Hollywood Goes Shopping

2000
•

David Desser and Garth S. Jowett, editors

A groundbreaking exploration of the profound relationship between American cinema and consumer culture.

Hollywood Goes Shopping brings together leading film studies scholars to explore the complex and sometimes contradictory relationship between American cinema and consumer culture, providing an innovative reading of both film history and the evolution of consumerism in the twentieth century.

Contributors: Heather Addison, Sarah Berry, Jeffrey Charles, Angela Curran, Rebecca L. Epstein, Cynthia Felando, Aida A. Hozi´c, Larry W. Riggs, Sara Ross, David Slayden, Josh Stenger, Gaylyn Studlar, Thomas E. Wartenberg, Jill Watts, Barbara Wilinsky, Paula Willoquet-Maricondi, and Rick Worland.

This excellent collection of fourteen essays-all original-lies at the intersection of film studies and consumerism, and it should appeal to scholars in both areas. This is an illuminating and provocative set of essays, worthy of praise.

—

American Studies

Aggressive product placement and retail tie-ins are as much a part of moviemaking today as high-concept scripts and computer-generated special effects, but this phenomenon is hardly recent. Since the silent era, Hollywood studios have proved remarkably adept at advertising both their own products and a bewildering variety of consumer commodities, successfully promoting the idea of consumption itself. Hollywood Goes Shopping brings together leading film studies scholars to explore the complex and sometimes contradictory relationship between American cinema and consumer culture, providing an innovative reading of both film history and the evolution of consumerism in the twentieth century.

Contributors: Heather Addison; Sarah Berry, College of Staten Island, CUNY;
Jeffrey Charles, California State U; Angela Curran, Mt. Holyoke; Rebecca L. Epstein; Cynthia Felando, UCLA; Aida A. Hozi´c, Ithaca College; Larry W. Riggs, Butler U; Sara Ross, Southern Methodist U; David Slayden, U of Colorado, Boulder; Josh Stenger; Gaylyn Studlar, U of Michigan; Thomas E. Wartenberg, Mt. Holyoke; Jill Watts, California State U; Barbara Wilinsky, U of Arizona; Paula Willoquet-Maricondi, Butler U; and Rick Worland, Southern Methodist U.

David Desser is professor of cinema studies and speech communication at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Garth S. Jowett is professor of communication at the University of Houston.

This excellent collection of fourteen essays-all original-lies at the intersection of film studies and consumerism, and it should appeal to scholars in both areas. This is an illuminating and provocative set of essays, worthy of praise.

—

American Studies

Hollywood Goes Shopping makes a valuable contribution to a broad range of cross-disciplinary fields. An extremely useful and provocative foundation for the development of further scholarship in this area.

—

Enterprise and Society

The essays are interesting, both for their historical material and for their sometimes surprising revelations about the workings of the films within the cultural context of the United States.

—

Communication Research Trends