The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry

Film studies is becoming a more interdisciplinary field every day. Students and scholars are increasingly turning to the ways in which films are made to describe and make sense of the final product. And although this hardly signals the death knell of more traditional, content-based film analysis, The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry is an invaluable resource for those seeking to understand the economics, politics, and impact of film as a global business.

Editors Paul McDonald and Janet Wasko have crafted a collection of essays equaling more than the sum of its parts. Essay collections tend to be compartmentalized affairs, a rough grouping of subject-specific works, each standing alone in a bid to be considered best. McDonald and Wasko have managed to capture a conversation and pass it on to us. A number of the authors included here cite one another, lending the book the kind of unity of purpose usually found in monographs.

Yet the book covers three distinct areas: "The Structure of the Industry," "Industry Dynamics," and "International Territories." The first part takes up half of the book's 305 pages, and with eight essays, it is easily the most comprehensive. Covering the history of conglomeration, the impact of interrelated and sometimes competitive interests of individual corporate holdings on moviemaking, the importance of marketing and distribution, the dubious accounting practices of Hollywood studios, and the financial necessity of cross-promotion and branding, this section is a must-read for anyone interested in film or media studies. The incestuous nature of conglomerate Hollywood is covered particularly well in the last four essays of the section, as each essay deals with a particular ancillary market. Television, video and DVD, video games, and recorded music are all covered in detail, with significant historical context provided in a clear, concise prose overall.

Part 2, "Industry Dynamics," is the shortest section in the book overall, with only four essays. However, these are critical contributions to the book and provide some of the most relevant material for anyone interested in labor relations, star studies, celebrity culture, media power, or cultural imperialism. Susan Christopherson's essay on the relationship between labor and management in the film and television industries, combined with Manjunath Pendakur's essay on Hollywood's international political relationships, is a left–right combination for anyone wishing to bring Gramsci to bear in a study of the film industry.

The third and final section, "International Territories," consists of nine regional and national examinations of Hollywood's impact and importance overseas. John Trumpbour's essay "Hollywood and the World: Export or Die" sets the stage for in-depth analysis of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Argentina, East Asia, India, and Australia/New Zealand. Although some essays merely outline the ways in which a particular country supports the American film industry (McDonald's essay on Britain), a number of others deal with contemporary issues of interest to cultural studies. Nitin Govil's examination of India and John A. Lent's essay on East Asia cover everything from the difficulty of maintaining strict copyright control to the Motion Picture Association of America's forceful creation of a beachhead for American film in places such as Korea and Japan. Although a very interesting part of the book, it is worth mentioning that all of these chapters are significantly shorter than the ones in preceding sections.

This is a strong collection of "beyond the text" essays on the film industry. For those interested in cultural studies, there is a distinct lack of qualitative interpretation and method but plenty of source material for further work. Although a lot of industry history is spread throughout the book, a fair amount is assumed of the reader as well. For graduate students in a media track, this book could serve as a kind of master key for work on the film industry. Those looking for a strict history of the film industry should look elsewhere.