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Midterm 2: Review

Midterm 2 will cover all material since the first midterm, including:

--readings (Sklar, Chapts. 10-14; Schatz, pp. 135-155 (WB) and 359-380 (MGM)

-- films, lecture and discussion on: 42d Street, Footlight Parade, Swingtime, Meet Me in St. Louis

Some of the topics, ideas, and issues this section of the course encompasses include:

--studio style--what defines it? is there a Hollywood (vs. German) expressionism?

--studio production units--how did the unit production system influence each of the musicals we've studied?

--studio genre system--how does it result in the commodification of style, performance and ideas?

--musical film style via Warner Bros., RKO and MGM

-- Zanuck; Thalberg; Selznick-- Similarities/differences in roles played; impact (if any) on the films they were responsible for?

--cultural representation (myths) in Disney, Capra, and the musical

--Hollywood as a cultural force; the culture of Hollywood

--National Recovery Act (NRA)

--collective bargaining

--Hollywood and the war effort