Hollywood Highbrow: From Entertainment to Art

242 Pages·2007·23.941 MB·English

by  Shyon Baumann

RHollywood Highbrow
PRINCETON STUDIES IN CULTURAL SOCIOLOGY
Paul J. DiMaggio, Michele Lamont, Robert J. Wuthnow,
and Viviana A. Zelizer, Series Editors
A list of titles in this series appears at the back of the book.
Hollywood Highbrow
FROM ENTERTAINMENT TO ART
Shyon Baumann
P R I N C E T ON U N I V E R S I TY P R E SS
P R I N C E T ON A ND O X F O RD
Copyright © 2007 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Baumann, Shyon, 1971-
Hollywood highbrow : from entertainment to art / Shyon Baumann.
p. cm. — (Princeton studies in cultural sociology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-12527-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Motion pictures—United States—History. 2. Motion pictures—Aesthetics.
3. Film criticism—United States—History. I. Title.
PN1993.5.U6B319 2007
791.430973—dc22 2007018558
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Sabon
Printed on acid-free paper. °°
press.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
This book is dedicated to Josee,
my favorite person

Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgments xiii
CHAPTER I
Introduction: Drawing the Boundaries of Art 1
The Central Argument 3
How Do We Know What Art Is? 4
American Film History 7
The Social Construction of Art 12
The Creation of Artistic Status: Opportunity, Institutions,
and Ideology 14
Outline of the Chapters 18
CHAPTER 2
The Changing Opportunity Space: Developments
in the Wider Social Context 21
The First World War and Urban-American Life:
Two Disparate Influences on Film Attendance in Europe
and the United States 23
Post-World War II Changes in the Size and Composition
of American Film Audiences 32
Summary 51
CHAPTER 3
Change from Within: New Production and Consumption Practices 53
Film Festivals 54
Self-Promotion of Directors 59
Ties to Academia 66
United States, England, Germany, Italy, and France:
Changes in the Industrial and Social History of Film 76
Purification through Venue: From Nickelodeons to Art Houses 88
Prestige Productions 92
The Ebb of Censorship and the Coming of Art 97
The Crisis of the 1960s Forced Hollywood down New Paths 105
Summary 108
viii • Contents
CHAPTER 4
The Intellectualization of Film 111
Early U.S. Film Discourse 113
The Intellectualization of Film Reviews: 1925-1985 117
Film Reviews Approach Book Reviews: A Comparison
with Literature 133
1960s Advertisements Incorporate Film Review 137
Foreign Film: A Pathway to High Art for Hollywood 148
Cultural Hierarchy, the Relevance of Critics,
and the Status of Film as Art 155
Summary 159
CHAPTER 5
Mechanisms for Cultural Valuation 161
Why a Middlebrow Art? 163
Film Consumption as Cultural Capital 169
An Emphasis on Intellectualizing Discourse 171
Integration of Factors 173
The Study of Cultural Hierarchy 174
Notes 179
References 203
Index 217
Figures
2.1. Total Enrollment in Institutions of Higher Education,
1925-1985 33
2.2. Percentage of 18- to 24-Year-Olds Enrolled in Institutions
of Higher Education, 1925-1985 34
2.3. Weekly U.S. Theater Attendance, 1926-1985 38
2.4. Weekly U.S. Theater Attendance, Television Sets in Use,
Births per 1,000 Women 15 to 44, and Passenger Vehicle
Ownership, 1925-1985 40
2.5. Weekly U.S. Cinema Attendance versus Radio Ownership,
1925-1985 42
3.1. Number of U.S. Film Festivals 57
3.2. Number of English-Language Books on Film in WorldCat
Catalog, 1925-1985 70
3.3. Number of All Books Published versus Books on Film as a
Percentage of All Books 71
3.4. All Books versus Books from Three Fields 73
4.1. Number of Specialized Terms Divided by Total Number of
Review Words: 1930-1980 122
4.2. "High Art" and "Critical" Terms in Film and Book
Reviews: 1930, 1940, 1960, 1970 134
4.3. Number of Specialized Terms Divided by Total Words in
Film and Book Reviews: 1930, 1940, 1960, 1970 135
4.4. Percentage of Film and Book Reviews with Three or More
Specified Techniques: 1930, 1940, 1960, 1970 136
4.5. Percentage of Film Advertisements Referring to "Masters,"
etc., and to Direction: 1935-1985 141