Is Hollywood the custodian of our cultural unconscious?
 
"Custodian" may assume a tad more influence than is due but obviously
Hollywood shapes our collective psyche. Example: popular and self-image of
women...but don't get me started!
 
 
 
On Fri, 14 Mar 1997, JULIANN E JENKINS wrote:
 
> On Fri, 14 Mar 1997 09:15:46 -0600 "Steven Mintz, U. Houston"
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Inspired in part by our on-going discussion
> "why students hate
> > westerns," I have reread Richard Slotkin's three-part
>    > study of the creation, dissemination, and functions of the American
> > myth of the frontier from the 17th century to the 1980s.
> > Slotkin presents a provocative analysis of the nature of myth in
> > modern society, and Hollywood's role in defining and spreading
> > these myths. I would be very interested in your comments
> > and reactions.
> >
> > If I might simplify his intricate argument, myths, in his view,
> > carry a heavy charge of symbolic meaning and resonance.
> > While rooted in historical "realities," myths outlive the material
> > conditions that produce them and serve as primary organizing principles
> > of our historical memory. Over time and through constant repetition,
> > these myths become part of our common language and serve as deeply
> > encoded and powerfully evocative sets of metaphors, which both define a
> > sitation and prescribe our response to it. As examples, he cites
> > the 17th century Indian captivity as a model for the Iranian hostage crisis
> > and Custer's "Last Stand" as a model for early U.S. defeats in World War II.
> >
> > In modern society, he argues, the process of mythmaking is the
> > commercial product of a cultural industry. And while such myths
> > arise from a process of natural selection, in which producers and
> > consumers interact, commercial popular culture tends to present
> > the mythology of certain identifiable communities of cultural producers,
> > and thus reflects the folklore of the movie industry, journalists,
> > hack writers, and so forth. Thus rather than reflecting the "national
> > mind," myths tell us a great deal about the assumptions and ideology
> > of certain influential groups.
> >
> > Implicit in the frontier ideology, he argues, are certain assumptions
> > about a unified "us" versus a savage "them"; the necessary
> > costs of progress; and the idea that violence can serve a purifying,
> > even regenerating function.  Myths, he emphasizes, are elastic (for example,
> > one can evoke the figure of Jesse James in a populist attack on powerful
> > economic interests), but for all their flexibility, myths are also
>  ideological.
> > Thus in the case of the frontier myth, Slotkin argues that it helped serve
> > in complex ways to rationalize the processes of capitalist development.
> >
> > I'd be interested in your thoughts.  Is Hollywood in some sense the
> > custodian of our "collective cultural unconscious"? Can one speak of
> > a way that it uses myth to disseminate a distinctive ideology?
> >
> > Steve Mintz
>
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Irene C. Upshur, Director
Instructional Media Center
Marymount University
2807 N. Glebe Rd.
Arlington, Virginia 22207
 
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