The Euro-American Cinema

by Peter Lev

Overview

With McDonalds in Moscow and Disneyland in Paris and Tokyo, American popular culture is spreading around the globe. Regional, national, and ethnic cultures are being powerfully affected by competition from American values and American popular forms. This literate and lively study explores the spread of American culture into international cinema as reflected by the collision and partial merger of two important styles of filmmaking: the Hollywood style of stars, genres, and action, and the European art film style of ambiguity, authorial commentary, and borrowings from other arts.

Peter Lev departs from the traditional approach of national cinema histories and discusses some of the blends, overlaps, and hegemonies that are typical of the world film industry of recent years. In Part One, he gives a historical and theoretical overview of what he terms the "Euro-American art film," which is characterized by prominent use of the English language, a European art film director, cast and crew from at least two countries, and a stylistic mixing of European art film and American entertainment.

The second part of Lev’s study examines in detail five examples of the Euro-American art film: Contempt (1963), Blow-Up (1966), The Canterbury Tales (1972), Paris, Texas (1983), and The Last Emperor (1987). These case studies reveal that the European art film has had a strong influence on world cinema and that many Euro-American films are truly cultural blends rather than abject takeovers by Hollywood cinema.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292746787
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	08/01/1993
Series:	Texas Film and Media Studies Series
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Peter Lev is an associate professor of mass communication at Towson State University.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I. History and Theory
  • 1. The Art Film
  • 2. Economic Links
  • 3. The Euro-American Art Film: Definition
  • 4. The Euro-American Art Film: History
  • 5. Cultural Dominance or Cultural Mix
• Part II. Case Studies
  • Introduction
  • 6. Art and Commerce in Contempt
  • 7. Blow-Up, Swinging London, and the Film Generation
  • 8. Pasolini’s The Canterbury Tales: The Estrangement of an English Classic
  • 9. Paris, Texas, an American Dream
  • 10. The Last Emperor: Pleasures and Dangers of the Exotic
  • 11. Final Comments
• Notes
• Filmography: Euro-American Art Films
• Bibliography
• Index