Unit 16 American Popular Culture

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• The first American studios were bulit in the New York City area. • Hollywood, a rural suburb of Los Angeles became the American movie capital after 1913. • Star system
Unit 16 American Popular Culture: Movies and Music
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The introduction of American popular culture The term "popular culture" was coined in the 19th century. John Storey discusses six definations in Culture Theory and Popular Culture. The first one is seen as a commercial culture. In post-WWII, American popular culture is associated with commercial culture. Popular culture is an important part of US.
• A suspense picture , Jaws(1975) and sepctacle Star Wars(1977) grossed over 100 million dollars and cracked 200 million dollars barrier respectively . They breathed new life into film field rivival. • During the late 1990s, anothor cinematic transition began from physical film stock to digital cinema technology. Meanwhile DVDs became the new standard for consumer viedo, replacing VHS tapes. • As the century drew to a close the American film industry went global, especially during the first decade of the 21st century , there has been an increasing globalization of US cinema.American Film
• Early Years Movies didn't originate in America, it was invented by Lumiere brothers in Paris in 1895. In New York in 1896, Thomas Edison developed the similar machine— Vitascope. The early films Edwin S.Porter Life of an American Fireman/ The Great Train Robbery At first, films were sold directly to exhibitors; later they were distributed on a rental basis through film exchange. Nickelodeons
• The 1990s opened with an influx of Grunge music coming from Seattle. • Grunge is merely a sector of a more broadly reaching alternative style of rock. • Women finally were recognized as important contributors to the rock scene in the 1990s and they were taken very seriously. • Lilith Fair • The development of hip-hop • The influence of rap music
• Rock and roll was first used by a Cleveland disc jockey named Alan Freed. • Rock was born as a result of changes in the music, broadcasting, advertising and entertainment industries. • In the early 1950s, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country and western developed. • In 1955, a young singer—Elvis Presley's records were heard across the country. • "The Comets" came out with a song called "Rock around the Clock"
• The first all-talking picture: Lights of New York in the 1928 • By the late 1930s, Hollywood entered into artistic golden age • Child star Shirley Temple in 1930s • Gone with the Wind in 1939 • The Oscar Prize . In the 1950, two developent ended the studios's control of the entertainment business: . The overwhelming popularity of televison began to eat into studio profits • The studios were forced by Federal court rulings to abandon the control of distribution and exhibition that they had maintained through massive conglomerate corporations
• In order to compete with televison, the studio heads strongly urged techonological innovation.
1) In the 1950s many filmmakers experimentted with wide-screen processes 2) The movies traded a bit of glamor for an inreased sense of realism in the 1950s and 1960s 3) In 1956, many studios began to produce material especially for televison incluing commercials
American Popular Music since 1900
• Popular styles: country, R&B, jazz, rock and hip hop. • The earlist songs • Tin Pan Alley
• The characters of jazz music: Blue notes, syncopation, swing, call, response, improvisation. • The development of jazz from 1920s to 1950’s 1) New Orleans Jazz 2) swing: the 1930s and 1940s was an age of swing 3) Be-bop: a reaction of swing • The constitu-tions of rock music: pop, Rhythm-and-blues, country-and-western
• The Hollywood Studio Era • Between 1916 and 1926 the American film industry came into the hands of a few powerful companies, which controlled production, distribution, and exhibition. • Five "majors"—Fox, MGM, Paramount, RKO, and Warner Brothers; the "little three"— Columbia, Universal and United Artists • Films in 1920s reflected changing social and moral standards. • Cynicsm and sensuality among the upper classes characterized many of the 1920s features, and democratic optimism gave way to rampant materialism.
• Beatles • Rolling Stones • The arrival of Bob Dylan in New York in the early 1960s, breathed new life into the folk music revival. • The era of rock • A new element of conscious social comment in rock: satircal, often bitter and angry. • The change in rock music scene • By 1970s, emphasis had shifted away from the music industry toward the performers and composers. • By the end of 1980s, pop rock largely used macho lyrics and attitudes, accompanied by hard rock music and heavy mental solo singing.