Hollywood and Aesthetic Pleasure in American Cinema by Todd Berliner

 
Hollywood and aesthetic. A great thematic this one in particular if we connect aesthetic with movies. When a movie is aesthetically appealing?
When it wins not just the box office but the Time and we can tell it is still a success after two generations or more. A classics in a word.

What give to these movies these peculiar characteristics? Surely a strong sense of aesthetic. Aesthetic pass through beauty actors, but also through "all the rest" that it is the compendium of a movie: a very good script, beautiful stunning locations, etc.

In general spectators are never passive and when they choose to "thumb up" a production there is a reason.
Flops a product of an aesthetic that didn't work out, was misunderstood or times not yet ready.

The book is divided in five important parts:

Hollywood and Classicism where through various movies and examples we will discover how Hollywood is in grade to give to its audience a product in grade to make the difference following classicism standards.

In the second part Hollywood Storytelling.

A good storytelling is indispensable.
It's important to divide moments of the creation: plot and story.
Plot is the presentation of the events, while story the narrative process.
In general there is a dual plot: romance with also work/other problems.
The narrative unity is better because presents a logical theme in the spectators although recently disunity starts to become interesting. An example of disunity is The Sixth Sense when one of the main character a ghost, but explained only at the end.
The classical narration enables the spectators of a movie "made in Hollywood" to enjoy the whole product.

Plots are strong in Hollywood environment. They avoid ambiguity, weak connections.
In general movies present a question/answer like we can see in the Titanic. In this case people will follow clearly the story satisfied by the product.
Long chapters will be dedicated in this section at disunity.

In the third part: Style a fusion between story, sound...

In the fourth part Ideology and in the fifth Genre, with the analyses of the success of Star Wars and other successful characters.
This book will also treat musicals and western movies.


Beautiful and interesting book if you want to discover the hidden dynamics of Hollywood, and not for everyone but particularly dedicated to scholars, teachers.


I thank Oxford University Press for the physical copy of this book.




Anna Maria Polidori