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PETER DECHERNEY. Hollywood and the Cultural Elite: How the Movies Became American. (Film and Culture.) New York: Columbia University Press. 2005. Pp. x, 269. $27.50

2007; Oxford University Press; Volume: 112; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1086/ahr.112.3.873

1937-5239

Saverio Giovacchini,

Cinema and Media Studies

According to Peter Decherney, historians have failed to connect the history of Hollywood with that of American cultural institutions. This is even more striking if we consider that Hollywood is now one of the key representatives of American culture. Decherney's thought-provoking book suggests that it is Hollywood's long involvement with American institutions of higher learning that turned what was a working-class pastime into an industry in synecdochical relation with American culture. The author argues that this collaboration was fruitful for both parties. Hollywood people soon saw that their association with American top universities would legitimate their problematic new medium in the eyes of skeptical Americans. Decherney stresses, however, that Hollywood producers were not just after higher cultural status. Very early on film producers saw the practical advantage of getting American universities to train the industry's increasingly specialized workforce. Thus, in 1915, Jesse Lasky and Adolph Zukor sponsored Columbia University's screenwriting courses. Later on, in 1927, Lasky and other producers tried to involve Harvard's Fogg Art Museum in the creation of an annual film award ceremony and a permanent collection of worthy Hollywood films. Harvard's prestige was appealing, but it was not the only motivation. The move was also meant to extend the exploitation period for high-end movies by making them into “classics” to be appreciated long after their original release. Sketched only months after the Studio Basic Agreement had unionized stagehands, the Harvard accord was also about turning Hollywood filmmakers into artists rather than contract labor, and thus was intended to stave off the unionization of directors, actors, and screenwriters.