The US Embassy and British film policy, 1947–1948: a ‘lesser but highly explosive question’

Colman, Jonathan

doi:10.1080/14794010903286268

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The most detailed study of the influence of Johnston’s MPAA is Jonathan Colman’s (2009) analysis of the London embassy’s negotiations over British film policy during 1947–1948. Colman argues that the embassy’s intervention was instrumental in the reduction of controls imposed by Britain on foreign film imports, which threatened a number of other reciprocal economic benefits.…”

Section: A Brief History Of Us Embassy Involvement In Hollywoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Johnston personally negotiated on behalf of the MPAA with Don Bliss, Commercial Attaché at the London embassy, and Bliss’ remonstrations to the British Board of Trade resulted in an agreement on a screen time quota and removal of the distributors’ quota from the upcoming 1948 Cinematograph Films Act ( Jarvie, 1990 : 281). As Colman (2009) concludes, ‘it is clear that the US Embassy had a positive role … [It] was sensitive to wider foreign policy issues as well as knowledgeable about the complexities of the film trade, and kept Washington informed’ (p. 426). Colman regards the embassy’s intervention as one of reasoned broker, mitigating the more aggressive free-market posturing of the Hollywood studios and the staunchly protectionist goals of the British government, and this moment has, until now, been regarded as one of the last times that a US embassy exerted any significant influence over international film policy.…”

Section: A Brief History Of Us Embassy Involvement In Hollywoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While there have been a number of significant recent studies that place this relationship in a fuller socioeconomic context ( Jenkins, 2012 ; Jenkins and Alford, 2012 ; Kellner, 2010 ; Miller et al, 2004 ; Robb, 2004 ), the importance of the global network of US embassies in this system, and their role in Hollywood’s cultural hegemony, is often overlooked. Until recently, this involvement has been examined only in a handful of articles, which focus on the years immediately following the Second World War ( Colman, 2009 ; Jarvie, 1990 ; Lee, 2008 ; Swann, 1991 ; Trumpbour, 2007 ). Yet, the release by WikiLeaks in 2011 of a tranche of over 250,000 US embassy cables has provided an opportunity to explore how this process operates in the 21st century.…”

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Embassy cinema: what WikiLeaks reveals about US state support for Hollywood

Moody

2017

Media, Culture & Society

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In an article for Foreign Affairs at the outbreak of the World War II, film producer Walter Wanger referred to Hollywood movies as ‘120,000 American ambassadors’. The preeminence of Hollywood in presenting US ideology to the world has been asserted ever since. Yet the relationship between Hollywood and America’s actual ambassadors, employed by the global network of American embassies, has rarely been investigated, despite the key role that this often overlooked aspect of the state apparatus plays in the maintenance of Hollywood’s commercial interests and American cultural hegemony. The release by WikiLeaks in November 2010 of over 250,000 diplomatic cables has provided an opportunity to address this gap, by offering researchers an unparalleled insight into the worldwide network of American embassies. This article employs these documents to explain how these embassies have influenced global film policies since early 2003, and the implications they have for conceptions of American power in the wake of the ‘War on Terror’.

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Section: A Brief History Of Us Embassy Involvement In Hollywoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Brief History Of Us Embassy Involvement In Hollywoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

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