AHSS*1070 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Oscar Micheaux, Mccarthyism, Social Alienation
Week 9: Film and Ideology
-This chapter broadens the scope for analysis by considering how films can be studied as the
products of social and cultural environments, and thus can be more fully understood in relation
to other cultural documents and practices.
-Film critics who use ideological approach believe films are structured and patterned according
to ideologies (beliefs about the world)
-Ideologies contained in films may not be explicit, but have capacity to influence thoughts +
behavior
-Ideologies provide philosophical threads that weave community together, guiding the actions of
individuals, groups, entire societies
-Can also serve as psychological and emotional justification for differential treatment of some
within society, promoting social dominance of one group over another
Ideology and Film Analysis
-Film scholars and critics locate underlying ideological assumptions within narrative, visual style,
or sound of film or group of films
-Scholars investigate way films employ stereotypes
-Some scholars and critics argue that ideological analysis of film is critical, given Hollywood’s
global influence
Institutional Enforcement of Ideology: The Production Code and the Anti-Communist Witch Hunts
-Hollywood self-censorship systems from 1934 - present day used to comply with social and
moral standards
-maintained what were perceived to be United States’ normative ideologies
-Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), Catholic League of Decency,
Motion Picture Association of America, (MPAA)
-implicit in preamble of original Production Code is assumption that any images outside of
dominant
-value system could have negative impact on audiences
-Intersection of history, political ideology, & cinema led to investigation of Hollywood film
industry by U.S. Congress’s House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), between 1947-
1954
-Members of film community called on to testify before committee and to provide names of
acquaintances and co-workers whom they believed to have been Communist sympathizers
-Ten Hollywood writers and directors refused to answer questions about themselves or friends
and co-workers, citing First Amendment
-committee charged those ten individuals known as Hollywood Ten and sentenced to six
months to a year in prison
-Group of ultimately 300 individuals whose careers and lives were interrupted or ruined became
known as Hollywood blacklist
-historians described this as witch hunt because only way to clear one’s name
was to sully reputation of friend or colleague
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
This chapter broadens the scope for analysis by considering how films can be studied as the products of social and cultural environments, and thus can be more fully understood in relation to other cultural documents and practices. Film critics who use ideological approach believe films are structured and patterned according to ideologies (beliefs about the world) Ideologies contained in films may not be explicit, but have capacity to influence thoughts + behavior. Ideologies provide philosophical threads that weave community together, guiding the actions of individuals, groups, entire societies. Can also serve as psychological and emotional justification for differential treatment of some within society, promoting social dominance of one group over another. Film scholars and critics locate underlying ideological assumptions within narrative, visual style, or sound of film or group of films. Some scholars and critics argue that ideological analysis of film is critical, given hollywood"s global influence. Institutional enforcement of ideology: the production code and the anti-communist witch hunts.
