Lee Grieveson and Haidee Wasson
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520291508
- eISBN:
- 9780520965263
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520291508.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter, by Lee Grieveson and Haidee Wasson, establishes a framework for studying the American military, a singularly powerful institution, and its relationship to cinema. It first lays out a ...
More
This chapter, by Lee Grieveson and Haidee Wasson, establishes a framework for studying the American military, a singularly powerful institution, and its relationship to cinema. It first lays out a brief history of the American military and its rise to prominence and power, and then situates the enduring use of cinema across the broad remit of the armed forces alongside previous work in this area. Special attention is paid to the economic and industrial developments that have been intertwined with the military historically. This chapter also summarizes the breadth of the military’s use of cinema, ranging from propaganda to training and from war funding to munitions testing. Knowledge about the military’s use of film helps us to understand more about the history of film and its technologies and also the various ways cinema has been implicated in the complex geopolitical dynamics of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.Less
This chapter, by Lee Grieveson and Haidee Wasson, establishes a framework for studying the American military, a singularly powerful institution, and its relationship to cinema. It first lays out a brief history of the American military and its rise to prominence and power, and then situates the enduring use of cinema across the broad remit of the armed forces alongside previous work in this area. Special attention is paid to the economic and industrial developments that have been intertwined with the military historically. This chapter also summarizes the breadth of the military’s use of cinema, ranging from propaganda to training and from war funding to munitions testing. Knowledge about the military’s use of film helps us to understand more about the history of film and its technologies and also the various ways cinema has been implicated in the complex geopolitical dynamics of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
C. Claire Thomson
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474424134
- eISBN:
- 9781474444712
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474424134.003.0002
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter outlines recent scholarly work on film made for purposes other than entertainment: to persuade, instruct and inform. Throughout the history of the moving image, governments, businesses ...
More
This chapter outlines recent scholarly work on film made for purposes other than entertainment: to persuade, instruct and inform. Throughout the history of the moving image, governments, businesses and other interest groups have used film to educate their workers and the public, establishing networks and mechanisms to produce, screen and distribute predominantly short and narrow-gauge films, often on an international scale, and outside the theatrical cinema circuit. Such filmmaking has been termed ‘useful cinema’; this chapter explains how and why scholarly interest in the phenomenon has increased since the late 2000s, discusses the taxonomy of its various sub-genres, and outlines emerging research methodologies. The chapter also situates Danish informational film within this critical and historical framework. A brief outline is provided of the Danish institutions involved in producing and distributing informational cinema from the 1930s to the 1960s, including Dansk Kuturfilm and Ministeriernes Filmudvalg, covering extant scholarship in the field, and the relationship of the commissioned film and the state.Less
This chapter outlines recent scholarly work on film made for purposes other than entertainment: to persuade, instruct and inform. Throughout the history of the moving image, governments, businesses and other interest groups have used film to educate their workers and the public, establishing networks and mechanisms to produce, screen and distribute predominantly short and narrow-gauge films, often on an international scale, and outside the theatrical cinema circuit. Such filmmaking has been termed ‘useful cinema’; this chapter explains how and why scholarly interest in the phenomenon has increased since the late 2000s, discusses the taxonomy of its various sub-genres, and outlines emerging research methodologies. The chapter also situates Danish informational film within this critical and historical framework. A brief outline is provided of the Danish institutions involved in producing and distributing informational cinema from the 1930s to the 1960s, including Dansk Kuturfilm and Ministeriernes Filmudvalg, covering extant scholarship in the field, and the relationship of the commissioned film and the state.
Haidee Wasson and Lee Grieveson (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520291508
- eISBN:
- 9780520965263
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520291508.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Cinema’s Military Industrial Complex examines how the American military has used cinema and related visual, sonic, and mobile technologies to further its varied aims. The essays in this book address ...
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Cinema’s Military Industrial Complex examines how the American military has used cinema and related visual, sonic, and mobile technologies to further its varied aims. The essays in this book address the way cinema was put to work for purposes of training, orientation, record keeping, internal and external communication, propaganda, research and development, tactical analysis, surveillance, physical and mental health, recreation, and morale. The contributors examine the technologies and types of films that were produced and used in collaboration among the military, film industry, and technology manufacturers. The essays also explore the goals of the American state, which deployed the military and its unique modes of filmmaking, film exhibition, and film viewing to various ends. Together, the essays reveal the military’s deep investment in cinema, which began around World War I, expanded during World War II, continued during the Cold War (including wars in Korea and Vietnam), and still continues in the ongoing War on Terror.Less
Cinema’s Military Industrial Complex examines how the American military has used cinema and related visual, sonic, and mobile technologies to further its varied aims. The essays in this book address the way cinema was put to work for purposes of training, orientation, record keeping, internal and external communication, propaganda, research and development, tactical analysis, surveillance, physical and mental health, recreation, and morale. The contributors examine the technologies and types of films that were produced and used in collaboration among the military, film industry, and technology manufacturers. The essays also explore the goals of the American state, which deployed the military and its unique modes of filmmaking, film exhibition, and film viewing to various ends. Together, the essays reveal the military’s deep investment in cinema, which began around World War I, expanded during World War II, continued during the Cold War (including wars in Korea and Vietnam), and still continues in the ongoing War on Terror.
C. Claire Thomson
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474424134
- eISBN:
- 9781474444712
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474424134.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The first book-length study in English of a national corpus of state-sponsored informational film, this book traces how Danish shorts on topics including social welfare, industry, art and ...
More
The first book-length study in English of a national corpus of state-sponsored informational film, this book traces how Danish shorts on topics including social welfare, industry, art and architecture were commissioned, funded, produced and reviewed from the inter-war period to the 1960s. For three decades, state-sponsored short filmmaking educated Danish citizens, promoted Denmark to the world, and shaped the careers of renowned directors like Carl Th. Dreyer. Examining the life cycle of a representative selection of films, and discussing their preservation and mediation in the digital age, this book presents a detailed case study of how informational cinema is shaped by, and indeed shapes, its cultural, political and technological contexts.The book combines close textual analysis of a broad range of films with detailed accounts of their commissioning, production, distribution and reception in Denmark and abroad, drawing on Actor-Network Theory to emphasise the role of a wide range of entities in these processes. It considers a broad range of genres and sub-genres, including industrial process films, public information films, art films, the city symphony, the essay film, and many more. It also maps international networks of informational and documentary films in the post-war period, and explores the role of informational film in Danish cultural and political history.Less
The first book-length study in English of a national corpus of state-sponsored informational film, this book traces how Danish shorts on topics including social welfare, industry, art and architecture were commissioned, funded, produced and reviewed from the inter-war period to the 1960s. For three decades, state-sponsored short filmmaking educated Danish citizens, promoted Denmark to the world, and shaped the careers of renowned directors like Carl Th. Dreyer. Examining the life cycle of a representative selection of films, and discussing their preservation and mediation in the digital age, this book presents a detailed case study of how informational cinema is shaped by, and indeed shapes, its cultural, political and technological contexts.The book combines close textual analysis of a broad range of films with detailed accounts of their commissioning, production, distribution and reception in Denmark and abroad, drawing on Actor-Network Theory to emphasise the role of a wide range of entities in these processes. It considers a broad range of genres and sub-genres, including industrial process films, public information films, art films, the city symphony, the essay film, and many more. It also maps international networks of informational and documentary films in the post-war period, and explores the role of informational film in Danish cultural and political history.
Noah Tsika
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520291508
- eISBN:
- 9780520965263
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520291508.003.0011
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter, by Noah Tsika, considers the U.S. military’s cultivation of documentary as a form of “useful cinema,” arguing that the institution’s emphasis on formal hybridity and pedagogic ...
More
This chapter, by Noah Tsika, considers the U.S. military’s cultivation of documentary as a form of “useful cinema,” arguing that the institution’s emphasis on formal hybridity and pedagogic adaptability, far from being a neutral reflection of the contingencies of wartime, was, in fact, strategic—part of a broader attempt to naturalize the large-scale military and ensure its permanence. Even when the military identified them as timely documents designed to catalyze an Allied victory, many World War II training films were meant to last—to remain useful tools of the American military-industrial state, whether screened in conjunction with the public-education initiatives of local newspapers or excerpted for use in private manufacturing plants.Less
This chapter, by Noah Tsika, considers the U.S. military’s cultivation of documentary as a form of “useful cinema,” arguing that the institution’s emphasis on formal hybridity and pedagogic adaptability, far from being a neutral reflection of the contingencies of wartime, was, in fact, strategic—part of a broader attempt to naturalize the large-scale military and ensure its permanence. Even when the military identified them as timely documents designed to catalyze an Allied victory, many World War II training films were meant to last—to remain useful tools of the American military-industrial state, whether screened in conjunction with the public-education initiatives of local newspapers or excerpted for use in private manufacturing plants.
