The United States Supreme Court placed the major Hollywood studios in violation of antitrust laws in 1948, leading to the end of the classical Hollywood studio system of the 1930s and 1940s. Subsequent changes in the corporate organization and mode of production of the major studios signaled the end of the traditional B-movie as a product of block-booking policies. / B-movies became a distinctly different entity in the 1950s, however. From the institutional effects of the antitrust ruling, to changing audience demographics, the emergent patterns in production, distribution and exhibition had a profound effect on the evolution of the B-movie from its origins in the early 1930s to its new role in the cinematic marketplace of the 1950s. Increasingly the result of newly formed independent companies, B-movies innovated such industrial components as new genre cycles and demographic patterns. / This dissertation takes a political economy approach to examining the B-movie in the 1950s as an economic product, with a specific emphasis on independent filmmaking. The implication for film studies lies in answering questions about the unique nature of the B-movie filmmaking process: how is the mode of production of a B-movie different from that of mainstream Hollywood filmmaking? How does the low-budget nature of independent cinema determine its mode of production? How is a B-movie limited and/or defined by the low budget nature of its mode of production, and how does this affect the film's aesthetics? How do B-movies function in, and what is their value to, the film marketplace? Changes in film production, distribution and exhibition will be examined, as will patterns in film spectatorship in relation to the changing institutional landscape of the film industry in the 1950s. / The B-movie was a volatile entity during the 1950s, with both major and minor studios questioning the economic viability of low-budget production. B-movies existed in opposition to the cinematic mainstream in the 1950s, a legacy that was passed on to independent filmmakers of subsequent decades. Analyzing the mode of production of these B-movies is essential in understanding their aesthetics, as well as their historical role in the film industry.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.102798 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Davis, Blair. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Art History and Communication Studies.) |
| Rights | © Blair Davis, 2007 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002594478, proquestno: AAINR32170, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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