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Class in Hollywood Films: Voluntary, Invisible Norms, and Contradictions

In this lecture, Professor Aaron Baker explores the concept of class in Hollywood films. He discusses the different classes portrayed in movies, the voluntary nature of class, and the invisible norms that depict the middle class as the ideal. The lecture also addresses the contradictions and complexities surrounding class in films, including the intersection of class and race. The lecture ends with a preview of the next topic, the work of film production.

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Class in Hollywood Films: Voluntary, Invisible Norms, and Contradictions

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Presentation Transcript

  1. Lecture 13: Class Professor Aaron Baker

  2. Previous Lecture Race in Hollywood Movies: • Stereotypes and Role Models • Whiteness • Out of the Past, LA Confidential,Boyz n the Hood

  3. This Lecture • What is Class? • The Middle Class Norm • Class Voluntary • Pretty Woman(1990)

  4. One Definition • Class as Economic Status Michael Douglas as corporate raider Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987)

  5. Three Classes • Upper Class: A small group with the most wealth. They often own their sources of income. • Lower or Working Class: They struggle to get by. They often live amidst crime, violence, criminality. • Middle Class: Regarded as most of American society. They have to work, but don’t struggle to get by.

  6. Roger and Me shows a level of historical specificity about class unusual in most Hollywood films. Click on poster to see clip.

  7. Salt of the Earth 1954 • is based on an actual strike in New Mexico. • This clip shows prejudice, and • how gender difference complicated the strike. Click on poster.

  8. American Film • Often views lower and middle class characters as successful as they move up to next class. • e.g., Rocky goes from poverty to wealth, fame via boxing.

  9. Wall Street (1987 ) • Exception to idea of class mobility as measure of worth • Charlie Sheen’s character rejects corporate success because would harm his father, coworkers.

  10. Class Voluntary • Like ability to move up, his choice to reject wealth typifies the idea of class in American film as voluntary. • To emphasize free will, class in Hollywood films is often based on values and moral choices.

  11. Like Whiteness Hollywood shows • middle class an invisible norm. • upper class greedy, immoral, unhappy (Chinatown,top right) • lower class desparate, criminal, violent (Training Day, lower right).

  12. Upper class characters… • Often have no family or love in their lives. • Middle class are happier because of their strong friendships and family.

  13. Plain Folks • Many Americans trace their roots not in aristocratic lineage but rather to immigrant and/or settler experiences. • This view of our past fits our love for individual responsibility. • We want to see our ancestors as pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.

  14. George Washington Biopic? • Hollywood movies reinforce this image of ourselves. • Many movies about cowboys, settlers, immigrants. • Few about the aristocratic culture of the founding fathers.

  15. Class Struggle • Unusual in Hollywood Films • If shown, usually in the past • Goal of a society of middle class in which no further change is needed.

  16. Director John Sayles Matewan(1987) and Eight Men Out (1989) differ from this norm in showing class as: • Not Voluntary • Basis for Economic Exploitation • Not Changing for a Middle-Class Utopia

  17. Matewan In this scene, we see how class warfare ends without any gain for West Virginia coal miners. Click on the image to see clip.

  18. Genre • Understanding class helps show another dimension of some genre films. • Horror is often about class conflict. • Femme fatales in noir and gangsters want to move up.

  19. Horror Films • Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Deliverance (1972): Middle class stray into working class environment. • A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): Working-class killer stalks a middle class neighborhood. • Dracula, Frankenstein (1931): No middle class. Aristocrats menace peasants.

  20. Pretty Woman • Typifies Hollywood View • Class is Voluntary • Middle Class Identity is Best

  21. How about Class? • Richard Gere’s character, Edward, fits Hollywood’s portrayal of the upper class: wealthy, but unfulfilled. • Vivian (Julia Roberts) is Hollywood working class by virtue of her economic desperation, criminal activity (prostitution) and vulnerability to violence.

  22. Pretty Woman exemplifies how Hollywood shows class • Vivian moves up by being with Edward • He becomes moral by putting people before profit • Both find middle class values: love, connection, concern for others.

  23. Money Isn’t Everything… • Both Edward and Vivian sacrifice money for love and family • Film has it both ways: part of appeal is wealth and luxury of upper class

  24. Contradiction About Class This clip from Pretty Woman illustrates such contradictions about class.

  25. Class and Race • Both main characters chose to be more middle class. • All the non-white characters are working class, shown happily serving Edward and Vivian.

  26. Pretty Woman Summary As in Notting Hill (1999), another Julia Roberts vehicle, Pretty Woman erases “class barriers in favor of love, but . . . it is the person with the [class] power who does it [Edward], thus reinforcing those barriers.” (Lehman and Luhr, p. 324)

  27. End of Lecture 13 Next Lecture: The Work of Film Production

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