Career Movies
American Business and the Success Mystique
Publication Year: 2002
Published by: University of Texas Press
Cover
Title Page, Copyright Page
CONTENTS
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pp. v-
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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pp. vi-
This project was supported by a book initiation grant from Georgia State University and by three summer grants from the Department of Communication at Georgia State. I am also indebted to my wife Pamela, who not only put up with my book-related schedule over the last few years, but was kind enough to read over the manuscript, give ...
INTRODUCTION
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pp. 1-17
The two clips of dialogue above, which are taken from director/co-writer Oliver Stone’s 1987 film, suggest issues that are critical to American career ideology as it has functioned under a capitalist system. In Wall Street, college graduate Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) must choose between the opposing economic viewpoints and character of two paternal ...
CHAPTER 1. THE CLASSICAL CORPORATE EXECUTIVE FILM
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pp. 18-49
The classical corporate executive film is central to business career cinema. It was born in the decade following World War II, and its era ended by 1958. These films were a reflection of new socioeconomic conditions after the war, particularly as these conditions were filtered through popular fiction and drama about big business. Hollywood ...
CHAPTER 2. THE EMERGENCE OF THE CAREER WOMAN
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pp. 50-94
Unlike corporate career films, where men have traditionally dominated on-screen as in real life, there are, since 1944, approximately as many business films about female as about male entrepreneurs. In the last three decades women corporate executive characters have also become increasingly prominent on-screen. Clearly, success in business careers ...
CHAPTER 3. THE ENTREPRENEURIAL IMPULSE
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pp. 95-145
Any consideration of the business and career film would be incomplete without specific attention to the entrepreneur, who plays such a central role in American economic history and ideology. Entrepreneurial business success is what most people have in mind when they conjure an image of the American Dream. This particular avenue of success suggests ...
CHAPTER 4. HUCKSTER FOREPLAY THE PROMOTION INDUSTRY
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pp. 146-198
Having considered the two general categories of corporate versus entrepreneurial enterprise in film, as well as important issues of gender, class, and racial and ethnic identity, I wish to turn in these two closing chapters to films that address the two most significant trends impacting career and life in this age. The first is the promotional dimension of ...
CHAPTER 5. WORKING IN AMERICAN TELEVIRTUALITY
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pp. 199-237
It is the revolution in televisual and other communications technologies that most defines the contemporary age and, in conjunction with the promotion industry, sets the tone of everyday experience in American work and leisure. In addition to the central cultural position of television, both the specific work roles and career tracks of today’s businessperson ...
CONCLUSION
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pp. 238-250
This study of success ideology in the American business career film from 1945 to the present reveals several things. It demonstrates both how little the basic personal quality of individual initiative required for success has been altered over time, and how much the recently technologized business and work environment has changed. Career as a base ...
LIST OF FILM STILLS
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pp. 251-252
NOTES
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pp. 253-274
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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pp. 275-280
INDEX
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pp. 281-292
E-ISBN-13: 9780292796522
E-ISBN-10: 0292796528
Print-ISBN-13: 9780292709119
Print-ISBN-10: 0292709110
Page Count: 300
Illustrations: 30 b&w photos
Publication Year: 2002
