The Hollywood Film Musical (New Approaches to Film Genre) (Paperback) By (author) Barry Keith Grant

Full bibliographic data for The Hollywood Film Musical

Title

The Hollywood Film Musical

Authors and contributors

By (author) Barry Keith Grant

Physical properties

Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 196
Width: 153 mm
Height: 227 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight: 264 g

Audience

College/higher education
General/trade
Professional and scholarly

Language

English

ISBN

ISBN 13: 9781405182522
ISBN 10: 1405182520

Classifications

BISAC category code: PER004030
Nielsen BookScan Product Class: T1.6
Dewey: 791.436
BICMainSubject: AV
Dewey: 791.436578

Edition

2

Illustrations note

illustrations

Publisher

John Wiley and Sons Ltd

Imprint name

Wiley-Blackwell (an imprint of John Wiley & Sons Ltd)

Publication date

01 May 2012

Publication City/Country

Chicester/GB

Biographical note

Barry Keith Grant is Professor of Communication, Popular Culture, and Film at Brock University in Ontario, Canada. He is the author or editor of more than two dozen books, including Auteurs and Authorship: a Film Reader (2008) Film Genre: From Iconography to Ideology (2007), Film Genre Reader (2003), and The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film (1996). As well as being an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, he is the series editor of the New Approaches to Film Genre series for Wiley-Blackwell.

Back cover copy

American film musicals are a central genre in the evolution of cinema as an art form and popular entertainment. With an impressive range of films produced to meet an ever-growing consumer demand, musicals proved to be a powerful formula for box office success. With an accessible style and substantial depth of analysis, this engaging new title offers an overview of the history of, and the critical literature on, this popular genre."The Hollywood Film Musical" examines the synergy between the genre and the popular music industry, tracing the function of this relationship in aesthetic, ideological and industrial terms, and outlining the influence of minstrel shows, vaudeville, the Broadway stage, the recording industry, and stardom. The book also provides a selection of close readings of iconic musicals from the golden age of the 1930s right up to the new century: from "Top Hat" and "Singin' in the Rain" to "Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, West Side Story" and "Across the Universe." As well as providing illuminating new readings of popular films, these detailed analyses reflect on critical issues such as race, gender, ideology, and authorship.

Review quote

"Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-and upper-division undergraduates; general readers." ( Choice , 1 November 2012)

Main description

This revealing history of the American film musical synthesizes the critical literature on the genre and provides a series of close analytical readings of iconic musical films, focusing on their cultural relationship to other aspects of American popular music. Offers a depth of scholarship that will appeal to students and scholarsLeads a crucial analysis of the cultural context of musicals, particularly the influence of popular music on the genreDelves into critical issues behind these films such as race, gender, ideology, and authorshipFeatures close readings of canonical and neglected film musicals from the 1930s to the present including: Top Hat, Singin' in the Rain, Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, West Side Story, and Across the Universe

Table of contents

List of Plates ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1 Historical Overview 7 2 Critical Overview 38 3 Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) 55 4 Top Hat (1935) 70 5 The Pirate (1948) 85 6 West Side Story (1961) and Saturday Night Fever (1977) 99 7 Woodstock (1970) 116 8 Phantom of the Paradise (1974) 131 9 Pennies from Heaven (1981) and Across the Universe (2007) 146 References 165 Index 171