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Rating: 
Summary: History and the Cinema
Review: "Celluloid Mirrors" is a great book for those who might be studying the history of the cinema or the motion-picture industry. The author, Ronald L. Davis, did a great job of summarizing the life of the motion-picture industry. His extensive research shows the enormous role that Hollywood has and does play in the reflecting and shaping of our society. "Celluloid Mirrors" is a very informative book that should be read by everyone who considers themself an avid movie buff or film historian. Glenn Vaught
Rating: 
Summary: Informative but oddly confusing too--
Review: "Celluloid Mirrors: Hollywood and American Society since 1945," is a small, dense, compact book designed to give a concise history of the relationship between Hollywood and American culture since 1945. The book does is premised on a statement in the Preface: "During the decades since World War II, the entertainment industry has reflected shifting American values and business practices." While not arguing for this proposition in the formal sense, this guiding assertion is an accurate reflection of the tone and tenor of this book. Davis's intent is to sketch a broad series of trends that have affected Hollywood and its relationship to American culture. Most of these are fairly well known-the union strikes of 1945-46, the blacklisting of writers during the time of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Some of these are less well known-the rise of conglomeration in the industry, the advent of Norman Lear's rise in the television community of the early 1970's. All of these trends though, are described in detail and with enough contextual information to anchor film and television trends to issues of larger American culture. This is not to say that major issues are not skipped, such as the Cold War itself or the changing (?) roles of women on television. More so than the particular cultural trends, though, is Davis's need to provide names and brief descriptions of movies and television shows that he believes had the most impact and relevancy to his discussion. Thus, his book reads more like a catalog of different movies, and when they were made. In this way Celluloid Mirrors functions well as an introductory text for those who wish to engage movies and American culture at a basic level. On the other hand, the book suffers from two main problems. First, the author often outlines a chapter under different subject headings, including some that do not always flow together with other subjects in the same chapter, and at the end of each chapter, a conclusion is offered that rarely attempts to reprise the material at hand or link it to upcoming material. Because of this, the book is difficult to follow a get a sense of overall, even though it is easy to understand from page to page. Secondly, the author has a distinct tendency to project a narrative of moral decline on American society, a narrative that with exceptions (especially in the 80's) paints a steadily decaying picture of American society. At the same time, Davis sometimes claims that this represents a form of maturity for movies and television, most notably in the discussion of Norman Lear's situation comedies. However he is not consistent with his descriptions, and the odd nature of the chapters' internal economy of meaning makes it unable to be describes as hermeneutic tension, outright contradiction, or simply poor editing. Davis's book is not bad, but it needs to be read through more than once (for clarity's sake) , and needs some better organization before it can be classified as truly helpful. Christopher W. Chase, PhD Fellow , Michigan St. Univ.
Rating:
Summary: History and the Cinema
Review: "Celluloid Mirrors" is a great book for those who might be studying the history of the cinema or the motion-picture industry. The author, Ronald L. Davis, did a great job of summarizing the life of the motion-picture industry. His extensive research shows the enormous role that Hollywood has and does play in the reflecting and shaping of our society. "Celluloid Mirrors" is a very informative book that should be read by everyone who considers themself an avid movie buff or film historian. Glenn Vaught
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