East Meets West
Tabloids keep us up to date on the frolics of glamorous
stars and the backstabbings of ruthless powerbrokers in
Tinseltown . In his latest boo k , Hollywood and the Culture
Elite: How Movies Became American, Peter Decherney
examines the flipside of pop culture
and reveals surprising connections
between Hollywood bigwigs and the stewards of high culture
at such places as Ha rva rd , Co lumbia , and the Museum
of Modern Art.
Decherney, an assistant
professor of cinema studies and English,
writes that “Film didn’t become art
until Hollywood moguls decided it was
good business for film to become art
and the leaders of American cultural
institutions found it useful – politically
useful – to embrace and promote
Hollywood film.”His book looks at the mutual embrace
of high brow institutions
on the East Coast and a money - making
pop - culture enterprise on the West Coast during the golden
era of Hollywood’s
studio system . Both centers of influence
wanted to reach a mass audience that
spanned the coasts.East reached out
to West to “maintain their hold on American art, education,
and the idea of American identity itself.” The studios
met East-Coast establishments halfway to solidify their hold
on popular culture and to benefit financially. That
collaboration with museums, universities and government,
writes Decherney, “redefined Hollywood as an ideal
American industry, the perfect marriage of art and commerce.”