Authors:
- Utilizes extensive primary archival sources—many not previously recorded in the literature—to engage in debates surrounding audience affectation, censorship, stardom, the ideological purposes of mass culture, and the political shifts of Hollywood from 1910 to 1960
- Details how DeMille’s success (and his libertarian political views) track very closely to the events the nation has witnessed over the past four years, including the rise of political demagogues and the sharpening of libertarian political rhetoric
- One of the first extended texts to analytically assess DeMille's place in shaping and reflecting broad cultural change, from 1910 to 1960, rather than simply treating DeMille as a biographical subject
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
This book uses the long and profitable career of Cecil B. DeMille to track the evolution of Classical Hollywood and its influence on emerging mass commercial culture in the US. DeMille’s success rested on how well his films presumed a broad consensus in the American public—expressed through consumer hedonism, faith, and an “exceptional” national history—which merged seamlessly with the efficient production methods developed by the largest integrated studios. DeMille’s sudden mid-career shift away from spectator perversity to corporate propagandist permanently tarnished the director’s historical standing among scholars, yet should not overshadow the profound links between his success and the rise and fall of mid-century mass culture.
Authors and Affiliations
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Department of History, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX, USA
David Blanke
About the author
David Blanke is Professor of History at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, USA. His previously published works include studies of American car culture and modern mass consumerism. He is currently at work, with Sue Matheson, on a comparative study of Hollywood legends Cecil B. DeMille and John Ford.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Cecil B. DeMille, Classical Hollywood, and Modern American Mass Culture
Book Subtitle: 1910–1960
Authors: David Blanke
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76986-8
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-76985-1Published: 07 June 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-08341-0Published: 20 December 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-76986-8Published: 26 May 2018
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 328
Number of Illustrations: 16 b/w illustrations, 14 illustrations in colour
Topics: American Cinema and TV, Film History, Popular Culture , American Culture, Media and Communication