Hollywood cycles
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In the classic era of the cinema of the United States (1930 – 1945) genres matured. A "cycle" occurs when a large amount of films consisting of specific features are produced in a certain period of time, and following the success of films with similar topics[1]. While most would recognize many of the genres as Westerns, gangsters, musicals, etc., often the cycles were significantly more specific. A cycle is different from a genre or a subgenre, because a cycle focuses on a timeframe, the other two can be used at different times[1]. Hollywood studios created my cycles to attract viewers in the 20th century, and succeed at the box office[2]. Major Hollywood studios have made profits from film cycles because viewers are interest on films with the same theme or topic[3].
In the 1960s, successful examples of Hollywood cycles include cycles of youth revolution films, protest films, campus revolt films and youth rebellion films[2]. However, in the 1980s, some films commercially failed, including Conan the Barbarian, The Thing and Footloose, because they did not meet the expectations[3].
Instead of "romantic comedy", a cycle might be described as the "Boy-meets-girl-boy-loses-girl-boy-gets-girl" cycle.
See also
[edit]- Film theory
- Film genre
- Formula fiction In literary works, generic storylines are referred to as formula fiction.
- Trope
References
[edit]- ^ a b Bothmann, Nils (2018), "Genre Theory", Action, Detection and Shane Black, Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, pp. 11–54, doi:10.1007/978-3-658-24078-3_2, ISBN 978-3-658-24077-6, retrieved 2025-04-04
- ^ a b Bodroghkozy, Aniko (2002). "Reel Revolutionaries: An Examination of Hollywood's Cycle of 1960s Youth Rebellion Films". Cinema Journal. 41 (3): 38–58. ISSN 0009-7101.
- ^ a b Loock, Kathleen (2016-12-31), Klein, Amanda Ann; Palmer, R. Barton (eds.), "Chapter 16. Retro-Remaking: The 1980s Film Cycle in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema", Cycles, Sequels, Spin-offs, Remakes, and Reboots, University of Texas Press, pp. 277–298, doi:10.7560/309001-017, ISBN 978-1-4773-0818-9, retrieved 2025-04-04
Further reading
[edit]- American Film Cycles: Reframing Genres, Screening Social Problems and Defining Subcultures
- Cycles, Sequels, Spin-offs, Remakes, and Reboots,
- "Film Cycles, Industry and Audience: Hammer Films' 'Monster' Cycle and American International Pictures Poe Adaptations",
- "Reel Revolutionaries: An Examination of Hollywood's Cycle of 1960s Youth Rebellion Films"
- Postfeminism and Contemporary Hollywood Cinema
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