Social Life in the Movies

How Hollywood Imagines War, Schools, Romance, Aging, and Social Inequality

Add to my list

by James J. Dowd

Type

Studies

Subject

Sociology

Keywords

sociology, ideology

Publishing date

2020

Publisher

Routledge

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 196 pages
6 ¼ x 9 ½ inches (16 x 24 cm)

ISBN

978-0-367-27716-1

User Ratings

(0 vote)

X

Average rating:

0	rating	= We can do without
0	rating	= Good book
0	rating	= Excellent book
0	rating	= Unique / a reference

Your rating: -

Book Presentation:
Through an analysis of hundreds of Hollywood movies, this book examines some of the most contentious social issues of our time, including racism, social inequality, sexism, and gerontophobia. With studies of some of the most enduring film genres in Hollywood’s history, including romantic films such as Casablanca, war movies from World War II through the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, alienation films, including Five Easy Pieces and Lost in Translation, the school movie, from Goodbye, Mr. Chips to other films set in academia, including Dead Poets Society and Dangerous Minds, the book outlines and demonstrates the sociological approach to viewing films and highlights the socially conservative nature of much Hollywood movie production, which draws on common stereotypes and reinforces dominant cultural values - but is also capable of challenging and serving to change them.

About the Author:
James J. Dowd is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology at the University of Georgia, USA. He is the author of Stratification Among the Aged and the co-author of The Primary Group: Its Rediscovery in Contemporary Sociology.

See the publisher website: Routledge