Hollywood Melodrama and the New Deal - 9781138689503

Taylor & Francis

Hollywood Melodrama and the New DealPublic Daydreams\nAuthor(s): Anna Siomopoulos\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9781138689503, 978-1138689503\nSynopsis\nWhile many critics have analyzed the influence of the FDR administration on Hollywood films of the era, most of these studies have focused either on New Deal imagery or on studio interactions with the federal government. Neither type of study explores the relationship between film and the ideological principles underlying the New Deal. \n\nThis book argues that the most important connections between the New Deal and Hollywood melodrama lie neither in the New Deal iconography of these films, nor in the politics of any one studio executive. Rather, the New Deal figures prominently in Hollywood melodramas of the Depression era because these films engage the political ideas underlying welfare state policiesideas that extended the reach of government into the private .