Guy Barefoot

The Drive-In (eBook, ePUB)

Outdoor Cinema in 1950s America and the Popular Imagination

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

The Drive-In meaningfully contributes to the complex picture of outdoor cinema that has been central to American culture and to a history of US cinema based on diverse viewing experiences rather than a select number of films.

Drive-in cinemas flourished in 1950s America, in some summer weeks to the extent that there were more cinemagoers outdoors than indoors. Often associated with teenagers interested in the drive-in as a 'passion pit' or a venue for exploitation films, accounts of the 1950s American drive-in tend to emphasise their popularity with families with young children, downplaying the importance of a film programme apparently limited to old, low-budget or independent films and characterising drive-in operators as industry outsiders. They retain a hold on the popular imagination.

The Drive-In identifies the mix of generations in the drive-in audience as well as accounts that articulate individual experiences, from the drive-in as a dating venue to a segregated space. Through detailed analysis of the film industry trade press, local newspapers and a range of other primary sources including archival records on cinemas and cinema circuits in Arkansas, California, New York State and Texas, this book examines how drive-ins were integrated into local communities and the film industry and reveals the importance and range of drive-in programmes that were often close to that of their indoor neighbours.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
• Seitenzahl: 272
• Erscheinungstermin: 16. November 2023
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781501365911
• Artikelnr.: 68873706

Autorenporträt

Guy Barefoot is Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Leicester, UK, where he was Associate Professor in Film Studies until 2022