UNIT 3 EXAM

urea N. Anguiano Snchez

1. Identify some of the main themes and influences expressed by British playwrights since the 50s. Which period or style do you find most interesting? Social Realism: Changing social conditions and the problems of ordinary people. Beckett (modern man as isolated and powerless; theater of the absurd) and Pinter (a more natural dialogue among characters; political themes and questions of identity and knowledge of others). Rebellious theatre, satirical sketches and radical drama. Alternative Drama: little scenery and putting on shows in smaller non-profit theatres, schools, community buildings, etc. (feminist, gay, and ethnic minorities theatres). Musicals (acting + singing + dancing). Comedy and alternative comedy (including pantomime).

I find drama really interesting (especially when it involves topics that invite us to reflect about life, society, current situations, etc.), but I must confess that I prefer Musicals because they are more entertaining, whether they are up-beat with modern music, or they involve more operesque singing.

2. Could some of the new movements in British theater such a gay theater and alternative comedy be successful in Mexico? Give reasons for your answer. As a matter of fact, gay theater is a genre that has developed in recent years (heres an article in Spanish about it: http://www.milenio.com/cdb/doc/impreso/9090726). Society has changed its perception of the integration of gay culture in all spheres of society. Theres even an International Festival of Gay Film and Theater in Mexico, and I believe they had their 3th edition in 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e6n4Xv8o6w). But I think this openness is seen in major cities such as D.F.; Im not sure if little towns where machismo persists, they would accept this type of productions. Regarding alternative comedy, I believe Mexican society in general is more open to it. Even some Universities (like our alma mater) have workshops, where they perform not only alternative comedy, but also poetry sessions, stand-up comedy, critical sketches, etc. (one of my friends in C.U. talked to me about them).

3. Give reasons for the appearance of alternative drama in the late 60s. Rebellious theatre during the 60s was somewhat controlled due to the requirement of a license, but this changed in 1968 when the law changed and censorship ended so writers could be more bold in their criticism.

The possibility of writing about taboo-topics (sexuality, gender and identity, etc.) was available thanks to Free Expression and some theatre movements were created to make their mark and find a way to express and in a way protest the mainstream theatre. Some playwrights didnt want to be in the spotlight or mainstream, and instead of larger theatres being their favored venue, they began to produce theatre in smaller environments. Alternative styles for theatre were prevalent in the late 60s (art labs, arte povera), with little scenery and putting on shows in smaller stages. These are some of the reasons why fringe theatre or alternative theatre appeared and became popular.

4. What do you consider to be the most distinctive characteristics of British film since 1945? Post war Britain, during the period 1945-1955 is considered the Golden Age of The Studios. Although 1949 was a bad year (financially) for the studios, some big budget movies were made, and many smaller budget productions also left their mark. There were important new coming actors and films that helped to keep the UKs reputation. However, television began to have an effect on the film industry, and it had to learn to be more exportable and welcome to foreign audiences. It also began challenging British society and its conventions (film censorship discarded some of its old prohibitions) in an attempt to attract the TV viewers, who preferred the comfy of their houses than going to the theatre. Immigration of refugees from American McCarthyism who preferred working in the UK (American finances virtually took over the industry) Independently made British movies in the 90s made a resurgence, but financing needed to be found (government support is severely lacking). 5. Explain documentary film making. It is a non-fictional, narrative motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purpose of instruction or maintaining a historical record (Aitken, 2005). Documentaries seem to have a certain obligation towards truth (should correspond to actual or historical facts, events and persons; have a pragmatic or conventionalist view, and be coherent). They are about something of importance and relevance: historical, social or natural phenomena; and/or persons and places of significance. Possible modes or narrative strategies (Juel, 2006) the filmmaker might use in the documentary: Expository: lecturing, overtly didactic, e.g. with a personal presenter or an explanatory voice-over. Observational: like a "fly on the wall," the camera, microphone and film crew seem not to be disturbing the scene or even to be noticed by the participants. Participatory or interactive: the film crew takes part in the action or chain of events. Reflexive: the film exposes and discusses its own role as a film (e.g. the ethics or conditions of filmmaking) alongside the treatment of the case or subject.

Performative: the film crew creates many of the events and situations to be filmed by their own intervention or through events carried out for the sake of the film. Poetic: the aesthetic aspects, the qualities of the form and the sensual appeals are predominant.
(http://pov.imv.au.dk/Issue_22/section_1/artc1A.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film)

6. Explain social realism in the English film industry. Social realism in films is representative of real life, with all its difficulties. The stories and people portrayed are everyday characters, usually from working class backgrounds. Typically, films within the social realist canon are gritty, urban dramas about the struggle to survive the daily grind. Social Realism in British films peaked during the 1960s when what is commonly referred to as the British New Wave emerged. The new wave directors such as Karel Reisz, Lindsay Anderson and Tony Richardson had made a number of documentaries before moving on to feature films, and many of these had been screened at the (historically important) National Film Theatre event christened 'Free Cinema' in the 1950s. Like the auteurs of the French New Wave, many of the British directors were knowledgeable critics as well, affiliated with Sequence magazine. This gave them ample opportunity to promote their agenda. Social realism has played an important role in both British cinema and TV. The British documentary movement which developed under the leadership of John Grierson was enormously influential in stimulating what became a strand of fiction film described as social realism. Humphrey Jennings who started out with this movement brought a sense of the surreality of popular culture in everyday life to his work. His wartime docu-dramas and documentary work are exemplary pieces of art working across genres to produce some of the best work ever made by a British director. Jennings was an inspiration to Lindsay Anderson and those who gathered around him in the British 'Free Cinema'.
(http://suite101.com/article/social-realism-in-british-film-a39973 http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/entry/british_cinema_social/)

7. What do you consider to be the most distinctive characteristics of British television since the 1970s? In the early 70s, broadcasters became concerned to portray the different sector of a pluralist society realistically in both fictional and factual programs and to be more probingly critical themselves. Throughout much of the 70s, British television increasingly acquired the image of an over-mighty subject, attracting unprecedentedly sharp criticism and pressure to mend its ways. On balance, more of the fire was directed at factual than fictional programming. Traditional moralists were deeply unhappy about what they regarded as increasingly permissive depictions of sex and violence in programs.

BBC and ITV excluded unconventional perspectives and opinions. Although commercials would be sold on BBC, pains were taken to avoid competition for advertising with ITV. Mid-80s was a period of adjustment to a new and less supportive political mood (TV is more of an industry than a cultural agency). The government promoted change at the BBC, an internal market was introduced in relations between program producers and providers of technical facilities, as well as an aggressive policy regarding entering international markets of multichannel televisions, program sales and co-production. Today in Britain is gradually emerging a multichannel system that is leading towards audience competition and whether they like it or not, is reshaping everything.

8. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a state-run monopoly of television funded by a television license? Having a monopoly means that every aspect is being controlled, so there is not too much freedom of choice, censorship would be easier, manipulating the news, and audience wouldnt have much choice of watching alternative broadcasting due to the lack of a competitive medium. However, executive decisions are made easier and no need of consensus is needed. Also bureaucracy is not as "heavy" since the government is the one running it, and also it could possibly be the most costeffective way of providing services. A television license or Broadcast Receiving license is in essence a tax for the purpose of funding this public broadcasting, and is a concept we are not really familiar with in Mexico, because we only pay for cable TV. So, this license fee (that, as far as I read, the annual fee for a color TV is 145.50), used almost entirely to fund the BBCs services sounds more like a burden that one has to pay and theres practically no way to avoid (unless one watches programs on the computer after they have been broadcasted). I prefer that funding is being done via advertising or a mixture of advertising and subscription.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/whoweare/licencefee/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_United_Kingdom) and

9. Explain ITV and BBC and new government requirements for TV stations in the 90s. ITV is the major commercial (independent) public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff. Its main responsibility is to provide impartial public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man. The BBC is a semi-autonomous public service broadcaster that operates under a Royal Charter and a Licence and Agreement from the Home Secretary. Within the United Kingdom its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee, which is charged to all British households, companies

and organisations using any type of equipment to record and/or receive live television broadcasts; the level of the fee is set annually by the British Government and agreed by Parliament. The Broadcasting Act of 1990 established the following: Rules introduced on cross-media holdings to prevent ownership being concentrated in too few hands. National newspaper owners prevented from holding more than a 20% stake in TV companies, with similar restrictions on cross-ownership between commercial TV, satellite TV and national radio stations. Loophole controversially protected Rupert Murdoch on basis that Sky was defined as a non-UK service. Continental companies allowed to bid for licences or take over licence-holders. Companies allowed to own more than one licence: holders of one of nine "large" franchises (eg north-west England) also allowed to control one of six "small" franchises (eg south-west England). Independent Television Commission (ITC) becomes new "light touch" regulator governing terrestrial and cable-satellite services, with key task of awarding 15 ITV regional licences and national breakfast licence by auction: licence to go to highest bidder, assuming it meets "quality threshold" and ITC does not invoke "exceptional circumstances" to choose an underbidder. Radio Authority set up, awarding licences (also by "competitive tender", ie auction) for three new national commercial stations and for many more local commercial stations. Broadcasting Standards Council given statutory status, although rulings not binding. Channel 5 to be set up, with licence awarded by auction. Channel 4 to lose its link with ITV by being allowed to sell its own advertising, but not (as the free-marketeers would have preferred) to be privatised. Advertisers had lobbied for the competition in the sale of air-time this ensured, but no one knew if the channel could generate enough ad revenue without compromising programme standards. Hence the safety net - 14% of all commercial terrestrial ad revenue (the "funding formula") - protecting its funding.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITV http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC and http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2000/nov/20/broadcasting.mondaymediasection2 )

10. Take an example of a soap opera or crime series you are familiar with. Describe its main characteristics and say what you like or dislike about it. Fringe (FOX, 2008- ). A television drama centered around a female FBI agent who is forced to work with an institutionalized scientist in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena. How far would you be willing to go to save everyone you care about? In 1985 one father's choice to save his son, no matter the cost, started an inadvertent pattern of destruction. Now Fringe Division, a special unit of the FBI, has been tasked with finding a way to stop the damage. Their investigations into cases of science run amok have uncovered connections not only to their own past but to an alternate universe just slightly different than our own that threatens our very future. It is a weird mix of science fiction and crime. The story involves FBI special agent Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop (an ex-con man turned FBI consultant) and Peter's father, Walter Bishop, who gets released from a mental hospital to help a special unit of the FBI solve cases involving the paranormal.

I really like this series because they are in the same line as the X Files, which I loved. The main characteristics (on the crime drama aspect) are: a resolution to a mystery, question of morality, debate about innocent and guilt, aspects of law enforcement are shown, have a variety of sub-plots over time that help build relationships between characters, teamwork and pleasure in success, struggles with bureaucracy, conflict between different modes of policing, sacrifices in private lives made by dedicated police, and different characteristics of villainy.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119644/ http://www.fox.com/fringe/101/ http://www.slideshare.net/aashley79/crimedramas-4153853)

11. Briefly describe the origins of theater in the U.S.A. In the mid-1700s the Lewis Hallam troupe (company of actors from England) arrived to Virginia, but religious organizations opposed and they ended leaving to Jamaica. However, Lewis Hallam Jr. returned to NYC, founded the American Company, opened a theater and produced the play The Price of Parthia in 1767. At the end of the 18th century, there were 4 theater cities: Philadelphia, New York, Charleston and Boston, but during the Revolutionary War plays were banned in most states (opposition from conservative and puritanical groups remained because they had the belief that indulging in the pleasure of stage meant the loss on ones soul). Gradually, after the war, sentiments started to change and at the turn of the 19th century more theater cities surged: New Orleans, Cincinnati, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco; and most cities in the country had their own companies; the invention of the electric light at the end of this century helped improve the situation of theaters in the province. There were floating theaters on riverboats that travelled on rivers. Shakespeares plays were a popular choice as well as melodramas such as Uncle Toms Cabin. Minstrel shows were common too along with the burlesque (originally were females in male roles mocking the politics and culture of the times, but because of the criticism it received, it was banned from the legitimate stage relegating it to saloons and barrooms; female producers were replaced by males who toned down the politics and played up the sexuality). Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 15th, 1865 and during this time, the theater culture was associated with hedonism and actors and actresses were looked down upon. In 1896 the Theatrical Syndicate was formed, creating a management monopoly that controlled every aspect of contracts and booking, until the foundation of the Shubert Organization at the turn of the 20th century.
(http://webhost.bridgew.edu/adirks/ald/courses/hist/hist_Amer.htm)

12. Describe the independent theater movement of the 1930s in the U.S.A. and why some prospered and others didnt. The American Laboratory Theater (by famous actors from the Moscow Art Theater) brought method to the U.S. theater movement.

The Theater Guild was designed to introduce European stagecraft, dramatic styles, and quality productions. Eventually built its own playhouse and established both touring production (through 1960) and season subscription. Group Theater was established in the 1930s by the Theater Guild to produce social protest works, and its members were usually committed to communal projects (there was a clear influence of the Moscow Art Theater and method acting). The Federal Theater Project was established by the Works Progress Administration of the government in 1935 (lasted 4 years), employing thousands of performers and workers, and producing a large variety of quality productions all over the country. However, congress challenged the content of the production as subversive and dangerous and ended the funding. Brock Pemberton decided to produce comic entertainment to escape from the difficult social conditions of the times and his Personal Appearance (1934) by Lawrence Riley was a success on Broadway. The years between the two World Wars also brought dramatic art to a high point (ONeills plays for instance). Certain aspects played an important role in the prosperity or decay of these independent theaters: method acting became huge and its still used today by some actors and actresses; quality production, European stagecraft and dramatic styles were well received by the audience. On the other hand, social protest works were considered as subversive propaganda and dangerous so Congress defied them and eventually these productions began to decline.
(http://webhost.bridgew.edu/adirks/ald/courses/hist/hist_Amer.htm)

13. Describe post-war theater in the U.S.A. up to modern times. After WWII Theater in the U.S. flourished with playwrights like Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, but at the same time, the cost of tickets also rose drastically. Musicals were the most popular form of theater (Rogers and Hammerstein), and in the 60s, stage productions such as Hair included references to nudity and drugs. Off-Broadway productions were also becoming popular leading to movements such as regional/resident Theater, black Theater, Asian Theater, Radical Theater, and Latino Theater, among others. In the 90s, theater began to borrow from film and opera, and thats why Broadway showed titles such as Mary Poppins, Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid.

(http://webhost.bridgew.edu/adirks/ald/courses/hist/hist_Amer.htm)

14. Explain the history of the movie industry in the U.S.A. through the age of the silent movies.

Opinions are torn between the topics silent films mostly revolved around (due to the fact only a handful of them have survived): either it was the interests of the poor in their struggles with the rich and powerful, or routines derived from late nineteenth century popular entertainment (vaudeville, popular melodrama, Wild West shows, comic strips). Anyhow, many early silent movies took the major social and moral issues of the Progressive era as their subject matter (the sources of crime, the nature of political corruption, shifting sexual norms, the changing role of women, immigration, poverty, prostitution, prisons, divorce, child labor), varying their tone from realistic and straightforward, to melodramas and even with sentimentality or humor, but always offering vivid glimpses of: urban tenements and ethnic ghettoes, social criticism spoofing the pretensions of the wealthy and sympathetic portraits of the poor, the reduction of authority to absurdity, women disrobing, passionate kisses, voyeurism, different images of feminity, etc. The effect of movies in this era was to reorient peoples lives toward a broader consumer culture, not only expressing popular values, aspirations and fantasies, but also promoting cultural change.
(http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/hollywood_history.cfm)

15. Why was the movie industry so criticized in its early years in the U.S.A.? Some viewed nickelodeons and movie theaters as breeding grounds of crime and sexual promiscuity that ministered to the lowest passions of childhood, and in 1907 Chicago established the nations first censorship board to protect its population against the evil influence of obscene and immoral representations. In New York, during 1907 and 1908 all of the citys nickelodeons and movie theaters were closed down. Several bills were introduced in Congress calling for movie censorship, especially because in 1915 Supreme Court rules that movies were not protected by the First Amendment. After WWI a series of sex scandals raised renewed threats of censorship or boycotts. To clean up Hollywoods image, the industry banned those individuals implicated in scandals, and a voluntary code of standards was introduced. The gangster pictures and sexually suggestive comedies of the early '30s provoked outrage--and threats of boycotts--from many Protestant and Catholic religious groups. In 1934, Hollywood's producers' association responded by setting up a bureau (later known as the "Breen Office") to review every script that the major studios proposed to shoot and to screen every film before it was released to ensure that the picture did not violate the organization's "Code to Govern the Making of Talking, Synchronized and Silent Motion Pictures." The Production Code, drafted by a Jesuit priest, the Father Daniel Lord, had been originally adopted in 1930, but the producers had regarded it as a public relations device, not as a code of censorship. But in 1933, the newly appointed apostolic delegate to the U.S. Catholic Church, the Most Reverend Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, called on Catholics to launch "a united and vigorous campaign for the purification of the cinema, which has become a deadly menace to morals." Many Catholics responded by forming the Legion of Decency, which soon had 9 million members pledged to boycott films that the Legion's rating board condemned. Threatened by a realistic threat of boycotts, the producers decided to enforce the production code and placed one of their employees, Joseph I. Breen, in charge. The code prohibited nudity, profanity, white

slavery, miscegenation, "excessive and lustful kissing," and "scenes of passion" that "stimulate the lower and baser element." It also forbade Hollywood from glorifying crime or adultery. To enforce the code, the Breen Office was empowered to grant or withhold a seal of approval, and without a seal, a movie could not be played in the major theater chains. The Breen Office dramatically altered the character of films in the later 1930s. It had at least one positive effect: It led Hollywood to cast more actresses in roles as independent career women, instead of as mere sex objects. More negatively, it encouraged moviemakers to evade the harsher realities of Depression-era life and to shun controversial political and moral issues. It also contributed to what Maury Klein has called a "stylization of technique" as directors and screenwriters searched for subtle, creative, and often witty ways to treat sexuality and violence while avoiding censorship.
(http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/hollywood_history.cfm)

16. Tell about the arrival of Hollywood and the beginning of sound movies. In cinema's earliest days, the film industry was based in the nation's theatrical center, New York, and most films were made in New York or New Jersey, although a few were shot in Chicago, Florida, and elsewhere. Beginning in 1908, however, a growing number of filmmakers located in southern California, drawn by cheap land and labor, the ready accessibility of varied scenery, and a climate ideal for year-round outdoor filming. Hollywood had come to symbolize the new morality of the 1920s (a mixture of extravagance, glamour, hedonism, and fun) and became the nations fifth largest industry, attracting 83 cents out of every dollar Americans spent on amusement. For the first 2 decades of the 20th century, movie going tended to conform to class and ethnic divisions (urban workers attended working class theaters that were rowdy, high-spirited centers of neighborhood sociability; those patronized by the middle class became increasingly luxurious with exotic decors and uniformed ushers to enforce standards of decorum). This situation began to change during the late 20s where regional and national chains started buying some of the independent neighborhood theaters (others just shut down because they couldnt afford the cost of converting to sound), and both types of theaters started to offer the same programs. Hollywood feared the high cost of converting its production and exhibition to sound technology, but Warner Brothers Industry turned to it as a way to compete with its larger rivals and became a total success, that in 1928, 300 theaters were wired for sound, and over-doubling movie attendance and producing a number of fundamental transformations in the movies themselves (sound made the movies more American, distinctive American accents and inflections quickly appeared on the screen, and encouraged new film genres: the musical, the gangster film, and comedies that relied on with rather than slapstick; also, the talking audience for silent pictures became a silent audience for talking pictures, and live entertainment in silent movie houses were replaced by newsreels and animated shorts). During the Great Depression, Hollywood played a valuable psychological and ideological role, providing reassurance and hope to a demoralized nation as well as distraction for peoples problems. However, by 1933, movie attendance and industry revenues had fallen by 40%. To survive, the

industry trimmed salaries and production costs, and closed the doors of a third of the nations theaters; they also lowered admission prices, doubled bills, gave away of free dishes and Bank Night. As appointed in the answer for the previous question, opposition and criticism changed movies as well, and in September 1941, a Senate subcommittee investigated the involvement of Hollywood in bringing the U.S. into WWII by inserting pro-British and pro-interventionist messages in its films, and condemning Hollywood as a raging volcano of war fever (especially because many of the studio executives were Jewish). However things werent really that way and between 1939 and 1941 they did not release a single film advocating immediate American intervention in the war on the allies behalf before Pearl Harbor (less than two weeks after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt declared that the movie industry could make "a very useful contribution" to the war effort. But, he went on, "The motion industry must remain free...I want no censorship."). Afterwards, Hollywood's greatest contribution to the war effort was morale. Many of the movies produced during the war were patriotic rallying cries that affirmed a sense of national purpose. Combat films of the war years emphasized patriotism, group effort, and the value of individual sacrifices for a larger cause. Off the screen, leading actors and actresses led recruitment and bond drives and entertained the troops. Leading directors like Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, made documentaries to explain "why we fight" and to offer civilians an idea of what actual combat looked like.
(http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/hollywood_history.cfm)

17. Briefly discuss the new Hollywood of the 60s and the Hollywood of today. The 1960s became one of the most socially conscious and stylistically innovative in Hollywood's history. Among the most popular films at the decade's start were Doris Day romantic comedies and epic blockbusters. Yet, as the decade progressed, Hollywood radically shifted focus and began to produce an increasing number of anti-establishment films, laced with social commentary, directed at the growing youth market (the New Hollywood arose). A celebration of youthful rebellion appeared in movies such as Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate. A number of most influential films of the late '60s and early '70s sought to revise older film genres--like the war film, the crime film, and the western--and rewrite Hollywood's earlier versions of American history from a more critical perspective. the most controversial issue of the 1960s and early 1970s, the Vietnam War, only began to be seriously examined on the screen in the late '70s. Although many films of the late 60s and early 70s embodied the bitter aftertaste of the war, the conflict itself remained strikingly absent from the screen, as Hollywood, like the country as a whole, had difficulty adjusting to the grim legacy of a lost and troubling war. During the rest of the 70s and 80s, the most popular films were escapist blockbusters that featured spectacular special effects, action, and simplistic conflicts between good and evil (i.e. Star Wars, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark); inspirational tales of the indomitable human spirit (Rocky); or nostalgia for a more innocent past (Animal House, Grease). Glamorous outlaws like Bonnie and Clyde were replaced by law and order avengers (Dirty Harry, Robocop). Sports became a major Hollywood obsession, celebrating competitiveness and victory (Hoosiers, Chariots of Fire, Karate Kid, the Mighty Ducks). Movies which offered a tragic or subversive perspectives on American society (The

Godfather, Chinatown), were replaced by more upbeat, undemanding films, and especially by comedies, featuring such actors as Dan Ackroyd, Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, and Bill Murray. In 1966, the film industry abandoned the Production Code, replacing it with a film rating system which is still in force. The abandonment of the Code did indeed increase the amount of sex, violence, and profanity on the screen; but particularly in the 1980s and '90s, Hollywood has also increased the amount of family entertainment it offers, including feature-length cartoons (i.e. Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast), family comedies (Honey I Shrunk the Kids), and positive portrayals of the teaching profession, (Dead Poet's Society, Stand and Deliver). At the same time that some films merely exploited history as a backdrop for action and adventure (Indiana Jones, Back to the Future), there has also been a revival of serious historical films (Glory, Malcolm X). Meanwhile, independent directors released a growing number of idiosyncratic and inexpensive films (i.e. The Crying Game), while within Hollywood itself female movie makers, like Penny Marshall and Susan Seidelman, and African-American film makers, like Spike Lee, have received unprecedented opportunity to bring fresh viewpoints to the screen. A basic problem facing today's Hollywood is the rapidly rising cost of making and marketing a movie: an average of $40 million today. The immense cost of producing movies has led the studios to seek guaranteed hits: blockbuster loaded with high-tech special effects, sequels, and remakes of earlier movies, foreign films, and even old TV shows. With the decline in the size of the adult audience, the single largest group of movie-goers now consists of teenage boys, who are particularly attracted to thrills, violence, and crude laughs. And since over half of Hollywood's profits are earned overseas, the industry has concentrated much of its energy on crude action films easily understood by an international audience.
(http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/hollywood_history.cfm)

18. What years are considered the Golden Age of the television industry in the U.S.A. and why? The Golden Age of Television in the United States began sometime in the late 1930s and extended through the 1950s and early 1960s. Because the excitement about television generated by the 1939 Worlds Fair carried the interest in this medium through WWII when development of the medium took a back seat. By the time the war was over the electronic system of television had clearly proven its greater capacity and a period of intense growth took place. Thus, in the years after WWII, television became not just a subject for inventors and hobbyists but the focus of entrepreneurs (producers), creative artists (playwrights, directors), and journalists (for news programming). Other new inventions and technologies furthered the outreach of television (coaxial cable and trenches, the Klystron, microwave relay system, color TV system, cable television systems the replacement of the kinescope with the Ampex quadruplex, Remote Control and commercial VTR), and there years also saw the establishment of several significant technological standards such as: the NTSC standards for black and white (1941) and color television (1953). In 1952 the FCC permitted UHF broadcasting for the 1st time on 70 new channels (14 to 83), giving 95% of the U.S. television markets three VHF channels each, establishing a pattern that generally continues today.

Finally, the "Golden Age" was a period of intense growth and expansion, introducing many of the television accessories and methods of distribution that we take for granted today.
(http://transition.fcc.gov/omd/history/tv/)

19. Explain PBS in U.S. television. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) was established in 1969 as a nonprofit, independent organization owned by the stations it served to provide diversity in programming at a time when most television was broadcast over the public airwaves by only 3 privately owned national networks. PBS distributes television programs produced by 354 member stations and other independent production entities, which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia and is the most prominent provider of television programs to U.S. public television stations. However, PBS is not responsible for all programming carried on public TV stations; in fact, stations usually receive a large portion of their content from third-party sources and independent produces. PBS also has a subsidiary called National Datacast (NDI), which offers datacasting services via member stations. This helps PBS and its member stations earn extra revenue. According to this networks site (http://www.pbs.org/): PBS mission is to create content that educates, informs and inspires. To do this, PBS offers programming that expands the minds of children,documentaries that open up new worlds, noncommercialized news programs that keep citizens informed on world events and cultures and programs that expose America to the worlds of music, theater, dance and art. PBS has transformed itself from a solely broadcast organization to a multi-platform leader that serves Americans through television, mobile TV, the Web, interactive whiteboards in the classroom and more. PBS reaches nearly 123 million people through television and more than 21 million people online each month. PBS is a private, nonprofit corporation, founded in 1969, whose members are Americas public TV stations -- noncommercial, educational licensees that operate more than 350 PBS member stations and serve all 50 states, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa.
(http://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/OSEC/library/legislative_histories/1355.pdf http://www.pbs.org/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PBS)

20. Explain the term V-chips related to television viewing. The FCC requires all television sets with picture screens 13 inches or larger to be equipped with features to block the display of television programming based upon its rating. This technology is known as the "V-Chip." The rating system, also known as the "TV Parental Guidelines," was established by the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Cable Television Association and the Motion Picture Association of America. These ratings are displayed on the television screen for the first 15 seconds of

rated programming and, in conjunction with the V-Chip, permit parents to block programming with a certain rating from coming into their home. The V-Chip functions as an on/off switch that intercepts a ratings code transmitted by broadcasters or video. It then interprets the code and transmits a signal to your television giving instructions to deny access to all programming or video exceeding your preset ratings limitations. When the television receives this code, channels displaying inappropriate programming, will display an "unauthorized to receive message" on a blank screen.
(http://transition.fcc.gov/vchip/ http://www.familysafemedia.com/v-chip.html http://www.howstuffworks.com/question167.htm)