Product Description

America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in the Movies is a lively introduction to issues of diversity as represented within the American cinema. The first synthetic and historical text of its kind, America on Film provides a comprehensive overview of the industrial, socio-cultural, and aesthetic factors that contribute to cinematic representations of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The volume chronicles the cinematic history of various cultural groups, examines forces and institutions of bias, and stimulates discussion about the relationship between film and American national culture.

Accessible and user-friendly, America on Film features 101 illustrations, a glossary of key terms, questions for discussion, and lists for further reading and further viewing. The book is organized within a broad historical framework, with specific theoretical concepts – including film genre, auteurism, cultural studies, Orientalism, the "male gaze," feminism, and queer theory – integrated throughout. Each individual chapter features a concise overview of the topic at hand, a discussion of representative films, figures, and movements, and an in-depth analysis of a single film, including The Lion King, The Jazz Singer, Smoke Signals, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Celluloid Closet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #390270 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

Review
"Although referring to race, class, and gender has been commonplace in film studies for some time, remarkably this excellent textbook is the first to give a full, comprehensive account of these important issues. Benshoff and Griffin write in a clear style and illustrate all their major points with case studies of films. Their work is up-to-date and historically informed. A broad range of topics includes heterosexual and queer perspectives, masculinity and femininity, Whiteness, Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos. Highly recommended." Peter Lehman, Arizona State University

"With W. E. B. DuBois’s twentieth-century ‘color line’ now morphing into the twenty-first-century ‘difference line’, America on Film becomes particularly relevant in its comprehensive exploration of the new cinematic horizon. This outstanding volume is necessary and compelling reading for all – from scholar, to student, to movie fan – who want to understand the politics of representation in the age of ‘difference’." Ed Guerrero, New York University

“The authors do a remarkable job at presenting contexts for identifying and tracking the historical constructions of race, gender, class and sexuality.” Scope Journal

From the Back Cover
America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in the Movies is a lively introduction to issues of diversity as represented within the American cinema. The first synthetic and historical text of its kind, America on Film provides a comprehensive overview of the industrial, socio-cultural, and aesthetic factors that contribute to cinematic representations of race, class, gender, and sexuality. The volume chronicles the cinematic history of various cultural groups, examines forces and institutions of bias, and stimulates discussion about the relationship between film and American national culture.

Accessible and user-friendly, America on Film features 101 illustrations, a glossary of key terms, questions for discussion, and lists for further reading and further viewing. The book is organized within a broad historical framework, with specific theoretical concepts – including film genre, auteurism, cultural studies, Orientalism, the “male gaze,” feminism, and queer theory – integrated throughout. Each individual chapter features a concise overview of the topic at hand, a discussion of representative films, figures, and movements, and an in-depth analysis of a single film, including The Lion King, The Jazz Singer, Smoke Signals, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Celluloid Closet.

About the Author
Harry M. Benshoff is Assistant Professor of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of North Texas. He is author of Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film (1997).

Sean Griffin is Assistant Professor of Cinema and Television at Southern Methodist University. He is author of Tinker Bells and Evil Queens: The Walt Disney Company from the Inside Out (2000).

Customer Reviews

Disappointing considering the subject matter.
I would like this book more if the authors had been more thorough. The theories about socio-political trends reflected in cinema are very valid but provided without citation. Although "further reading" suggestions are provided at the end of each chapter, no specific citations are made for any of the statements. As a book aimed towards students, the authors are providing a poor example.

I realize that the book is geared towards introductory level students, but it could have been a much different and frankly more interesting book if it had just gone further and been a little less sloppy. For example, one statement that immediately bothered me was one that was used as the basis throughout the book. "For the working purposes of this introduction, capitalism as an ideology can be defined as the belief that success and worth are measured by one's material wealth." (Introduction, page 9) Why? Who says? Isn't that actually materialism, not capitalism? Definition of materialism by The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: "2. The theory or attitude that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good and highest value in life." Sure, the author is talking about ideology and the tendency of capitalism to promote commodity fetishism. Why not just directly quote Das Kapital by Karl Marx? His model of dominant ideologies (see Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_ideology for a summary) are exactly what the authors use to explore their subject matter and yet they don't SAY that. In "further reading", one book suggested is "Marxism and Literature", so fine, the reader could theoretically gain the same knowledge there, but it's bad academic form to make sweeping statements without any kind of evidence. It also denies the student a richer learning experience and leads to the practice of "parroting" commonly held views without knowing the truth behind them.

And as far as cultural reform goes, it's doing anti-discrimination and equal rights causes a disservice because if they don't provide evidence and sound logic in a scholarly manner, people of opposing viewpoints can discredit their arguments as typical liberal speculation. Thus their very valid criticisms of Hollywood films hold less weight.

This book could have been a major work, had the authors developed it further and used a more academic approach. I guess it's fine as an introductory text, but even so it still should have used a bibliography.

Modern Film industry
I love this book, it offers excellent analysis of the film industry and the importance/social weight and influence that the industry carries. Wonderful source for those interested in Film, Sociology, or any related fields

Everyone and everything is racist!
Essentially, this book just set out to prove that everyone and everything is racist. There was little support for any of the arguments, and a lot of them were just circular arguments, reworded for emphasis. I was unable to sell it back to a bookstore after I completed the course, which only fuels my bitterness towards this book.