The history of Hollywood

In "History of Hollywood: 1895-1960's," the author discusses the history of Hollywood cinema and the dawn of film making. Beginning at the end of the nineteenth century, the year that inventor Louis Lumiere gave the world the first motion picture camera, the author discusses each of the decades in Hollywood history that had the most impact on film making, from the end of silent movies to the creation of the major motion studios such as 20th Century Fox and Paramount. Though the article is a brief one, it certainly does a good job of mapping the progression of Hollywood cinema from the very beginning.

In regards to the 60's, this article summarizes the decade as owing to Hollywood's bias toward more "melodramatic, sentimental, celebrated inspirational religious and spiritual," movies. Naturally, this over-the-top style of movies lends itself naturally to movies that are highly unrealistic and have little truth to them. This idea is certainly enforced by the advent of science fiction movies, such as 2001: a Space Odyssey, which became popular in the 60's. Given the advent of such styles of film, when compared to the silent, simple types of movies that were so popular in earlier decades, many people viewed the movies of the 60's as ridiculous and absurd. It is this absurdness that Bob Dylan expressed his anger against when he accused Hollywood of being fake and silly in his interviews.

"History of Hollywood: 1895-1960's."library.thinkquest.org. Thinkquest, n.d. Web. 31 Oct 2010.

The Cinema of Martin Scorsese

This article is based on Martin Scorsese. According the the article Scorsese has, "recognized status as the forefront of post-classical Hollywood." It goes on to talk a bit about Scorsese's youth claiming that it is cause for the, "tormented male protagonists at the center of his films." Although Scorsese is known as a groundbreaker for post-classical Hollywood films, his work is also deeply rooted in classical Hollywood. The article claims that there is the presence of themes such as, "guilt and redemption, loneliness, sexual frustration and the quest for celebrity." These themes sound very characteristic of the late 1960's early 1970's. The article also compares Scorsese's work with that of Joyce, Fitzgerald, Conrad, Milton, and Shakespeare. Scorsese's work is known to, "transport us to physical and emotional places we might never otherwise choose to visit." This is definately representative of Scorsese's move from classical to post-classical. Studying Scorsese's work definately helps understand what post-classical Hollywood consisted of in reality.

Potter, James C. "The Cinema of Martin Scorsese." Historical Journal of Film,
Radio and Television 19.2 (1999): 272+. Academic OneFile. Web. 29 Oct. 2010.

Repeating Style in Hollywood: 1960 to present

In an article titled "Hollywood Needs New Blood: Where are the Revolutionaries?", internet commentator Rob Young discusses the various similarities between the production methods of Hollywood in previous decades and present-day producers. In an attempt to dispel the idea that the plots of movies today are more "stale" than they used to be, Young describes the various recurring ideas in each decade's production values, such as using "safe" plot lines and recycled ideas, to explain how complaints regarding the superiority of older movies is unfounded. Of special importance is his explanation of the forces behind the 60's, where he believes that the growing TV industry forced producers to stick to the tried-and-true styles that had gotten them through the previous decade in order to retain their enormous profits.

The idea that movies of the 60's were plagued by the same problems of those that appear today is fascinating for a few reasons. Most importantly, it coincides perfectly with bob Dylan's own complaints of Hollywood and his vision of it as a place with fake actors and shallow ideals, as discussed in his interviews. Furthermore, drawing parallels between the Hollywoods of the past and present allows us to understand the past through a modern perspective, which is incredibly helpful in understanding what the Hollywood of the 60's was like.

(source:http://www.justpressplay.net/movies/movie-news/6785-hollywood-needs-new-blood-where-are-the-revolutionaries.html)

Bill Flanagan interview of Bob Dylan

In 2009, MTV producer Bill Flanagan sat down with Bob Dylan to discuss several topics pertaining to his 33rd album, Together Through Life. Flanagan pressed Dylan on a number of topics, including his opinions on The Rolling Stones, Hollywood actors, and Hitler's Germany. In his typical interview fashion, Dylan offered cryptic answers to all the questions asked, leaving Flanagan a bit off guard.

The most valuable information in this interview is Bob Dylan's opinions on the differences between acting and performing. Initially, Dylan explains to Flanagan how his performances are "me who's singing that, plain and simple," totally different from actors who "will say 'my character this' and 'my character that.' It's like beating a dead horse." He goes on to explain how this act is not even sincere to him, since Alec Guiness' portrayal of Hitler to him still means "he's not Hitler. And neither is anybody else. Hitler was Hitler." These comments By Dylan give us an excellent insight into Dylan's impressions of Hollywood acting, an integral part of understanding the relationship between the two entities.

Hollywood fashions of the 1960's

The 1960's was a huge move for Hollywoods fashions. The women went from wearing one pieces to bikini's and skirts above their knees which later became known as the mini skirt. "They threw away or publicly burned their bras opposing the restrictive rule’s governing a woman’s appearance." A night time tuxedo was made for women. Andre Courreges developed go-go boots. At this time women started wearing head scarves, false eye lashes and thick eye liner. Hollywood changed fashion all over America at this time.

http://www.uhollywood.com/1960s-style-fashion-ideas/

Civil Rights in Hollywood

The Civil Rights movement ofthe 60's proved to be equally relative to hollywood as it was everywhere else in America. In earlier decades, blacks were mostly cast as degrading roles, such as servants and criminals. This created an issue for black actors attempting to gain larger roles, since this mindset essentially cypecast every black actor in hollywood as a submissive role. Furthermore, this action was criticized as incredibly racist by civil rights leaders.

Due to criticism, Hollywood began to give larger roles to black actors. In order to appease the public, roles originally written for whites would be reassigned to blacks. However, in doing this, new problems have arisen in hollywood for blacks. Though they recieved roles intended for whites, black actors often recieved roles which involved being the victim of violence or roles with little screentime. Many people critique this new form of discrimination in Hollywood, which is only now beginning to be resolved.

(source:http://www.spectacle.org/1295/blacks.html)

The "New" Hollywood

This article begins with claiming that the 1960's was a time in Hollywood of style and innoviation. As the decade continued, however, Hollywood's films became very "anti-establishment" and directed at the youth. The article also mentions an interesting fact about the intended audience at this time, "By the early 1960s, an estimated 80 percent of the film-going population was between the ages of 16 and 25". This article should be useful on the project because it does a good job of naming the most important films of this time period and why they were significant. An example is the Graduate which the article claims, "celebrates a youthful rebellion."
The article also presents an interesting point that although the Vietnam war was one of the most controversial issues of the 1960's it was not seen in film until 1970. The article outlines several films that deal with this issue.

Digital History. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. .

Stanley Kubrik

One of the most highly regarded directors spanning several decades, Staney Kubrik was a powerful and versatile director throughout Hollywood history. However, it is important to take special note of his films produced within the 1960's, many of which are his greatest works. During this time, Kubrik produced classics such as Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odysssey, movies whose themes say a lot about the feelings and worries of the time that Bob Dylan was simultaneously referring to in his music.

Dr. Strangelove and 2001 both deserve mention because their plots and themes are a reflection of the 60's itself. While Strangelove is direct in it's response to US/Soviet Union relations, 2001 portrays the feelings of the people more subtly by making major characters such as Hal 9000 into metaphors for various important figures of the decade. These movies relate to people's feelings of doubt and uncertainty towards the government and society, feelings that Dylan was also preaching about in his own music.

(source:http://movies.toptenreviews.com/directors/reviews/d22710.htm)