the birth and development of motion pictures in America. Founded in 1897, the Vitagraph Company of America (later known as Vitagraph Studios) was ground zero for American cinema. By 1907, it was one of the largest film studios in America, with notable productions including the first film adaptation of Les Misérables (1909); The Military Air-Scout (1911), considered to be one of the first aviation films; and the World War I propaganda film The Battle Cry of Peace (1915). In 1925, Warner Bros. purchased Vitagraph and all of its subsidiaries and began to rewrite the history of American cinema. Drawing on valuable primary material overlooked by other historians, Erish challenges the creation myths marketed by Hollywood's conquering moguls, introduces readers to many unsung pioneers, and offers a much-needed correction to the history of commercial cinema.

Insuring Hollywood: A Movie Returns Index and the American Stock Market

The aim of this paper is the definition of a daily index representing the risk-return on investments in the American film industry. The index should be used to predict the riskiness and the expected return of movie projects at the level of the overall industry and then to determine a premium for insurance for such an investment. Such an index can inform the decision making in relation to risk but also timing. Though not currently legal in the United States, such an index may be relevant at some point in the future or in other countries for film production companies as well as venture capitalists interested in investing in one or a slate of motion picture productions or more broadly in the holdings of a media conglomerate, an exhibition chain, or some other aspect of the media landscape.

Exploring the Iconicity of Godzilla in Popular Culture. A Comparative Intercultural Perspective: Japan-America

The present study aims to compare the representation of Godzilla or Gojira, considered one of the most representative cultural icons of Japanese cinematography within the intertwinement of the fluid, versatile and dynamic context of contemporary Japanese and North American film industry. The undying popularity of Godzilla is puzzling, and one can ask himself where the appeal of this irradiated dinosaur-like fictional monster lies in. The author adopts a comparative intercultural perspective, one that integrates research into a much broader sociohistorical context, with particular attention to how the culturally enhanced linguistic component influences the symbolism incorporated by Godzilla in Japan and how it is reimagined in its Hollywood counterpart.Hence, the theoretical section brings into discussion relevant and previously unpublished Japanese-language literature on Godzilla, thus trying to balance both Western and Japanese perspectives academically. The present research applies the methodology of narrative analysis to investigate from a comparative perspective significant differences existing in the narrative development and portrayal of the iconic monster in “Shin Godzilla” (Japan, 2016) versus “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” (the USA, 2019). One of the most relevant findings refers to the impossibility of ultimately transferring or translating the cultural specificity of the iconic beast within the North American media context, despite recycling almost the same film narrative: therefore, Gojira is inherently Japanese.

Gendered Genre

This chapter aims to make general assessment of melodrama and the melodramas of Yeşilçam period which was named as the golden age of the cinema between 1960-1975. In this study, the concept of genre is discussed primarily. ‘Genre' is a concept that emerged in a certain period of American film industry. During the reign of the studio system, genre films comprised the vast majority of the most popular and profitable productions and this trend has continued even after its death. Afterwards, the definition of melodrama, which develops in literature, performing arts, and cinema is made. As a social phenomenon, melodrama is linked to the development of modernity. As an aesthetic genre, it became important, at times dominant, during the nineteenth century, and it remains with us today, notably in the fixed genres of television (soap opera, westerns, and thrillers), but it also survives in some musicals and videos. Then, a general evaluation of the melodrams of the Yeşilçam period is made.

EL HOLLYWOOD DE CHANDLER: LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DE UN IMAGINARIO CINEMATOGRÁFICO EN CLAVE NOIR

La narrativa de Chandler, especialmente su novela The Little Sister, proporciona una visión distópica acerca de Hollywood durante el periodo de “sistema de estudios” de la industria cinematográfica norteamericana. Esta imagen desfavorable está en consonancia con los parámetros del género literario que cultivó el escritor: el género negro, que se caracteriza por el sórdido realismo, la presencia de villanos que rompen el orden establecido y la crítica social. La fusión de los códigos de esta modalidad narrativa que rezuma violencia con la ambigua actitud de Chandler ante la Meca del Cine daría como resultado la construcción de un universo criminal que revela muchos de los puntos débiles, ansiedades y conflictos de la colonia del cine hollywoodense.ABSTRACTChandler’s narrative, especially his novel The Little Sister, provides a dystopian view of Hollywood during the period of the studio system in the American film industry. This unfavorable image is in line with the parameters of the literary genre that the writer cultivated: the noir gender, which is characterized by sordid realism, the presence of villains that break the established order and social criticism. The fusion of the codes of this narrative modality that oozes violence with the ambiguous attitude of Chandler before the Mecca of Cinema will result in the construction of a criminal universe that reveals many of the weaknesses, anxieties and conflicts of the film colony of Hollywood.