Winner - 2022 Richard Wall Memorial Award, Theatre Library Association
Beginning in the 1920s, audiences around the globe were seduced not only by Hollywood films but also by lavish movie theaters that were owned and operated by the major American film companies. These theaters aimed to provide a quintessentially “American” experience. Outfitted with American technology and accoutrements, they allowed local audiences to watch American films in an American-owned cinema in a distinctly American way.
In a history that stretches from Buenos Aires and Tokyo to Johannesburg and Cairo, Ross Melnick considers these movie houses as cultural embassies. He examines how the exhibition of Hollywood films became a constant flow of political and consumerist messaging, selling American ideas, products, and power, especially during fractious eras. Melnick demonstrates that while Hollywood’s marketing of luxury and consumption often struck a chord with local audiences, it was also frequently tone-deaf to new social, cultural, racial, and political movements. He argues that the story of Hollywood’s global cinemas is not a simple narrative of cultural and industrial indoctrination and colonization. Instead, it is one of negotiation, booms and busts, successes and failures, adoptions and rejections, and a precursor to later conflicts over the spread of American consumer culture. A truly global account, Hollywood’s Embassies shows how the entanglement of worldwide movie theaters with American empire offers a new way of understanding film history and the history of U.S. soft power.
"This is nothing short of a sterling book, an assiduously researched compendium of notable facts and compelling anecdotes culled from public archives, personal memorabilia collections, and old-time newspaper morgues all over the map." - Cineaste
"The political and cultural repercussions of this exhibition strategy for both Hollywood and the national film industries “invaded” by these foreign-owned movie theaters are explored in great detail by Ross Melnick in his new book, Hollywood’s Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected American Power around the World." - Film Quarterly
"If there’s anyone who still holds the view that entertainment, art and politics are separate realms, Ross Melnick’s exhaustively researched book should set them straight." - The Sydney Morning Herald
"This volume is highly recommended for those interested in film studies, theater architecture, global affairs and American Studies and it may easily become a standard title on the reception of American films abroad." - Popcultureshelf.com
"Hollywood's Embassies offers a unique history of movie theaters “as cultural embassies.” The scale of research and insight here is staggering." - The Film Stage
"Melnick's book is a masterful achievement." - Business History Review
"A fascinating book." - The Spectator
"An essential volume that provides significant access for readers to the histories that lurk behind the marquees and that uncovers the critical challenges that lie ahead as both empires navigate the waters of pandemics and trade wars." - New Review of Film and Television Studies
"A valuable entry in media studies as much as a thoughtful historization of business practices with a determined commitment to exploring multilingual archives, extracting and deciphering them for both experts and Hollywood enthusiasts alike." - International Journal of Communication
"The book is easily adaptable for teaching in a variety of classes both due to its geographically determined chapter structure and elegant and accessible prose. Hollywood’s Embassies is full of treasures and is a monumental addition to the field." - Journal of Cinema and Media Studies
"[An] absolute must-read." - The Strategist
"Skillfully woven together to offer a foundational industrial history of Hollywood’s majors and the many locales in which they operated shop window cinemas and nationwide or regional circuits." - Media Industries
"Hollywood’s Embassies is not only a fantastic insight into the study of global cinematic exhibition and its
relationship to American imperialism, but is required reading for those interested in the classical Hollywood studio system and reception studies." - Film Matters
"Though we may not know what will happen to theaters and exhibition in the future, Melnick’s work outlines the power that Hollywood studios had and still have, even as they navigate stormy seas." - Film Journal
"Its unsurpassable global scope [makes] this book a major piece of international history and as such a marvelous addition to our understanding of Hollywood’s global impact." - Technology and Culture
Формат: Скан PDf
Beginning in the 1920s, audiences around the globe were seduced not only by Hollywood films but also by lavish movie theaters that were owned and operated by the major American film companies. These theaters aimed to provide a quintessentially “American” experience. Outfitted with American technology and accoutrements, they allowed local audiences to watch American films in an American-owned cinema in a distinctly American way.
In a history that stretches from Buenos Aires and Tokyo to Johannesburg and Cairo, Ross Melnick considers these movie houses as cultural embassies. He examines how the exhibition of Hollywood films became a constant flow of political and consumerist messaging, selling American ideas, products, and power, especially during fractious eras. Melnick demonstrates that while Hollywood’s marketing of luxury and consumption often struck a chord with local audiences, it was also frequently tone-deaf to new social, cultural, racial, and political movements. He argues that the story of Hollywood’s global cinemas is not a simple narrative of cultural and industrial indoctrination and colonization. Instead, it is one of negotiation, booms and busts, successes and failures, adoptions and rejections, and a precursor to later conflicts over the spread of American consumer culture. A truly global account, Hollywood’s Embassies shows how the entanglement of worldwide movie theaters with American empire offers a new way of understanding film history and the history of U.S. soft power.
"This is nothing short of a sterling book, an assiduously researched compendium of notable facts and compelling anecdotes culled from public archives, personal memorabilia collections, and old-time newspaper morgues all over the map." - Cineaste
"The political and cultural repercussions of this exhibition strategy for both Hollywood and the national film industries “invaded” by these foreign-owned movie theaters are explored in great detail by Ross Melnick in his new book, Hollywood’s Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected American Power around the World." - Film Quarterly
"If there’s anyone who still holds the view that entertainment, art and politics are separate realms, Ross Melnick’s exhaustively researched book should set them straight." - The Sydney Morning Herald
"This volume is highly recommended for those interested in film studies, theater architecture, global affairs and American Studies and it may easily become a standard title on the reception of American films abroad." - Popcultureshelf.com
"Hollywood's Embassies offers a unique history of movie theaters “as cultural embassies.” The scale of research and insight here is staggering." - The Film Stage
"Melnick's book is a masterful achievement." - Business History Review
"A fascinating book." - The Spectator
"An essential volume that provides significant access for readers to the histories that lurk behind the marquees and that uncovers the critical challenges that lie ahead as both empires navigate the waters of pandemics and trade wars." - New Review of Film and Television Studies
"A valuable entry in media studies as much as a thoughtful historization of business practices with a determined commitment to exploring multilingual archives, extracting and deciphering them for both experts and Hollywood enthusiasts alike." - International Journal of Communication
"The book is easily adaptable for teaching in a variety of classes both due to its geographically determined chapter structure and elegant and accessible prose. Hollywood’s Embassies is full of treasures and is a monumental addition to the field." - Journal of Cinema and Media Studies
"[An] absolute must-read." - The Strategist
"Skillfully woven together to offer a foundational industrial history of Hollywood’s majors and the many locales in which they operated shop window cinemas and nationwide or regional circuits." - Media Industries
"Hollywood’s Embassies is not only a fantastic insight into the study of global cinematic exhibition and its
relationship to American imperialism, but is required reading for those interested in the classical Hollywood studio system and reception studies." - Film Matters
"Though we may not know what will happen to theaters and exhibition in the future, Melnick’s work outlines the power that Hollywood studios had and still have, even as they navigate stormy seas." - Film Journal
"Its unsurpassable global scope [makes] this book a major piece of international history and as such a marvelous addition to our understanding of Hollywood’s global impact." - Technology and Culture
Формат: Скан PDf
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