The New Hollywood Cinema

3 units

This course will examine the history of film culture and the film industry in the United States since the end of the classical Hollywood studio system. It will pay special attention to the period of auteur-centered filmmaking in the 1970s. During this time, the end of the production code, the financial crisis of the industry, the unparalleled influence of European New Wave and Art films, and the introduction of the first generation of film school graduates (the so-called movie brats) all combined amidst the tumultuous cultural politics of such movements as the counterculture, civil rights, and second wave feminism to form a film-historical moment often called the Hollywood Renaissance. This brief period was soon followed by a newly reinvigorated Hollywood industry focused on the high-concept blockbuster. Such rapid transformations in the practice and nature of American film not only continue to influence commercial filmmaking today but also continue to shape our understanding of the role of authorship, genre, and ideology within Hollywood. The course will consider films of the New Hollywood in the context of tensions between radicalism and populism, progressivism and nihilism, entertainment and ideology, artistic and commercial success. Required screenings.