ABSTRACT
Historically, within academic film studies, most research has described and celebrated the movies, the individuals on screen or behind the scenes, and the movie industry’s unique status as “show business.” That celebratory approach remains pervasive in film industry studies – indeed, in most media industry studies. Missing are immediate but abstract contexts like corporate structure, oligopolized markets, industrial integration, and trade policies regarding cultural production. Absent is any reference to the dynamics, systems, structurations, and relationships that combine to form the ultimate contexts for the Hollywood film industry: American capitalism and its role in a globalized, capitalist economy. In addition, it provides some background on the academic context of Wasko’s research – critical communications theory and radical political economy – as well as the dominant position in academic research on media industries, which celebrates the “genius of the system.” The essay then argues that Janet Wasko’s unique focus on Hollywood has produced research that is remarkable for its scholarly depth and intellectual breadth. My discussion is rooted in a close rereading of four single-author books and one edited volume: Movies and Money (1982); Hollywood in the Information Age (1995); How Hollywood Works (2003); Understanding Disney (2001); and Dazzled by Disney?: The Global Disney Audiences Project (Wasko, Phillips, and Meehan, 2001).
