SCRN20011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Classical Hollywood Cinema, Counterculture Of The 1960S, Paratext
8 Jun 2018
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Lecture 3: the right cycle
Hollywood in transition
• Social and industrial upheavals
• Rise of independent films and art house cinemas after paramount decree
• Disruption to classical narrative form and film style
• Left and right cycles respond to these changes and influences in different ways
The left cycle, the failed frontier myth
• A claustrophobic society in decay
• Difficulty or impossibility of freedom
• Frontier founding of 'civilization' as a failed mythology
• Appropriated and reimagined in later settings
• Frontier myth: a mythic vision of america's past
• Society doesn’t look out for the little people
• Society as ineffectual or corrupt
• Establishments as villains, lack of individuality
• Nostalgia for what the west could have been
• A search for new replacement frontiers that is ultimately futile
• Society oppressive
The right cycle
• Contemporary and urban settings
• Singular hero, independent, symbolizes the inadequacy of the law
• Protagonist - law man - so belongs to the system -> brings his own innate sense of right and wrong
• Rise of legal rights failing to protect everyone else, individuals at the expense of the society ->
addressed by killing the bad apple -> narrative restores peace through killing the 'other'
• Largely conforms to classical hollywood stylistic practices
• Clear parallels betw antagonist and protagonist
• Unusual double narrative structure
• Crisis in masculinity -> aggressive, antisocial masculinity -> timeless and anachronistic, out of step
in the modern world but still have a place in the cultural moment -> anxiety about masculinity in a
time of feminism -> a loss of white male privilege -> uncertainty in a time of unrest
• Harry represents a sense of innate right and wrong -> legal system as skewed ethics -> harry seen
as out of step, anachronism
The right cycle: heroes and stars
• Onscreen masculinity drew on his offscreen persona
• Authentic masculinity because rides in real life and does own stunts
• Reassertion of msculine authenticity via text & paratext
• Intertextual star images - means by which cultural ideas and tensions around gender are
expressed and negotiated
Right cycle and the western
• Audiences well trained to spot western tropes
• Right as a response to the left - a critique of the left's critique
• Conservative backlash against 1960s counterculture
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Social and industrial upheavals: rise of independent films and art house cinemas after paramount decree, disruption to classical narrative form and film style. Left and right cycles respond to these changes and influences in different ways. Frontier founding of "civilization" as a failed mythology: a claustrophobic society in decay, difficulty or impossibility of freedom, appropriated and reimagined in later settings. Frontier myth: a mythic vision of america"s past. Society doesn"t look out for the little people. Society as ineffectual or corrupt: establishments as villains, lack of individuality, nostalgia for what the west could have been, a search for new replacement frontiers that is ultimately futile. The right cycle: heroes and stars: onscreen masculinity drew on his offscreen persona, authentic masculinity because rides in real life and does own stunts, reassertion of msculine authenticity via text & paratext. Intertextual star images - means by which cultural ideas and tensions around gender are expressed and negotiated.
