Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood

Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood
Author :
Publisher : JHU Press
Total Pages : 474
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781421402093
ISBN-13 : 1421402092
Rating : 4/5 (93 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood by : Karen Ward Mahar

Download or read book Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood written by Karen Ward Mahar and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2008-08-25 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of how and why women in early twentieth-century Hollywood went from having plenty of filmmaking opportunities to very few. Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood explores when, how, and why women were accepted as filmmakers in the 1910s and why, by the 1920s, those opportunities had disappeared. In looking at the early film industry as an industry—a place of work—Mahar not only unravels the mystery of the disappearing female filmmaker but untangles the complicated relationship among gender, work culture, and business within modern industrial organizations. In the early 1910s, the film industry followed a theatrical model, fostering an egalitarian work culture in which everyone—male and female—helped behind the scenes in a variety of jobs. In this culture women thrived in powerful, creative roles, especially as writers, directors, and producers. By the end of that decade, however, mushrooming star salaries and skyrocketing movie budgets prompted the creation of the studio system. As the movie industry remade itself in the image of a modern American business, the masculinization of filmmaking took root. Mahar’s study integrates feminist methodologies of examining the gendering of work with thorough historical scholarship of American industry and business culture. Tracing the transformation of the film industry into a legitimate “big business” of the 1920s, and explaining the fate of the female filmmaker during the silent era, Mahar demonstrates how industrial growth and change can unexpectedly open—and close—opportunities for women. “With meticulous scholarship and fluid writing, Mahar tells the story of this golden era of female filmmaking . . . Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood is not to be missed.” —Samantha Barbas, Women’s Review of Books “Mahar views the business of making movies from the inside-out, focusing on questions about changing industrial models and work conventions. At her best, she shows how the industry’s shifting business history impacted women’s opportunities, recasting current understanding about the American film industry's development.” —Hilary Hallett, Reviews in American History “A scrupulously researched and argued analysis of how and why women made great professional and artistic gains in the U.S. film industry from 1906 to the mid-1920s and why they lost most of that ground until the late twentieth century.” —Kathleen Feeley, Journal of American History “Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood offers convincing evidence of how economic forces shaped women’s access to film production and presents a complex and engaging story of the women who took advantage of those opportunities.” —Pennee Bender, Business History Review


Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood Related Books

Women Filmmakers in Early Hollywood
Language: en
Pages: 474
Authors: Karen Ward Mahar
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-08-25 - Publisher: JHU Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A study of how and why women in early twentieth-century Hollywood went from having plenty of filmmaking opportunities to very few. Women Filmmakers in Early Hol
Independent Female Filmmakers
Language: en
Pages: 296
Authors: Michele Meek
Categories: Art
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-12-21 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Independent Female Filmmakers collects original and previously published essays, interviews, and manifestos from some of the most defining and groundbreaking in
Women Filmmakers
Language: en
Pages: 512
Authors: Jacqueline Levitin
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-02-29 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This wide-ranging volume of new work brings together women filmmakers and critics who speak about what has changed over the past twenty years. Including such fi
Liberating Hollywood
Language: en
Pages: 364
Authors: Maya Montañez Smukler
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-12-14 - Publisher: Rutgers University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Winner of the 2018 Richard Wall Memorial Award​ from the Theater Library Association Liberating Hollywood examines the professional experiences and creative o
Contemporary Black Women Filmmakers and the Art of Resistance
Language: en
Pages: 195
Authors: Christina N. Baker
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018 - Publisher: Black Performance and Cultural

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An analysis of the ways that contemporary Black women filmmakers engage in acts of resistance through their filmmaking.