The Golden Age of classical Hollywood cinema (1930-1960) set a new standard for narrative clarity, visual elegance and the higher development of film genres. But, at the turn of the 1960s, American screens saw the emergence of unprecedented pictures. These films, directed by former Hollywood landmark directors such as Joseph L. Mankiewicz or Billy Wilder, as well as up-and-comers like Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma or Martin Scorsese, challenge the recently established traditions. The “New Hollywood” directors engage in morally ambiguous stories while experimenting with the filmic form in unprecedented ways, embracing the documentary style of the French New Wave or the raw quality of Italian Neo-Realism or diving into surreal, dazzling imagery. In this class, we will discuss the transition from one highly celebrated Hollywood era to the other. This discussion will focus both on the transformation of the industry (from highly standardised, studio-helmed ways of making films to the birth of American “auteurs”) and on the social, political and cultural transformations that mirrored, or were mirrored by, the metamorphosis of Hollywood cinema, including the Vietnam War, the emergence of
psychoanalysis in popular culture, and the transformation of gender relationships.
Objectives
This course aims to familiarize students with Hollywood cinema as an art form, as a cultural practice and as an industry.
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