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 9
... reality , not the other way around . " What with our insensitiveness and inattention , " distin- guished critic Bernard Berenson once said , " things scarcely would have for us features and outlines so determined and clear that we could ...
... reality , not the other way around . " What with our insensitiveness and inattention , " distin- guished critic Bernard Berenson once said , " things scarcely would have for us features and outlines so determined and clear that we could ...
Page 15
... reality . But there's no question that journalism and the people who practice it have changed over the years . I got my first job in journalism in 1977 and later worked on two Knight Ridder papers , the Charlotte Observer and the Grand ...
... reality . But there's no question that journalism and the people who practice it have changed over the years . I got my first job in journalism in 1977 and later worked on two Knight Ridder papers , the Charlotte Observer and the Grand ...
Page 30
... reality . Billy , Williams points out , " had little to do with anything normal , because his job was to hunt and handle The News , which means the interesting , the unusual , surprising , shocking , remarkable , wonderful , wicked ...
... reality . Billy , Williams points out , " had little to do with anything normal , because his job was to hunt and handle The News , which means the interesting , the unusual , surprising , shocking , remarkable , wonderful , wicked ...
Common terms and phrases
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