Читать книгу America on Film - Sean Griffin - Страница 10

America on Film is a textbook designed to introduce undergraduate students to issues of diversity within American film. It is the first synthetic and historical text of its kind, and provides a comprehensive overview of the industrial, sociocultural, and aesthetic factors that have shaped and continue to shape cinematic representations of race, class, gender, sexuality, and physical ability. The book aims to chronicle the cinematic history of various cultural groups, stimulate discussion of human difference, examine forces and institutions of bias, and ultimately provoke thought about the relationship between film and American national culture.

This textbook can be used in a variety of classroom settings and at a variety of educational levels. Primarily, it is suited for a class on media culture and diversity issues, although we have also used it as a supplemental text in basic “Introduction to Film Studies” and “American Film History” classes. The book could also be used for courses in twentieth‐century American history, cultural and American studies, and courses devoted to specific topics surrounding race, class, gender, sexuality, and/or ability. In addition, courses in the sociology and/or psychology of human difference may also find the book useful.

The text was written with first and second year undergraduate students in mind, but would also be appropriate for advanced high school or college‐prep students. The book can also be used in higher‐level undergraduate or graduate student seminars, although such classes would ideally use America on Film in conjunction with more advanced materials and/or other primary readings. Because of its user‐friendly style and general accessibility – everyone loves movies! – it may also be possible to use the text within certain types of corporate or social seminars designed to stimulate discussion of human diversity.

America on Film is divided into six parts. The first outlines the basic terms and issues of cultural theory and cinematic representation. Each of the following parts is devoted to a specific aspect of race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability, and each begins with a helpful “What is …?” introductory essay. Part II examines the cultural construction of whiteness as well as the complex historical lineages of African American, Native American, Asian American, and Latino representations. Part III explores issues of American capitalism and examines the cinematic representation of class struggle before and after the Great Depression. Part IV explores the changing images of both femininity and masculinity within American film, and includes a chapter on how Hollywood film form itself has been critiqued as having a male bias. Part V explores how various forms of sexuality have (or have not) been figured on American movie screens. Part VI analyzes various ideas about physical ability, and how what is termed disability has been represented across American film history. The final chapter of the second edition, comprised exclusively of individual “case studies” (in‐depth film analyses), emphasized the multiple and complex links between all of these various forms of identity markers. Those case studies have been moved online and can be found at www.wiley.com/go/Benshoff/Americaonfilm3e.

The book is comprised of a total of 16 chapters. While this number slightly exceeds the typical number of weeks in a semester‐long course of study, the text has been designed to adapt to those parameters. Generally, each week of any given semester can be devoted to a single chapter of America on Film and a representative film screening, either shown in class or assigned as homework. (Many of the films suggested within the text for further screening are easily available from media libraries, streaming services, or other commercial media outlets.) Depending on the preferences of the instructor, additional readings and/or screenings can be used in conjunction with America on Film. Chapters may also be assigned on a more concentrated basis or even used “out of order,” although we have provided a logical and easy‐to‐follow structure for the issues discussed.

Each chapter of America on Film is organized within a broad historical framework, with specific theoretical concepts – including film genre, auteur theory, cultural studies, Orientalism, the “male gaze,” feminism, queer theory, etc. – integrated throughout. Each chapter features a concise and accessible overview of the topic at hand, a discussion of representative films, figures, and movements, a case study of a single film, and key terms highlighted in bold. Each chapter concludes with questions for discussion and a short bibliography and filmography. America on Film also contains a glossary of key terms, a comprehensive index, and over 120 photos and diagrams illustrating key points and figures.