| Description |
1 online resource illustrations |
| Series |
Film and culture |
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Film and culture.
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| Contents |
Intro -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: "Shop Windows," "Cultural Embassies," and Hollywood's Global Exhibition -- Part I. Europe. When Expansion Was Paramount (1923-1993): "Shop Window" Cinemas and the European Expansion of U.S. Film Exhibitors -- 1. Hollywood's British Invasion and the Battle of Birmingham, 1919-1929 -- 2. Hollywood's European Adventure, 1925-1941 -- 3. A New Battleground: U.S. Exhibitors Under Nazi Occupation, 1941-1945 -- 4. Postwar Europe and the Legacy of Hollywood Cinemas, 1945-1993 -- Part II. Australasia. Banking on Australasia (1930-1982): Global Banks and U.S. Cinema Ownership in Australia and New Zealand -- 5. Fox Chases Hoyts: U.S. Cinema Ownership in Australia, 1930-1936 -- 6. The Fox Chase in New Zealand and Australia, 1936-1946 -- 7. Hollywood and Australasian Cinemas, 1946-1982 -- Part III: Latin America and the Caribbean. Hollywood in Cinelandia (1927-1973): U.S. Cinemas and Local Politics in Latin America and the Caribbean -- 8. Cine Metros y Cine Paramounts, 1926-1941: MGM and Paramount's Latin American Shop Window Cinemas -- 9. Prop(aganda) Window Cinemas, 1933-1945: Ufa, Hollywood, and the Battle for Hearts and Minds Through South American Cinemas During World War II -- 10. Hollywood Cinema Expansion in Postwar South America, 1945-1973 -- 11. Caribbean Dreams, 1929-1973: Hollywood Cinemas in Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad -- Part IV. Middle East. Hollywood's Muddle East (1925-1982): Political Change in Egypt and Israel and the Consequences for Hollywood's Middle Eastern Cinemas -- 12. Buildings, Ballyhoo, and Boycotts in Egypt, 1925-1947: Alternating Realities at Hollywood's Egyptian Cinemas -- 13. No Meeting in the Middle, 1947-1956: Hollywood Cinemas, Egyptian Revolution, and Israeli Independence |
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14. After the Revolution, 1957-1982: Twentieth Century-Fox, Egypt, and Israel -- Part V. Africa. An "Unhappy Image of the United States Before an African Population" (1932-1975): Race, Industry, and Rebellion at Hollywood's African Cinemas -- 15. MGM and the "Uncrowned King of South Africa," 1932-1937: Hollywood Shop Window Cinemas in a Bitterly Protected Market -- 16. Fox Hunting on the African Continent, 1937-1956: Twentieth Century-Fox and the Struggle for Control of African Cinemas -- 17. A "Royal" Mess: Racial Strife in Colonial Zimbabwe, the Struggle for Independence in Postcolonial Kenya, and the End of Hollywood's Control of South African Cinemas, 1959-1975 -- Part VI. Asia. Eastern Promises (1927-2013): Hollywood's Cinemas in China, India, Japan, and the Philippines -- 18. Benshi and Ballyhoo, 1927-1973: Hollywood's Shop Window Cinemas in Japan and the Philippines -- 19. Joining the Global Metro Cub Club, 1936-1973: MGM and Fox's Shop Window Cinemas in India -- 20. China as Hollywood's Final Frontier, 1946-2013: Hollywood's Chinese Cinemas and the End of Hollywood's Exhibition Empires -- Epilogue: Global Exhibition Flows in Reverse Before the Pandemic, 2013-2019 -- Notes -- Index |
| Summary |
"Beginning in the 1920s, audiences around the globe were seduced not only by Hollywood films but also by lavish movie theaters that were owned and operated by the major American film companies. These theaters aimed to provide a quintessentially "American" experience. Outfitted with American technology and accoutrements, they allowed local audiences to watch American films in an American-owned cinema in a distinctly American way. In a history that stretches from Buenos Aires and Tokyo to Johannesburg and Cairo, Ross Melnick considers these movie houses as cultural embassies. He examines how the exhibition of Hollywood films became a constant flow of political and consumerist messaging, selling American ideas, products, and power, especially during fractious eras. Melnick demonstrates that while Hollywood's marketing of luxury and consumption often struck a chord with local audiences, it was also frequently tone-deaf to new social, cultural, racial, and political movements. He argues that the story of Hollywood's global cinemas is not a simple narrative of cultural and industrial indoctrination and colonization. Instead, it is one of negotiation, booms and busts, successes and failures, adoptions and rejections, and a precursor to later conflicts over the spread of American consumer culture. A truly global account, Hollywood's Embassies shows how the entanglement of worldwide movie theaters with American empire offers a new way of understanding film history and the history of U.S. soft power"-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on April 13, 2022) |
| Subject |
Motion picture theaters -- Political aspects
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Civilization -- American influences.
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PERFORMING ARTS -- Film & Video -- History & Criticism.
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Motion picture theaters -- Political aspects
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Diplomatic relations
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Civilization -- American influences
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| SUBJECT |
United States -- Foreign relations -- 20th century.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140089
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United States -- Foreign relations -- 21st century.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2003003697
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| Subject |
United States
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| LC no. |
2021020184 |
| ISBN |
9780231554138 |
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0231554133 |
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