Author: jmc

SCMS Presentation: The Political Economic Roots of Hollywood Strikes, 1950-2023

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Abstract This paper investigates the timing of labour strikes in Hollywood. The occurrence of strikes, such as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023, can make sense when we have the hindsight to piece together the historical details of what created rifts between labour and management. But was 2023 a particularly fragile year for contract … Continue reading SCMS Presentation: The Political Economic Roots of Hollywood Strikes, 1950-2023

The political economic roots of Hollywood strikes, Part 3

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[ Missed earlier parts of this series? Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here ] Around the time of this post, SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) produced a tentative agreement in their 2023 negotiations. The SAG-AFTRA National Board approved the tentative agreement, and recommends for the ratification of … Continue reading The political economic roots of Hollywood strikes, Part 3

The political economic roots of Hollywood strikes, Part 2

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Missed Part 1? You should start here. Around the time of this post, the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) produced a tentative agreement in their 2023 negotiations. The WGA Negotiating Committee, the WGAW Board and WGAE Council all voted unanimously to recommend the agreement on September 26, 2023. As … Continue reading The political economic roots of Hollywood strikes, Part 2

#249. The Battle of Algiers. Dir., Gillo Pontecorvo

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In the moment, many films with explicit politics can feel powerful. Impassioned character dialogue, visual imagery of resistance, or thematically-structured arguments will often strike the audience with the force of a heavyweight boxer. But afterward, the same audience stands and notices, more often than not, that none of the punches left even a mark. Nothing's … Continue reading #249. The Battle of Algiers. Dir., Gillo Pontecorvo

The political economic roots of Hollywood strikes, Part 1

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On May 2, 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike after failing to reach an acceptable agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the trade association that negotiates for the film and television interests of the major Hollywood studios. While many of the disagreements between the parties – … Continue reading The political economic roots of Hollywood strikes, Part 1

#198. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. Dir., Rainer Werner Fassbinder

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As a visual medium, cinema has its own pathways for an audience to recognize the tragedy of a society forbidding the love between people. A film's script can make the tragedy explicit through the dialogue of approving or disapproving characters, but the visual nature of a film opens multiple opportunities for the couple to communicate … Continue reading #198. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. Dir., Rainer Werner Fassbinder