America on Film - Sean Griffin

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to make and honor smaller and more thoughtful films on race, gender, class, and sexuality like Moonlight (2016), Lady Bird (2017), and Get Out (2017). While political movements and social attitudes continue to ebb and flow, the authors of this book are cautiously optimistic that the American media industries will continue to diversify, allowing new voices and perspectives to arise and challenge the inherent biases and inequities of American culture.

      This new edition is dedicated to Jayne Fargnoli.

      The origins of this book can be traced back to a class we both taught at Antelope Valley Community College in Lancaster, California, when we were PhD students at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema–Television. We “inherited” the class from Jaime Bihlmeyer when he took another position. Jaime had created his own set of readings for the course, because, as we quickly discovered, there were very few published texts available that covered “diversity in American film” with the historical and theoretical consistency that we desired. Thus, our colleagues and students at Antelope Valley College are the first people we wish to thank.

      Sean Griffin then taught revised versions of this class at California State University at Long Beach, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and Florida Atlantic University, while Harry Benshoff developed individual courses in African American film and lesbian, gay, and queer media. Our colleagues and students throughout those years contributed to this project in myriad ways, and we especially want to thank Shelley Stamp and Michael Cowan at UCSC.

      It was while we were living and working in Santa Cruz that Jayne Fargnoli, our soon‐to‐be editor at Blackwell, asked us what kind of textbooks were needed in film and media studies. We both immediately told her there was a need for a text like America on Film, and a few months later Jayne asked us if we wanted to write the book ourselves. Her support and feedback have been immeasurable, as have those of her assistant, Margot Morse. For the second edition our project manager and copy‐editor, Fiona Sewell, was also extremely helpful in the final stages of the project, as was the book’s production manager, Lisa Eaton.

      We would like to thank our current colleagues, students, and support staff at the University of North Texas and at Southern Methodist University. Harry Benshoff’s research and teaching assistants at UNT have contributed to the project in different ways. We’d also like to thank our anonymous readers and especially Alexander Doty, Peter Lehman, David Lugowski, Jacqueline Foertsch, and Travis Sutton, all of whom read various chapters and offered constructive feedback. We also wish to thank those readers who wrote or spoke to us after the first and second editions were published. Their feedback (and occasional corrections!) continues to matter to us. Much of the new material in this third edition came directly from their suggestions on how to make the book even better.

      This book is dedicated to our families and friends, the people who have taught us and instilled in us the values of diversity, understanding, education, and love – in both our professional and personal lives. Such acts of sharing can lead to greater understanding and compassion across families, across communities, and across the world. We hope this book encourages people to examine and understand the biases and shaping discourses of contemporary American culture, so that the future may not just promise but also deliver the goal of equality for all Americans, regardless of race, class, gender, sexuality, or ability.

      America on Film is a textbook designed to introduce undergraduate students to issues of diversity within American film. It is the first synthetic and historical text of its kind, and provides a comprehensive overview of the industrial, sociocultural, and aesthetic factors that have shaped and continue to shape cinematic representations of race, class, gender, sexuality, and physical ability. The book aims to chronicle the cinematic history of various cultural groups, stimulate discussion of human difference, examine forces and institutions of bias, and ultimately provoke thought about the relationship between film and American national culture.

      This textbook can be used in a variety of classroom settings and at a variety of educational levels. Primarily, it is suited for a class on media culture and diversity issues, although we have also used it as a supplemental text in basic “Introduction to Film Studies” and “American Film History” classes. The book could also be used for courses in twentieth‐century American history, cultural and American studies, and courses devoted to specific topics surrounding race, class, gender, sexuality, and/or ability. In addition, courses in the sociology and/or psychology of human difference may also find the book useful.

      The text was written with first and second year undergraduate students in mind, but would also be appropriate for advanced high school or college‐prep students. The book can also be used in higher‐level undergraduate or graduate student seminars, although such classes would ideally use America on Film in conjunction with more advanced materials and/or other primary readings. Because of its user‐friendly style and general accessibility – everyone loves movies! – it may also be possible to use the text within certain types of corporate or social seminars designed to stimulate discussion of human diversity.

      The book is comprised of a total of 16 chapters. While this number slightly exceeds the typical number of weeks in a semester‐long course of study, the text has been designed to adapt to those parameters. Generally, each week of any given semester can be devoted to a single chapter of America on Film and a representative film screening, either shown in class or assigned as homework. (Many of the films suggested within the text for further screening are easily available from media libraries, streaming services, or other commercial media outlets.) Depending on the preferences of the instructor, additional readings and/or screenings can be used in conjunction with America on Film. Chapters may also be assigned on a more concentrated basis or even used “out of order,” although we have provided a logical and easy‐to‐follow structure for the issues discussed.

      Each chapter of America on Film is organized within a broad historical framework, with specific theoretical concepts – including film genre, auteur theory, cultural studies, Orientalism, the “male gaze,” feminism, queer theory, etc. – integrated throughout. Each chapter features a concise and accessible overview of the topic at hand, a discussion of representative films, figures, and movements, a case study of a single film, and key terms highlighted in bold. Each chapter concludes with questions for discussion and a short bibliography and filmography. America on Film also contains a glossary of

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