1 ‘The people’s amusement’
-
Robert James
Abstract
Cinema-going was the most popular leisure pursuit in the 1930s and had become the essential social habit. This chapter provides a broad survey of the growth of the cinema-going habit in the period, outlines the various reasons behind it and assesses how different consumer groups could be attracted to this relatively new leisure form. The dissemination of the various roles performed by other leisure pursuits is essential to better understand the social and cultural tasks cinema-going performed. The other contrasting leisure activity chosen is reading. Cinema-going was a communal activity, reading was a primarily solitary pastime; the cinema offered a visual and sound experience, reading offered a literary one. There is more than a casual overlap between the cultural experiences of both leisure activities, and many similarities in their production and consumption, which the chapter identifies.
Abstract
Cinema-going was the most popular leisure pursuit in the 1930s and had become the essential social habit. This chapter provides a broad survey of the growth of the cinema-going habit in the period, outlines the various reasons behind it and assesses how different consumer groups could be attracted to this relatively new leisure form. The dissemination of the various roles performed by other leisure pursuits is essential to better understand the social and cultural tasks cinema-going performed. The other contrasting leisure activity chosen is reading. Cinema-going was a communal activity, reading was a primarily solitary pastime; the cinema offered a visual and sound experience, reading offered a literary one. There is more than a casual overlap between the cultural experiences of both leisure activities, and many similarities in their production and consumption, which the chapter identifies.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Series introduction v
- Dedication vi
- Contents vii
- General editor’s introduction ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 ‘The people’s amusement’ 13
- 2 ‘Fouling civilisation’? 39
- 3 Trade attitudes towards audience taste 57
- 4 ‘What made you put that rubbish on?’ 81
- 5 ‘The appearance is an added incentive’ 106
- 6 ‘A very profitable enterprise’ 124
- 7 ‘Gunmen, rustlers and a damsel in distress’ 159
- 8 ‘The home of the brave’? 177
- 9 Popular film and literature 191
- Conclusion 203
- Appendix I 209
- Appendix II 234
- Appendix III 244
- Select bibliography 250
- Index 257
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Series introduction v
- Dedication vi
- Contents vii
- General editor’s introduction ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- Introduction 1
- 1 ‘The people’s amusement’ 13
- 2 ‘Fouling civilisation’? 39
- 3 Trade attitudes towards audience taste 57
- 4 ‘What made you put that rubbish on?’ 81
- 5 ‘The appearance is an added incentive’ 106
- 6 ‘A very profitable enterprise’ 124
- 7 ‘Gunmen, rustlers and a damsel in distress’ 159
- 8 ‘The home of the brave’? 177
- 9 Popular film and literature 191
- Conclusion 203
- Appendix I 209
- Appendix II 234
- Appendix III 244
- Select bibliography 250
- Index 257
