Hollywood's overseas campaign
Subtitle: the North Atlantic movie trade, 1920-1950
By: Ian Jarvie.
Series: Cambridge studies in the history of mass communications
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1992
Place of publication: Cambridge [England]; New York, NY, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 473
Subjects: Motion pictures, American -- Marketing; Motion picture industry -- United States -- History; Motion pictures -- Canada; Motion pictures -- Great Britain; Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- History
Description: Hollywood's Overseas Campaign: The North Atlantic Movie Trade, 1920-1950 examines how Hollywood movies became one of the most successful U.S. exports, a phenomenon that began during World War I. Focusing on Canada, the market closest to the United States, on Great Britain, the biggest market, and on the U.S. movie industry itself, Ian Jarvie documents how fear of this mass medium's impact and covetousness toward its profits motivated many nations to resist the cultural invasion and economic drain that Hollywood movies represented.

The national sentiments used to justify resistance to Hollywood imports are shown to be essentially disingenuous, in that they were motivated by special-interest groups who felt their power threatened by U.S. movies or considered themselves entitled to some of the profits. The efforts of various Canadian and British interest groups to limit film imports and foster domestic production failed because of lack of capital, mismanaged propaganda campaigns, and audience resistance. Indeed, as Ian Jarvie argues, Hollywood's ability to exploit their weaknesses derived, to a great extent, from its mastery of supply, distribution, and the coherent orchestration of the component parts of the industry through the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America.
Notes: Filmography: p. 443-449.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 433-442) and indexes.