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Introduction
Every child has a moment in his life when he dreams of becoming a movie star, any
teenager today has a favorite movie and in any group of people you are, movies can become a
subject of discussion. Whether it is comedy, action, drama, history or science fiction, clearly
movies are part of our life, but when the film has its own world we are entitled to wonder if
maybe our life is part of a movie. How were the most beautiful films that shows timeless stories
about real human values born? Why are Hollywood movies more successful than those made in
Europe? How did a farm transformed into a city of wealth and glamour? And is Hollywood
responsible for the celebrity of the movies that it produces or is it the other way around? I chose
this topic because I am fascinated by the world of film and I want to know how it all started and
how it has developed so much in just a century.
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1. History of Hollywood
When the Spanish explorers found the ground where Hollywood now is, Native
Americans were living in the canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains. By 1870s a vast and
diverse agricultural community came to life in this area. In this time the area was divided and
sub-divided it was only in 1886 when H. H. Wilcox bought an area of "Rancho La Brea" how it
was called, and named it together with his wife "Hollywood". H. H. Wilcox started a very
successful real estate business in Hollywood who founded the city.
Prospect Avenue (now Hollywood Boulevard) soon became a prestigious residential
street populated with large Queen Anne, Victorian, and Mission Revival houses. Mrs.
Daeida Wilcox raised funds to build churches, schools and a library and Hollywood
quickly became a complete and prosperous community. The community incorporated in
1903, but its independence was short-lived, as the lack of water forced annexation in
1910 to the city of Los Angeles, which had a surplus supply of water. (Historic Resources
Group 04. March. 2013)
After that in 1911 Nestor Company opened the first film studio in Hollywood. ”By 1920,
Hollywood had become world-famous as the center of the United States film industry".
(Gregory, 34) This business brought not only much money to the city but also conflicts between
the older and the newer residence because the expansion of the city that the film creators needed
to build on agricultural land south of what-is-now Hollywood Boulevard, it wasn't long until
nearly all the homes along the Boulevard were replaced by commercial buildings linking the
three corners.
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How and why did the film industry developed in Hollywood is another story. Samuel
Goldwyn, William Fox, Adolph Zukor, Louis B. Mayer, Harry, Albert, Samuel and Jack Warner,
this are some of man that are responsible for this. All of them were jewish, all of them were born
in East Europe and they were the ones who founded five of the biggest studios that dominated
and still dominates the film world: Universal, Paramount, MGM, Fox and Warner.
This are man who left Europe to make a better life in America, they were owners of little
cinemas named "nickelodeons" after the nickel, a 5 cent sheet that ensured the cost of a film
ticket. Because the film industry was showing to be very profitable and because there were only
few American movies the rest being imported from England and France, the future studios
owners were ready to produce movies by their own. Only one thing stood in their way, The
Motion Picture Patents Company that was defending the interests of the scientist Thomas Edison
that was having absolute control on the rights to use the machines for production of film and who
was demanding harsh taxes and putting severe restrictions. All views on the east coast, from New
York to Chicago, were made using Edison patented equipment. So Hollywood was not only far
enough from The Motion Picture Patents Company but was offering also a perfect climate, the
nice views and the great amount of space that the business needed for equipment and specialized
people.
The Historic Resources Group says that "Hollywood has been anything but static" and
through the years as the stars, the glamorous and elegant shops and restaurants moved to Beverly
Hills, many other businesses moved to Hollywood as music recording studios, nightclubs on
Sunset Boulevard etc.
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2 Official & Unofficial Awards
Films are not only a business, not only motion and sound they are mixed and complex art.
A Film has a scrip, has decorations, costumes and make-up, has a soundtrack, must have a
director, actors, cameraman's and another bunch of people trying to create something new. So as
paintings have specialized or subjective art critics who establish their value films have official
and unofficial awards to measure theirs.
2.1 The Oscars & Other American Awards
One of the most waited and enduring event in the world of film is The Oscars ceremony
The American Academy Film Awards (The Oscars) are the main national film awards in the
United States of America. Where does the name Oscar come from and whom he got the name
from is uncertain. The most common story is that Margaret Herrick, an employee of the
Academy, and later executive director, noted that the statue looks very close to her uncle Oscar,
and so the academy members began to call it like that.
Oscar statuette was designed by Cedric Gibbons and sculpted in Los Angeles by George
Stanley. Each statue is made of nickel alloy, gilded silver and 24-karat and is produced by
company RSOwens in Chicago. Its dimensions are 34.5 cm tall and weighs 3.8 kg. Statuette is
representing a knight who keeps the body with a sword standing on a reel of film. The roll of
film is five spokes, signifying the five original branches of the Academy: actors, screenwriters,
directors, producers and technicians.
Except for animated films and foreign films any film can qualify for the Oscar race. It
must have at least seven days in which to run in one of the cinemas in Los Angeles during the
year in question. It must be over 40 minutes and be on rolls of film of 35 mm, 70 mm or in a
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acceptable digital format. Films that premiere or distribute in any other way than on a cinema
screen cannot be considered to enter the Oscars race in any category.
There are 24 current categories at which films can compete including Best Foreign
Language Film (since 1947). Each country is invited to present the best film of the year to be
considered by the Academy. Their selection is made by juries of those countries. The film should
run for 7 days in cinemas in their country and must be produced in the language of the country
they come from. The films in this category may qualify for other awards as long as they meet the
provisions of those categories.
Even if it is one of the most wanted awards that an actor wishes, as Joanne Woodward
was saying when she received it" I've been daydreaming about this since I was 9 years old", the
history of these award is full of controversy, aberrations, scandals, violations and unfair
regulation. Many of the awards were offered subjective during its history and some would
consider that Hollywood has a politic not to offer the prize to those that are too god that is why
people like: Scorsesze, Spielberg, De Niro, Jessica Lange, Petter O Toole, Cristopher Plummer
haven't receive an Oscar yet.
Other awards that actors, producers, directors etc. aim for are the Golden Globe and
Emmy Awards. In comparison to The Oscars this two awards measures not only the value of
movies that rule in a cinema but those that appear on the television screens even series.
Known worldwide for its glittering Golden Globe Awards ceremony held every January
and its multi-million dollar donations to charity, the Hollywood Foreign Press
Association had humble origins that stemmed solely from a group of journalists’ desire to
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efficiently and accurately cover all aspects of the world of entertainment.(Official
Website of the Annual Golden Globe Awards 05. April. 2013)
The first edition of the prestigious awards took place in 1944 at the 20th Century Fox in Los
Angeles. Since then the locations have changed, but in the last decade it seems to have
established at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
2.2 The Audience Preferences
During the years it has been observed that the mass of movie consumers don't always
agree with the Oscar-winning films, more often they have favorites of their own. For these
movies were set awards like People's Choice Awards or since 1999 Teen Choice Awards.
A yearly celebration aired on CBS to pay tribute to achievements earned in the
entertainment industry, the People's Choice Awards started way back 1975. It was Bob Stivers
who founded this award-giving show, which was acquired by Proctor & Gamble in 1982. Since
then, variations were developed including Fox's Teen Choice Awards and Nickelodeon's Kids'
Choice Award.
The process of nominating and voting winners has been slowly improved since the
establishment of the show in the recent years. Award winners were declared through Gallup polls
wherein actresses, actors, television artists, films, TV shows, and other members were being
surveyed. While specific lists of nominations were finalized, the public can choose and vote
whoever or whatever they think deserves every award without any limitation. Results of the
yearly survey will then be analyzed and assessed to decide for the winners of People's Choice
Awards. Since then more and more enhancements were made to the voting system as the use of
various media research companies was applied.
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2.3 Earnings & Investments
Like in any successful business it takes serious investments in order to gain any earnings.
Movie makers have to take a lot in consideration if they want their work to be successful, they
have to create art, but they have to adapt it for a wide public and if they want to be original they
have to take the risk of being criticized. But for all of this they need finances.
Every body remembers "Titanic" or "Avatar" and it is because of its popularity that they
remain in the history as films with the biggest revenue. But despite of their big earnings James
Cameron's movies are not the most profitable. Avatar for example has earned 2.8 billion dollars
worldwide, but its budget was somewhere near the amount of 300 million dollars, which means
that the profit was slightly nine times higher.
According to CNBC the most profitable movie
of all times is actually "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" a
2002 romantic comedy that women loved and their
boyfriends had to suffer through. The story of a GreekAmerican woman’s relationship with a non-Greek man.
Despite its status as a small independent film, and despite never holding the number one
spot at the box office, the movie went on to earn almost $369 million, a staggering,
unbelievable return of over sixty-one times on its investment. For that reason, "My Big
Fat Greek Wedding" is the most profitable film of all time.(CNBC, web 24. April. 2013).
In the top of the most profitable movies of all time made by CNBC we can also find
“E.T.”, “Slumdog Millionaire“, “Pretty Woman“, “The Passion of The Christ”, “Ghost”, “The
Hangover” and . “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King“.
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3 American Movies vs. European Movies
While in America Hollywood produces the most popular movies that travel around the
world and attract millions of fans the old Europe prefers
creating movies that aren't so commercial as the American
ones. Even from the beginning " The European view of the
creation of the moving picture was profound"(Mikael, 2) If
we take a look at the European film festivals we can see that
European films have usually a heavy massage, a very
serious theme regarding problems that the society meets
these days like discrimination, they do not contain many
artificial effects and many of them are low budget. Also artistic film like
“Melancholia” are favorites at Europeans festivals.
But the fact that these sort of movies take awards in
Europe doesn't mean that all European movies are drama.
Europe knows how to make people laugh sometimes even
better
as
the
Americans.
The
French
comedy
"Intouchables" is living proof of that. The comedy
managed to defeat the global box office productions
with large financial claims as Ridley Scott's
"Prometheus", "Snow White and the Huntsman", "The
Bourne Legacy", "Wrath of the Titans", "John Carter" although they had
production budgets of nearly 20 times higher than "Intouchables".
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While Hollywood can be criticized of mass movie productions and sometime of lack of
originality Europe can be proud of its old and versatile cultures that keep their traditions and use
them to represent in different ways their point of view. A good example for how culture has a
god influence on creating god movies is the humor that differs form a country to another.
German humor is nothing like the Rumanian humor, English humor can't be understood by
Greeks and there is no prouder nation of its humor than the French.
However even if there are many Europeans movies that could compete with the
American ones in the worldwide box office Hollywood has more success in selling movies all
around the globe. " Even in Europe, Hollywood dominates the cinema scene. On average, 80%
of all films shown in cinemas across Europe are products of the Hollywood factory system. Even
in countries like France, with large film industries, American films continue to
dominate."(Mikael, 4) A reason for that could be that European movies are usually made with a
lower budget that doesn't include much advertising and they are not promoted over the borders of
their natal country.
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4 Movies Creating Role Models
Movies play a big role in our living stiles, they set the fashion trends. Whether it's about
slim blond girls, starships, magicians, aliens or vampires people are very receptive on what
movies are telling. Teenagers are the most expose to this trends maybe because they are at an age
where they need guidance or maybe because they are struggling to fit in the society and what's
easier than copying what you see. Movies provide both positive and negative examples you can
choose as a role model a character like Harry Potter because stands for everything that's good or
you can choose Reese Witherspoon in "Legally blonde" that stands for being dumb and
beautiful.
The psychological explanation about why we like to watch this movies is simple: while
we are watching our brain thinks we are actually
doing those things so it makes us feel god watching
how "true love" happens or how a supernatural
character fights for justice. But maybe that's the
reason why movies present a wrong image of the
reality. Probably we wouldn't buy a ticket to
a movie that present a normal life of a
human being that has to work so he can pay his
bills and has nothing exciting in his life. We go to the movies because we want to get an illusion
of a better life and we choose movies with topics that complete what our life misses so girls
usually choose movies with a romantic boyfriend, boys want to be braver and feel the adrenalin
in their veins so they watch action movies and so on.
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It is because of this reasons we have to be careful what we choose to copy from a movie.
Because getting out on the street with a gun in your hand to make justice for yourself is for sure
not right in the real life. Neither is to think that if you have never studied hard in your life but are
beautiful and blonde you will succeed as a lawyer.
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Conclusion
Clearly the world of film has a big influence in our live and this is the reason why we
should find out more about it try to understand why is it the way it is and maybe even get to
know it's secrets. Being informed means being aware of the effects that movies have over
ourselves and being able to really appreciate the work of the movie makers. Out of this paper we
should conclude that Hollywood movies are not the only movies we can watch or like, we should
give a chance to European movies as well, an award shouldn't mean you will like the movie,
movies are first of all made to earn money, and we as consumers should be very careful what we
choose to follow out of a film.
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Bibliography