Hollywood hype and audiences Selling and watching [Paperback]

A fascinating multi-dimensional investigation of popular film as a commercial, cultural and social phenomenon, focusing on well known and controversial films, and on important - and marketable - issues such as sex and violence. Traces the circulation in Britain of three Hollywood films - Basic Instinct, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Natural Born Killers - from marketing and critical reception to consumption. Draws on economic and discursive contexts and original audience research to trace how meanings, pleasures and uses are derived from popular film. First in the field to look at how Hollywood blockbusters are marketed in Britain. Combining detailed case studies with a clear and up-to-date overview of audience research and the political economy of contemporary cinema this will be essential reading for students of film, popular culture and the media.

1. Introduction: a multi-dimensional approach to popular film

2. Texts in context

3. Basic Instinct: 'woman on top'?

4. Bram Stoker's Dracula: 'Gone with the Wind plus fangs'

5. Natural Born Killers: a film for hooligans?

6. Conclusion

Appendices

Thomas Austin is Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Sussex