THE CLASSICAL HOLLYWOOD CINEMA AND ITS MODIFICATIONS AFTER 1960

Text topic: Philosophy of Media

Text author: Саша Милић

It is widely considered that the Classical Hollywood Cinema as an array of production practices, narrative and stylistic features was formed as early as by 1917, and that it remained relatively stable until the 1960s. What happened after this? The opinions of various film historians and theoreticians are not unanimous. Some talk about ´postclassical´ cinema, while the others claim that the fragmentation of everyday life has found its way to cinema as well, and that the Classical film has desintegrated under the dominance of the spectacle. In this paper we will give account of the basic characteristics of the Classical Hollywood film and explain how it functions while providing several examples, mainly based on the research of David Bordwell. We will see what was crucial for the popularity of this form not only in the US but also throughout the world. Also, we will discuss developments concerning the Classical Hollywood film during the last few decades and present different theoretical approaches, which appeared in this period and attempt to offer our comment of these.