Spectacle and value in classical Hollywood cinema

Brown, T. (2011) Spectacle and value in classical Hollywood cinema. In: Hubner, L. (ed.) Valuing Films: Shifting Perceptions of Worth. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 49-68. ISBN 9780230229686

Abstract/Summary

This is a primarily meta-critical essay and is in direct dialogue with the argument presented in my essay on Gone with the Wind (published in 'Screen'). Here, however, the emphasis is much more on the challenge my definition of spectacle represents for important traditions of film analysis, particularly ‘mise-en-scène criticism’. I argue for the possibility of spectacle to form part of the ‘organic’ whole of a film’s texture and form, while noting the challenge the concept represents (by dint of certain ideological associations and its taint of commercialism) with ‘organicist’ traditions of interpretative film analysis.