Hollywood S Canada

An examination of Canada's state policies as they affected the production of Canadian feature films from WWI to the present. Magder (director of the Mass Communication Program at York U.) focuses on the interplay between government policy and the dynamics of the industry, and undertakes an examination of cultural dependency in Canada. Paper edition (unseen), $22.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

British Columbia’s billion-dollar film industry trails behind only those of California and New York. This book recounts the story of British Columbia’s rapid rise from relative obscurity in the film world to its current status as " Hollywood North." Gasher positions the industry as a model for commercial film production in the twenty-first century -- one strongly shaped by a perception of cinema as a medium, not of culture, but of regional industrial development. He addresses the specific economic and geographic factors that contribute to the province’s success, such as the low Canadian dollar and BC’s proximity to Los Angeles. Hollywood North is an important book that brings into focus the tension between globalization and localization in the film industry.

"The development of the feature film industry in Canada has been uncertain and difficult, with problems usually attributed to the country's small population and US domination of the movie industry. Ted Magder goes beyond these obvious influences in his examination of Canada's state policies as they affected the production of Canadian feature films from the First World War to the present. He presents a study focusing on the interplay between government policy and the dynamics of the industry, and undertakes an examination of cultural dependency in Canada. State policies, Magder points out, are related to domestic forces that impinge upon and set limits to policy decisions and their implementation." "In the immediate postwar period, the tone for much of Canada's cultural policies was set by the National Film Board and the recommendations of the Massey Commission. Members of both organizations expressed distaste for films designed to entertain and deemed feature filmmaking unworthy of support. A change of heart took place in the watershed year of 1967 with the passing of the Canadian Film Development Corporation Act, when Canadians finally entered the business of feature film production. Magder considers how this came to pass, what had changed within the industry itself to make feature film production viable, and why the state changed its position from one of neglect to one of support. In the last five chapters, he examines the contradictions and limitations that have bedevilled Canadian feature film production over the last two decades." "In his conclusion, Magder proposes that both the notion of cultural dependency and the goal of public support for cultural production to express national identity need to be re-examined."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The figure of the vampire serves as both object and mode of analysis for more than a century of Hollywood filmmaking. Never dying, shifting shape and moving at unnatural speed, as the vampire renews itself by drinking victims' blood, so too does Hollywood renew itself by consuming foreign styles and talent, moving to overseas locations, and proliferating in new guises. In Vampires, Race, and Transnational Hollywoods, Dale Hudson explores the movement of transnational Hollywood's vampires, between low-budget quickies and high-budget franchises, as it appropriates visual styles from German, Mexican and Hong Kong cinemas and off-shores to Canada, Philippines, and South Africa. As the vampire's popularity has swelled, vampire film and television has engaged with changing discourses around race and identity not always addressed in realist modes. Here, teen vampires comfort misunderstood youth, chador-wearing skateboarder vampires promote transnational feminism, African American and Mexican American vampires recover their repressed histories. Looking at contemporary hits like True Blood, Twilight, Underworld and The Strain, classics such as Universal's Dracula and Dracula, and miscegenation melodramas like The Cheat and The Sheik, the book reconfigures Hollywood historiography and tradition as fundamentally transnational, offering fresh interpretations of vampire media as trans-genre sites for political contestation.

"You'll like Louis Mayer," Mary Pickford told Charles Foster in 1943. "He is from Canada, too." As Foster was soon to discover, Mayer was not alone: a great many of those who helped shape Hollywood into the movie capital of the world were Canadian. Stardust and Shadows brings together the stories of 18 Canadians who were celebrities during Hollywood's formative years. Most of those profiled were known to Foster, and stories they told him about Hollywood's early days, enhanced by many years of research and interviews with other living performers and directors from the silent movie era, reveal a never-before-seen look at what the movie industry was really like in those early days. This is Canadian history that has never been told, and many of the startling stories and secrets of Hollywood's past are revealed here for the first time. Celebrities profiled: May Irwin, Al and Charles Christie, Joe and Sam De Grasse, Marie Dressler, Allan Dwan, Florence La Badie, Florence Lawrence, Del Lord, Louis B. Mayer, Sidney Olcott, Jack Pickford, Mary Pickford, Marie Prevost, Mack Sennett, Douglas Shearer, Norma Shearer.

"You'll like Louis Mayer,'''' Mary Pickford told Charles Foster in 1943. ''''He is from Canada, too.'''' As Foster was soon to discover, Mayer was not alone: a great many of those who helped shape Hollywood into the movie capital of the world were Canadian.Stardust and Shadows brings together the stories of 18 Canadians who were celebrities during Hollywood's formative years. Most of those profiled were known to Foster, and stories they told him about Hollywood's early days, enhanced by many years of research and interviews with other living performers and directors from the silent movie era, reveal a never-before-seen look at what the movie industry was really like in those early days.This is Canadian history that has never been told, and many of the startling stories and secrets of Hollywood's past are revealed here for the first time.Celebrities profiled:May Irwin, Al and Charles Christie, Joe and Sam De Grasse, Marie Dressler, Allan Dwan, Florence La Badie, Florence Lawrence, Del Lord, Louis B. Mayer, Sidney Olcott, Jack Pickford, Mary Pickford, Marie Prevost, Mack Sennett, Douglas Shearer, Norma Shearer."

Canada has contributed some of the most recognizable names and faces to the marquees of Hollywood. Here is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at their humble beginnings, discovery, successes and failures: bull; Jim Carrey, the man with the elastic face, w