Spectacle and Value in Classical Hollywood Cinema

Abstract

In this chapter, in discussing film spectacle, I wish to bring to the surface the issue of value, an issue that has only been implicit in my previous writing on the topic (Brown, 2008). In understanding spectacle as a facet of film style that, along with elements of mise-en-scène and editing, can be subjected to close, interpretative or ‘textual’ analysis,¹ my interests are inherently conflicted. Spectacle intuitively refers critics and viewers more directly to the commercial function of cinema, whereas the mise-en-scène of the most sophisticated films has been seen to transcend the more crassly commercial aspects of Hollywood and the study of mise-en-scène in particular has made perhaps the most compelling case for understanding mainstream cinema as a commercial art form. I should stress that I support this position on Hollywood movies, though I am interested below in addressing gaps in our understanding of ‘classical’ cinema. Given the range of ways in which value can now be talked about in Film Studies (as this collection demonstrates), it is necessary to be upfront about fairly basic beliefs about the cinema as an art form as these by no means go without saying, at least not in this context. However, the partiality and some of the problems of my positions on some of these things will be acknowledged and explored below.