The Working Class in American Film: The Creation of Image and Cu ...

often been pitted against one another in the war over the culture. As we will see in chapter 1, Hollywood has throughout its history played a significant role in defining the working class. Never, however, has its role in defining the working class been more influential than during the period that ran roughly from 1967 to 1981. In often defining both the working class and the counterculture in narrow ways during this period, essentializing them in many ways, Hollywood helped to draw the lines between the “orthodox” and the “progressive” views of the world, particularly as they relate to class. (Later in this introduction, I will define both working class and counterculture as they are being used in this work.)

The concept of class has been intrinsic to filmmaking since the industry’s earliest days. In his 1998 book Working-Class Hollywood, labor and film historian Steven J. Ross notes that once film evolved from a predominantly working-class medium to a mass medium after World War I, Hollywood played a significant role in “shaping, not just reflecting, popular understanding” of terms such as “class,” “class conflict,” and “class identity” (xiii). Whereas some films from the earlier silent era, which he calls worker films, “challenged the dominant political ideals of the day and offered alternative visions for achieving a more democratic society,” films produced for mass audiences after the war tended to be “far more conservative films that emphasized fantasies of love and harmony among classes” (xii, xiii). Quoting historian Philip Ethington, Ross states that film provides a “language” for people to “understand their position in society” (xiii). Ross writes,

Throughout the last ninety years, Hollywood has continued to provide images and narratives that have helped both to reflect and define the working class. With a few notable exceptions, these images and