HUMA 2740 Lecture Notes - Biograph Company, Movie Palace, Motion Picture Patents Company
2 Apr 2014
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Document Summary
Purpose of course: to develop an understanding of the role that the mass media plays in society. Content: an overview of the history of the film and television industries in the us, a case study on the role of mass media (esp. film and television) in the construction of empire and its maintenance. A number of factors came together in the 1890s that allowed the motion pictures to take off: the scientific impulse, the societal context industrialization, urbanization and the need for cheap entertainment for new working class. The first 10 or 15 years of the movie exhibition industry was characterized by the working class patronage. Arrival of immigrants from south and eastern europe: the universal language of the silent film. Upper class looked down at motion pictures at first and in some cases, tried to ban it. Early exhibitions: amusement parks, vaudeville theatres (form of middle class entertainment singing, dancing, comedy; showed motion pictures in between live acts)
