Skip to main content
Taylor & Francis Group Logo
    Advanced Search

    Click here to search products using title name,author name and keywords.

    • Login
    • Hi, User  
      • Your Account
      • Logout
      Advanced Search

      Click here to search products using title name,author name and keywords.

      Breadcrumbs Section. Click here to navigate to respective pages.

      Book

      The Political Economy of Hollywood
      loading

      Book

      The Political Economy of Hollywood

      DOI link for The Political Economy of Hollywood

      The Political Economy of Hollywood book

      Capitalist Power and Cultural Production

      The Political Economy of Hollywood

      DOI link for The Political Economy of Hollywood

      The Political Economy of Hollywood book

      Capitalist Power and Cultural Production
      ByJames McMahon
      Edition 1st Edition
      First Published 2022
      eBook Published 25 February 2022
      Pub. Location London
      Imprint Routledge
      DOI https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003092629
      Pages 288
      eBook ISBN 9781003092629
      Subjects Economics, Finance, Business & Industry, Humanities, Politics & International Relations
      Share
      Share

      Get Citation

      McMahon, J. (2022). The Political Economy of Hollywood: Capitalist Power and Cultural Production (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003092629

      ABSTRACT

      In Hollywood, the goals of art and business are entangled. Directors, writers, actors, and idealistic producers aspire to make the best films possible. These aspirations often interact with the dominant firms that control Hollywood film distribution. This control of distribution is crucial as it enables the firms and other large businesses involved, such as banks that offer financing, to effectively stand between film production and the market. This book analyses the power structure of the Hollywood film business and its general modes of behaviour. More specifically, the work analyses how the largest Hollywood firms attempt to control social creativity such that they can mitigate the financial risks inherent in the art of filmmaking.

      Controlling the ways people make or watch films, the book argues, is a key element of Hollywood’s capitalist power. Capitalist power—the ability to control, modify, and, sometimes, limit social creation through the rights of ownership—is the foundation of capital accumulation. For the Hollywood film business, capitalist power is about the ability of business concerns to set the terms that will shape the future of cinema. For the major film distributors of Hollywood, these terms include the types of films that will be distributed, the number of films that will be distributed, and the cinematic alternatives that will be made available to the individual moviegoer. Combining theoretical analysis with detailed empirical research on the financial performance of the major Hollywood film companies, the book details how Hollywood’s capitalist goals have clashed with the aesthetic potentials of cinema and ultimately stymied creativity in the pursuit of limiting risk.

      This sharp critique of the Hollywood machine provides vital reading for students and scholars of political economy, political theory, film studies, and cinema.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      chapter 1|10 pages

      Introduction

      part |100 pages

      Part I

      chapter 2|37 pages

      The Economics–Politics Separation and Marxism

      chapter 3|22 pages

      Capital and the Study of Mass Culture

      chapter 4|39 pages

      A Power Theory of Mass Culture

      part |141 pages

      Part II

      chapter 5|29 pages

      Applying the Capital-as-Power Approach to Hollywood

      chapter 6|31 pages

      The Risk of Aesthetic Overproduction

      chapter 7|39 pages

      The Rise of a Confident Hollywood

      chapter 8|32 pages

      The Institution of High-Concept Cinema

      chapter 9|8 pages

      Conclusion

      T&F logoTaylor & Francis Group logo
      • Policies
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms & Conditions
        • Cookie Policy
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms & Conditions
        • Cookie Policy
      • Journals
        • Taylor & Francis Online
        • CogentOA
        • Taylor & Francis Online
        • CogentOA
      • Corporate
        • Taylor & Francis Group
        • Taylor & Francis Group
        • Taylor & Francis Group
        • Taylor & Francis Group
      • Help & Contact
        • Students/Researchers
        • Librarians/Institutions
        • Students/Researchers
        • Librarians/Institutions
      • Connect with us

      Connect with us

      Registered in England & Wales No. 3099067
      5 Howick Place | London | SW1P 1WG © 2022 Informa UK Limited