- Hardcover: 264 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press; illustrated edition edition (Dec 2 1994)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0520085566
- ISBN-13: 978-0520085565
- Product Dimensions: 23.5 x 15.9 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 626 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
Cecil B. DeMille and American Culture demonstrates that the director, best remembered for his overblown biblical epics, was one of the most remarkable film pioneers of the Progressive Era. In this innovative work, which integrates cultural history and cultural studies, Sumiko Higashi shows how DeMille artfully inserted cinema into genteel middle-class culture by replicating in his films such spectacles as elaborate parlor games, stage melodramas, department store displays, Orientalist world's fairs, and civic pageantry. The director not only established his signature as a film author by articulating middle-class ideology across class and ethnic lines, but by the 1920's had become a trendsetter, with set and costume designs that influenced the advertising industry to create a consumer culture based on female desire. Drawing on a wealth of previously untapped material from the DeMille Archives and other collections, Higashi provides imaginative readings of DeMille's early feature films, viewing them in relation to the dynamics of social change, and she documents the extent to which the emergence of popular culture was linked to the genteel tradition.
From the Inside Flap
"A very important contribution both to cinema history and to early twentieth-century American history. . . . Higashi rewrites the history of early American cinema as a social history, situating it clearly in the development of American middle-class culture."--Richard Abel, author of The Ciné Goes to Town
"Cecil B. DeMille and the American Culture contributes significantly to scholarly understanding of the construction of the classic Hollywood cinema and, more generally, of consumer culture in the modern West."--Francis G. Couvares, Amherst College
"Cecil B. DeMille and the American Culture contributes significantly to scholarly understanding of the construction of the classic Hollywood cinema and, more generally, of consumer culture in the modern West."--Francis G. Couvares, Amherst College
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
When Cecil B. DeMille decided to abandon an unspectacular stage career for filmmaking in 1913, he was undeterred by the low repute of one-reelers associated with workers and immigrants in storefront nickelodeons. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
When Cecil B. DeMille decided to abandon an unspectacular stage career for filmmaking in 1913, he was undeterred by the low repute of one-reelers associated with workers and immigrants in storefront nickelodeons. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Quite good,
By A Customer
This review is from: Cecil B. DeMille and American Culture: The Silent Era (Paperback)
This book was quite good but the best part was the behind the scenes view of cinema in the 20's. It is quite well written and focus on the genius of the director. I quite enjoyed it bu it would have profered more on the actual films of DeMille rather than the backround. Also i did not think it had a acurate portryal of some of his helper and really neglected to mention the people who helped Demille become who he was.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Quite good,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Cecil B. DeMille and American Culture: The Silent Era (Paperback)
This book was quite good but the best part was the behind the scenes view of cinema in the 20's. It is quite well written and focus on the genius of the director. I quite enjoyed it bu it would have profered more on the actual films of DeMille rather than the backround. Also i did not think it had a acurate portryal of some of his helper and really neglected to mention the people who helped Demille become who he was.
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Arts & Photography > History & Criticism
- Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts
- Books > Biographies & Memoirs
- Books > Entertainment > Movies > Biographies
- Books > Entertainment > Movies > History & Criticism
- Books > Entertainment > Performing Arts
- Books > Nonfiction > Education > Language Instruction
- Books > Reference > Foreign Languages
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
