American Film and Movies from the 1950’s to Present Essay -- Movie Fil

the Statesn Film and moving-picture shows from the 1950s to PresentToday, American film is among the some internationally supported commodities. Financially, its contributions are enormous the industry is responsible for the circulation of billions of dollars each year. Since its explosion into the new media markets during the mid-twentieth century, film has produced consistently growing numbers of viewers and critics alike. Sparking line of reasoning over the nature of its viewing, film is now being questioned in social, political, and moral arenas for its potential impact on an audience. Critics claim that watching films is a passive legal action in which the viewer becomes subconsciously absorbed, and creates a reliance or addiction to the medium, and thus can be influenced by any perpetual concepts or images. Advocates, however, vie that viewing such programs is an active process in which audience members are able to choose to what they are exposed, and interpret messages ba sed on their individual take and background. Perhaps both views are too extreme. Film from the 1950s to present, as will be explored in this essay, is an extremely useful medium, often underestimated within the score of entertainment unfortunately, it may be partially responsible for current socio-cultural problems, too. The critical question, then, is whether film has fostered the progress of a more open-minded America, or rather hindered its outgrowth through the perpetuation of antiquated concepts of stereotypes, densensitized violence and breeding of normalcy.Whether or not a nave approach to film as an inclusive medium holds true up to fact, however, is questionable. Since its popular arrival in American culture during the 1930s, film has sparked controversy over ... ...es, Francis, ed. Washington Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. Jowett, Garth. A Significant Medium, in Movie Censorship and American Culture. Couvares, Francis, ed. Washington Smithsonian Institution Pres s, 1996. Lyons, Charles, The Paradox of Protest, in Movie Censorship and American Culture. Couvares, Francis, ed. Washington Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. Ross, Steven T., ed. Movies and American Society. Oxford Blackwell Publishers, 2002. Wasser, Frederick. Is Hollywood America?, in Movies and American Society. Ross, Steven T., ed. Oxford Blackwell Publishers, 2002. Slocum, J. David, ed. Violence and American Cinema. New York Routledge, 2001. Rotham, William. Violence and Film, in Violence and American Cinema. Slocum, J. David, ed. Routledge, 2001. Turner, Graeme. Film As Social Practice. New York Routledge, 1999.