| View Larger Image | Celluloid Mushroom Clouds: Hollywood And Atomic Bomb (Critical Studies in Communication and in the Cultural Industries) | Paperbackby Joyce Evans (Author)
| List Price: | $41.00 | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Westview Press | | Page Count: | 224 Pages | | Publication Date: | April 08, 1999 | | Sales Rank: | 430,174th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Celluloid Mushroom Clouds is a historical account of how the movie industry responded to specific economic and political forces over the postwar years. Joyce Evans investigates the transformation of the imagery associated with atomic technology found in Hollywood film produced and distributed between 1947 and 1964. Incorporating qualitative and quantitative research methods, over 90 films are analyzed in terms of their historical context and the context of film production and distribution.The industry-focused approach presented in the book views cultural production as a material process unfolding under specific economic, political, and cultural conditions and emphasizes the “pressures and limits” of production that are inscribed in cinematic texts. The study illustrates in concrete detail how the cinematic texts negotiated by audiences are produced in highly concentrated industries and are constructed as a result of often contradictory determinants. These determinants work to shape the texts produced by encouraging, for example, the production of particular genres and by privileging a specific set of images over others. Evans argues that through these images, Hollywood articulated a limited critique of the Cold War ideology, which it also helped to create. She concludes that Hollywood’s overall ideological effect has been to restrict the discursive means available for defining social reality. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 2 reviews)
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Review of Dr. Evans book  5 Stars
June 22, 1999
This is a wonderful summary and deep analysis of a highly important subject to American society, the use of media in portraying icons of poplular culture derived from the most frightening scientific accomlishements of the decade. Professor Evans does an amazing job of simplifying and displaying for the reader the complexity of modern life, while emphasizing the impressive nature of modern life. This is a wonderful book, an intensely interesting subject and an excellent analysis. I would recommend it to any reader.
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This book really made me think differently about movies. 5 Stars
November 04, 1998
I really liked this book, it made me think differently about movies and what they portray. This study points out how decisions about what movies contain are influenced by the profit motives of the industry. It also provides a new look at science fiction movies of the 1950s and 1960s, how atomic culture contributed to the development of that genre.
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