Abstract:As the seventh art, movie plays an indispensable role in the modern culture life. In the 20th centery, Hollywood, as the leader of movie art, leads the global film industry and the American culture to a new level. Hollywood has become the pronoun of American culture. The film appreciators and researchers can see that Hollywood movie is the mirror of American society, reflecting varieties of society and the local culture. Hollywood movies open up a brand new way to study American culture. This thesis analyzes the American culture insinuating from six kinds of Hollywood movies, which are western film, reactionary gang film, hardboiled detective film, screwball comedy, musical film and family melodrama, dissecting their cultural phenomenon, social status and historical factors. And by learning different aspects of American culture, the development of American history and the cultural ideology of Americans through this powerful media, it will be good for the communication between people and culture in China and America.

Key words: Hollywood; movie; American culture

Table of Contents

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-1

2. The Origin And Development of Hollywood-2

2.1 The origin and development of hollywood and hollywood genres-2

2.2-Hollywood: the pronoun of American culture-2

3. The Classifying Of Hollywood Movie And The Analysis Of American Culture From The Insinuation Of Them-4

3.1 Western film-4

3.1.1 The presenters of American nationalistic characteristic and spirit: western film-4

3.1.2 The west and the cowboy culture-4

3.1.3 A cultural idol: cowboy and its cruel fact-4

3.2 Reactionary gang film-5

3.2.1 Reactionary gang film: the plagiarism from news-5

3.2.2 WWⅠ, the great depression and prohibition: the catalyst of American sinister gang-5

3.2.3 The humanism of gangsters and their self-destruction-6

3.3 Hardboiled detective film-6

3.3.1 The breaking faith of the federal government and the rose of hardboiled detective film-6

3.3.2 The former American president Ronald Reagon and his hardboiled image-6

3.3.3 WWⅡand film noir-7

3.4 Screwball comedy-7

3.4.1 The life adjustment in the great depression-7

3.4.2 The sharping of class contradictions and the utopia dream-8

3.5 Musical film-8

3.6 Family melodrama-9

3.6.1 Focal point of family melodrama: middle class family-9

3.6.2 The feudal domination of noble family in America-9

3.6.3 The American family, marriage and sex attitude-9

4. Conclusion-11

References-12

Acknowledgements-13