Overview

In Screen Traffic Charles R. Acland looks at how the commercial movie industry has altered conceptions of movie going both within the industry and among audiences. He shows how studios, in their increasing reliance on revenues from audiences around the world, have cultivated a global understanding of their products over the past fifteen to twenty years. In doing so, Acland argues, they have significantly changed the cultural practice of movie going. He explores this transformation by investigating the generation and dissemination of knowledge about studio movies. Integrating film and cultural theory with promotional materials, entertainment news, trade publications, and economic commentary, Acland examines an array of sites where a new understanding of movies and movie going has developed within popular culture and the entertainment industry. One way a diverse audience is united, he contends, is through a growing Hollywood ""insiderism,"" which conveys to the public not only news about stars and features, but also industry financial information, most notably the box office ""numbers."" Another key site shaping contemporary movie going, he argues, is the modern megaplex. Acland traces the history of the megaplex--characterized by its large auditoriums, large number of screens, and the activities it sold in addition to film spectatorship--from its genesis in the re-entry of studios into the movie exhibition business in 1986 through to 1998, when reports of the economic ""failure"" of the multiplex began to surface--just as the rise of digital technologies seemed to signal another wave of change in the movie industry.

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... this is a worthwhile, and in many ways, ground-breaking study. --The Times Higher Education Supplement, 2 July 2004 Screen Traffic is a creative blend of both fact and theory. It begins from a current observable transformation of the film industry: moviegoing and megaplexes--to which it adds both policy reflection and cultural studies. Acland is to be commended for his innovative and engaging scholarship, which not only provides insight to the cultural practices and commercial realities of cinema culture, but also stands as an excellent resource for communication scholars interested in work on global products and the global audience. Rather than merely draw upon the work of other authors, Acland's book will itself become an inspiration to other authors. --2004 Robinson Book Prize Committee Acland's work in Screen Traffic is representative of truly impressive research combined with a number of original theoretical ideas that provide a fresh perspective on the binary arguments that normally characterize discussions of globalization. --Nancy Fallen, Velvet Light Trap [R]efreshing... Acland's deliberate merging of popular culture, industry discourse and economic data mark Screen Traffic as a fascinating contribution to cinema theory... Screen Traffic provides a much needed amount of accelerated media culture at the end of the twentieth century... [A]n insightful and thought provoking analysis of the globalized and cross-marketed media landscape. --Leanne Downing, Screening the Past [A]n impressive feat. Charles Acland's Screen Traffic deserves to reach a broad, international audience. --Ted Magder, Canadian Journal of Communication Screen Traffic addresses the recent, fundamental shifts in cinema, yet it also is about nothing less than the spatial, temporal, and 'intermedial' reorganization of everyday life. Indeed, what's remarkable about this book is its relevance to--and / resonance with--recent changes in other media industries, including book and music publishing. --Ted Striphas, Cultural Studies

""" ... this is a worthwhile, and in many ways, ground-breaking study.""--The Times Higher Education Supplement, 2 July 2004 ""Screen Traffic is a creative blend of both fact and theory. It begins from a current observable transformation of the film industry: moviegoing and megaplexes--to which it adds both policy reflection and cultural studies. Acland is to be commended for his innovative and engaging scholarship, which not only provides insight to the cultural practices and commercial realities of cinema culture, but also stands as an excellent resource for communication scholars interested in work on global products and the global audience. Rather than merely draw upon the work of other authors, Acland's book will itself become an inspiration to other authors.""--2004 Robinson Book Prize Committee ""Acland's work in Screen Traffic is representative of truly impressive research combined with a number of original theoretical ideas that provide a fresh perspective on the binary arguments that normally characterize discussions of globalization.""--Nancy Fallen, Velvet Light Trap ""[R]efreshing... Acland's deliberate merging of popular culture, industry discourse and economic data mark Screen Traffic as a fascinating contribution to cinema theory... Screen Traffic provides a much needed amount of accelerated media culture at the end of the twentieth century... [A]n insightful and thought provoking analysis of the globalized and cross-marketed media landscape.""--Leanne Downing, Screening the Past ""[A]n impressive feat. Charles Acland's Screen Traffic deserves to reach a broad, international audience.""--Ted Magder, Canadian Journal of Communication ""Screen Traffic addresses the recent, fundamental shifts in cinema, yet it also is about nothing less than the spatial, temporal, and 'intermedial' reorganization of everyday life. Indeed, what's remarkable about this book is its relevance to--and / resonance with--recent changes in other media industries, including book and music publishing.""--Ted Striphas, Cultural Studies"

... this is a worthwhile, and in many ways, ground-breaking study. --The Times Higher Education Supplement, 2 July 2004 Screen Traffic is a creative blend of both fact and theory. It begins from a current observable transformation of the film industry: moviegoing and megaplexes--to which it adds both policy reflection and cultural studies. Acland is to be commended for his innovative and engaging scholarship, which not only provides insight to the cultural practices and commercial realities of cinema culture, but also stands as an excellent resource for communication scholars interested in work on global products and the global audience. Rather than merely draw upon the work of other authors, Acland's book will itself become an inspiration to other authors. --2004 Robinson Book Prize Committee Acland's work in Screen Traffic is representative of truly impressive research combined with a number of original theoretical ideas that provide a fresh perspective on the binary arguments that normally characterize discussions of globalization. --Nancy Fallen, Velvet Light Trap [R]efreshing... Acland's deliberate merging of popular culture, industry discourse and economic data mark Screen Traffic as a fascinating contribution to cinema theory... Screen Traffic provides a much needed amount of accelerated media culture at the end of the twentieth century... [A]n insightful and thought provoking analysis of the globalized and cross-marketed media landscape. --Leanne Downing, Screening the Past [A]n impressive feat. Charles Acland's Screen Traffic deserves to reach a broad, international audience. --Ted Magder, Canadian Journal of Communication Screen Traffic addresses the recent, fundamental shifts in cinema, yet it also is about nothing less than the spatial, temporal, and 'intermedial' reorganization of everyday life. Indeed, what's remarkable about this book is its relevance to--and / resonance with--recent changes in other media industries, including book and music publishing. --Ted Striphas, Cultural Studies

Drawing upon economic data, promotional material, fandom, and the trade press, Charles R. Acland takes his study of contemporary cinema culture into the busy intersection of debates about post-national and post-cinematic audiences. Acland assesses the cross-marketed media landscape-megaplexes, television, videotapes, DVDs, fast-food, music, and the web-and deftly maps the global consequences of traffic across these new forms of mobilized visuality. -Anne Friedberg, University of Southern California We need a book about global audiences that is smart about theory and chock-full of facts. Charles R. Acland has delivered one, an incisive blend of cultural and cinema studies. Buy it, get it, plunder it! -Toby Miller, coauthor of Global Hollywood

Author Information

Charles R. Acland is Associate Professor of Communications Studies at Concordia University, Montreal. He is the author of Youth, Murder, Spectacle: The Cultural Politics of “Youth in Crisis” and coeditor of Harold Innis in the New Century: Reflections and Refractions.

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