The Rise of the Action Blockbuster PDF

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Lecture notes on The Rise of the Action Blockbuster...

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AMST 360

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The Rise of the Action Blockbuster Blockbuster syndrome of the 1970s o The Godfather (Coppola 1972)  Highest earning film at time of release  In 2007, ranked #2 on AFI Best 100 films o Jaws (Spielberg 1975)  First film to gross over 1 million  Saturated ads on tv  Wide theatrical release  Credited with transformative impact on film industry: film as event o Star Wars (Lucas 1977)  Computerized stop motion technology allows for hundreds of complicated miniature sequences  Advances in technology and editing and special effects  First film recorded and released in six-track Dolby stereo  Merchandizing tie-ins would ultimately make over $1 billion (more than film itself) o “Blockbuster syndrome” of the 1970s  Production cost increase FIVEFOLD  Sky-rocketing promotional expenses come to EXCEED production costs  Production of fewer and fewer films  Massive national publicity campaigns  Saturation booking nationwide opening on hundreds (soon thousands) of screens Action blockbusters of the 1980s o Draw upon Hollywood action-adventure films dating back to silent period o Combine this tradition with special effects- heavy production and promotional strategies of 1970s blockbusters o Emphasis on pre-sold properties (books, comics, tv shows) o Action cinema = dominant Hollywood genre since 1980s Characteristics of action films o Men (and women) with guns/weapons o Explosions o Car chases o Emphasis on physical stunts/action o Rapid pace of editing o State-of-the-art special effects o Emphasis on spectacle (over narrative or character development) o Marginalized heroes fighting against the system/against the odds  Underdog heroes o Destruction of property o Tortured/damages hero

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o Comic banter between antagonists Early cinema/late cinema o Emphasis on spectacle and sensation over narrative and character development o Emphasis on a direct aggressive mode of address o Technology as attraction/emphasis on state-of-the-art special effects Action linked to foundational melodramatic tradition of Hollywood film (Langford 236) Melodrama review: o Combination of action and pathos o Thematic emphasis on suffering viewpoint of the victim o Producing a moral explanatory framework o Broad social or ideological conflicts presented in individual forms o Involves a story that generates sympathy for a hero that is also a victim Hero as agent of thrilling violence/hero as suffering victim Conventional action heroes of the 1980s o Single, loner, male protagonist o Usually a white guy (sometimes paired with a buddy of color) o Appearing regularly in states of undress o Battling forces of institutionalized evil and coming out on top (though not without enduring some torture in the process) Rambo as case study o Dictionary definitions  An exceptionally tough, strong, and uncompromising man, one who is aggressive and violent  Fanatically militant o New film style Rambo help to inaugurate:  Widescreen  Dolby sound  Special-effects driven  Emphasis on physical stunts  Aerial photography  Rapid editing o “remasculinization thesis”  Celebration of traditional masculine virtues  Strength, aggressiveness, singular authority, toughness, decisiveness, resourcefulness, individualism “Hard bodies” of the action cinema Virtue, Victims, and Violence o Melodrama in relation to action cinema...