Hollywood Genres

The central thesis of this book is that a genre approach provides the most effective means for understanding, analyzing and appreciating the Hollywood cinema. Taking into account not only the formal and aesthetic aspects of feature filmmaking, but various other cultural aspects as well, the genre approach treats movie production as a dynamic process of exchange between the film...

The central thesis of this book is that a genre approach provides the most effective means for understanding, analyzing and appreciating the Hollywood cinema. Taking into account not only the formal and aesthetic aspects of feature filmmaking, but various other cultural aspects as well, the genre approach treats movie production as a dynamic process of exchange between the film industry and its audience. This process, embodied by the Hollywood studio system, has been sustained primarily through genres, those popular narrative formulas like the Western, musical and gangster film, which have dominated the screen arts throughout this century.

托马斯•沙兹（Thomas Schatz），美国得克萨斯大学传播学教授，主要研究领域为好莱坞电影和制片厂制度；知名电影评论人，文章主要刊登于《纽约时报》、《首映》、《国家》、《电影评论》等处；著有：《繁荣与衰败：1940年代的美国电影》、《体系的特质：制片厂时代的好莱坞电影制作》、《好莱坞电影类型》等；他还参与了多部电影及电视纪录片的创作，如美国公共电视台的纪录片系列《美国电影》等。