The Drunken Journalist: The Biography of a Film StereotypeScarecrow Press, 2000 - 200 pages "No other human problem," a critic once remarked, "seems to have afflicted movie newspapermen more often than drinking." Howard Good's latest book analyzes the stereotype of the hard-drinking journalist, with the goal of discovering why it exists and how it operates in films. Early chapters consider whether there is a historical basis for the stereotype of the hard-drinking journalist;while later chapters deal with films from across the decades, including the 1980s and 1990s. They identify the fate of the romantic couple as a major--if not the major--concern of silent films featuring drunken journalists; explore the many and often conflicting meanings associated with drinking in the 1930s, the so-called "golden age of newspaper films"; and discuss the influence of Alcoholics Anonymous on such newspaper films of the 1940s and 1950s as Welcome Stranger and Come Fill the Cup. The concluding chapter points out that the dominant culture has frequently marginalized subgroups--for example, Native Americans and Irish immigrants--by stereotyping them as drunks, and theorizes that the stereotype of the hard-drinking journalist signals ambivalence not only about drinking, but also about the effects of the press on American life. Written in the clear, incisive style for which Good is known, this book offers illuminating new interpretations of classic newspaper films from The Front Page to All the President's Men. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the implications of popular culture for how we think and live. |
From inside the book
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Page 93
... critical and commercial failure of Park Row , " is as difficult as to make a real war film . The censor is not the only barrier . People who buy tick- ets and walk into a peacock temple to crack popcorn The Dog That Bit You 93.
... critical and commercial failure of Park Row , " is as difficult as to make a real war film . The censor is not the only barrier . People who buy tick- ets and walk into a peacock temple to crack popcorn The Dog That Bit You 93.
Page 154
... critical of the press . And the chief criticism has been that journalists are more inter- ested in professional privilege and glitzy careers than in public serv- ice . Nineties films like Hero , Natural Born Killers , To Die For , and ...
... critical of the press . And the chief criticism has been that journalists are more inter- ested in professional privilege and glitzy careers than in public serv- ice . Nineties films like Hero , Natural Born Killers , To Die For , and ...
Page 176
... critical analysis of press coverage of the Nicaraguan revolution , see Shirley Christian , " Covering the Sandinistas , " Washington Journalism Review ( March 1982 ) : 33–38 . 44. Pauline Kael , " Pig Heaven , " in Hooked ( New York ...
... critical analysis of press coverage of the Nicaraguan revolution , see Shirley Christian , " Covering the Sandinistas , " Washington Journalism Review ( March 1982 ) : 33–38 . 44. Pauline Kael , " Pig Heaven , " in Hooked ( New York ...
Common terms and phrases
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