Shot in America

Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema

2000
Author:

Chon A. Noriega

Redefines media history through Chicano film and television.

Noriega offers a compelling and detailed description of an enormous body of work by Chicano media makers against the backdrop of Chicano social movements, politics, and activism over a forty-year period—an extraordinary exposition of the civil rights movement, media reform activities, and public affairs programming that constitutes the prehistory of independent and minority cinemas.

This book is an important reorientation of the field, and should serve as an example of the merits of overcoming the traditional isolation of cinema studies from television studies.

Ellen Seiter

One of the most influential figures in ethnic media studies takes direct aim at how Chicano filmmaking has been represented in the history of media in the United States. Shot in America tackles seemingly intractable dilemmas involving the political and market functions of film and TV to provide a definitive response to the debates over cultural and racial identity that have embroiled media and cultural studies over the past two decades.

Noriega offers a compelling and detailed description of an enormous body of work by Chicano media makers against the backdrop of Chicano social movements, politics, and activism over a forty-year period—an extraordinary exposition of the civil rights movement, media reform activities, and public affairs programming that constitutes the prehistory of independent and minority cinemas.

Noriega reveals the ways in which Chicano and other minority protests both emerged within and were regulated by the very institutions that excluded them. Shot in America is a study with broad implications for our understanding of cultural politics and the entertainment industries.

Awards

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title

Chon A. Noriega is associate professor of critical studies in the Department of Film and Television at UCLA and editor ofVisible Nations (May, 2000; see page 26). Noriega is also the editor of Urban Exile: Collected Writings of Harry Gamboa Jr. and Chicanos and Film.

This book is an important reorientation of the field, and should serve as an example of the merits of overcoming the traditional isolation of cinema studies from television studies.

Ellen Seiter

Thoroughly researched and elegantly written, the present case study integrates archival information, interviews, and the author’s own experiences. Engaging for readers in various disciplines and with diverse professional backgrounds.

Choice

This comprehensive study has broad implications for our understanding of cultural politics and the entertainment industries.

Hispanic Outlook

A substantial contribution to the study of Chicano cinema, broadcast policy, and cultural politics in the United States.

Film Quarterly

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

Introduction

one "No Revolutions without Poets" Chicano Poetic Consciousness
two Setting the Stage Social Movements, the State, and Mass Media
three "The Stereotypes Must Die" Social Protest and the Frito Bandito
four Regulating Chico The Irony of Approaching a State-Supported Industry
five Grasping at the Public Airwaves The FCC and the Discourse of Violence
six Training the Activists to Shoot Straight A Political Generation in U.S. Cinema
seven "Our Own Institutions" The Geopolitics of Chicano Professionalism
eight This Is Not a Border From Social Movement to Digital Revolution

Epilogue

Notes
Filmography
Bibliography

Index