In Hollywood's Embassies, a history that stretches from Buenos Aires and Tokyo to Johannesburg and Cairo, Ross Melnick considers these movie houses as cultural embassies. He examines how the exhibition of Hollywood films became a constant flow of political and consumerist messaging, selling American ideas, products, and power, especially during fractious eras. Melnick demonstrates that while Hollywood's marketing of luxury and consumption often struck a chord with local audiences, it was also frequently tone-deaf to new social, cultural, racial, and political movements. He argues that the story of Hollywood's global cinemas is not a simple narrative of cultural and industrial indoctrination and colonization. Instead, it is one of negotiation, booms and busts, successes and failures, adoptions and rejections, and a precursor to later conflicts over the spread of American consumer culture. A truly global account, Hollywood's Embassies shows how the entanglement of worldwide movie theaters with American empire offers a new way of understanding film history and the history of U.S. soft power.
Produced by Nat Freeman, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski.
Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang.
Better Than the Movie 14: THE GREEN KNIGHT / SIR GAWAIN AND... w/ Conor Holt
Better Than the Movie 13: MONEYBALL w/ Michael Chin
Better Than the Movie 12: THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY w/ Emily VanKoughnett
SKYLIT: Tommy Orange, WANDERING STARS
SKYLIT: Eric Wolfson, FIFTY YEARS OF THE CONCEPT ALBUM IN POPULAR MUSIC
SKYLIT: Will Harris, SURELY YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS
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Better Than the Movie, Ep. 10: THE THIN MAN w/ Jen Johans
SKYLIT: Rosecrans Baldwin, EVERYTHING NOW
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Better Than the Movie, Ep. 8: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON w/ David Kimbel
Better Than the Movie Halloween Special: GOOSEBUMPS
SKYLIT: James Park, CHILI CRISP
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Better Than the Movie, Ep. 6: MISERY w/ Mark Rennie
SKYLIT: Elliott Kalan, MANIAC OF NEW YORK
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Better Than the Movie, Ep. 5: JAWS w/ Kristen Lopez
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