🎬 The End of "Art for Art's Sake": How WWI Weaponized Cinema
https://jscenter.ir/jews-and-the-media/jews-and-hollywood/21086

On the anniversary of cinema's creation, we examine the war that exposed its true power as a tool for mass influence, not just entertainment.

World War I was a turning point in cinematic history. This global conflict stripped away cinema's innocent facade as a mere "art form" and revealed its immense potential as a tool of "soft power" and public diplomacy. It became clear that the "silver screen" could shape public opinion, rally nations, and forge modern myths.

📽️ Case Study: "The Battle of the Somme" (1916)

This five-part documentary, produced with direct support from the British War Office, is a prime example:

· It brought 20 million British viewers into cinemas within just six weeks of its release (from a population of ~46 million).
· British Prime Minister David Lloyd George personally promoted it, urging citizens to "see this picture" which showcased "the bravery of our men."
· After influencing the domestic audience, it was rapidly distributed internationally by the government's public diplomacy apparatus, affecting viewers in 18 other countries.

This film proved that cinema could be a powerful engine for social capital and national morale.

🌍 The Ideological Shift: From Theism to "Isms"

Beyond geopolitical changes, WWI triggered a profound civilizational shift. It weakened traditional, theism-centered (God-focused) values and paved the way for man-made, humanist ideologies to fill the void.

· The war created the perfect conditions for removing religion from public life.
· The post-war world saw the rise of competing secular "isms": Socialism in the USSR, Individualism in the USA, Nationalism in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
· Cinema, as a new and powerful medium, was quickly seized upon by these emerging ideologies. A "tsunami of isms" flooded the cinematic landscape, each using it to promote its worldview.

💡 The Triple Revelation: Industry, Art, Medium

Before WWI, cinema was seen mainly as a novel industry—a technical and commercial venture. Its artistic and, most importantly, its media/mass communication dimensions were obscured.

· Its high financial barriers and need for artistic talent naturally led to significant involvement from the globally connected Jewish community, which had the capital and artistic networks.
· After the war, theorists like Ricciotto Canudo began calling cinema the "Seventh Art," emphasizing its aesthetic value. While this developed film's artistic language, it also served as a brilliant smokescreen.
· The slogan "Art for Art's Sake" or "cinema for cinema" diverted public attention from its core function: a mass media tool. This disguise allowed the new "isms" to maximize their use of cinema for propaganda while the public saw only "art."

🔚 Conclusion

World War I ended the naive era of cinema. It proved film was not just an industry or an art, but a potent three-fold entity: Industry-Art-Media. The conflict ripped off the veil, showing governments and powers that whoever mastered this medium could shape minds, build social capital, and advance ideologies on an unprecedented scale. The age of cinematic innocence was over; the age of cinematic power had begun.

Source: Jewish Studies Center - "World War I; The End of the 'Art for Art's Sake' Myth in Cinema"

#CinemaHistory #WWI #Propaganda #SoftPower #FilmStudies #Media #TheBattleOfTheSomme

✅ @rahyafte_en

The "Nobodies" Who Reinvented Hollywood & Brought Scandal to the Screen
https://jscenter.ir/jews-and-the-media/jews-and-hollywood/10827

On cinema's anniversary, a look at the "rags-to-riches" Jewish immigrants who built Hollywood's major studios and fundamentally changed its content.

In its early days, established American Christians saw the burgeoning film industry as a disreputable novelty. This vacuum was filled by a group of ambitious Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Dismissed by the establishment as "Nobodies" — individuals with no formal education, capital, or family prestige — they possessed relentless drive and an instinct for what the public wanted.

👥 The Founders: A Homogeneous Group of Outsiders

Their backgrounds were strikingly similar: childhoods marked by poverty, loss, dislocation, and often difficult relationships with their pasts and families.

· Carl Laemmle (born in Germany): Lost his beloved mother young. Persuaded his father to let him try his luck in America. Founded Universal Pictures.
· Adolph Zukor (born in Hungary): Orphaned as a child and raised by a cold, unloving rabbi uncle. Founded Paramount Pictures.
· William Fox (born in Hungary): Had an irresponsible father; became the family breadwinner as a boy. Later founded the Fox Film Corporation.
· Louis B. Mayer (born in Russia): Claimed to forget his birthplace and later celebrated his birthday on the 4th of July. Rebelled against his father. Came to lead the largest studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
· The Warner Brothers (born in Poland): Their father, Benjamin, left for America alone, working as a cobbler for years before bringing his family over. His sons pooled their money to buy a projector, leading to Warner Bros.

A key trait: upon arriving in America, they actively shed their pasts, striving to assimilate completely and become more American than anyone.

✨ The "Magic Ingredient": Sensationalism & Scandal

What did these "Nobodies" bring that the "civilized" American Christians would not? They understood mass entertainment.

· They added a "magic ingredient": sensationalism, romantic scenes, and morally questionable content.
· They populated their films with attractive men and women, crafting provocative narratives and pioneering aggressive marketing.
· Between 1910-1920, they successfully prescribed this formula to a previously more moderate American cinema, understanding that spectacle and sensation sold tickets.

🏰 The Legacy: From "Nobodies" to Eternal Rulers

The powerful Hollywood we know today is, in large part, the creation of these marginalized immigrants. United by a shared background of hardship and a burning desire to succeed in their new country, they:

· Built the legendary major film studios from the ground up.
· Reinvented Hollywood's commercial DNA, prioritizing audience appeal over established propriety.
· Transformed themselves from desperate "nobodies" into the eternal rulers of the world's most profitable film industry.

Their story is one of incredible ambition, shrewd understanding of the public psyche, and a decisive break from the past to forge a new cultural empire.

Source: Jewish Studies Center - "Who Brought Immoral Scenes to Cinema?"

#HollywoodHistory #FilmStudies #StudioSystem #JewishHistory #Paramount #Universal #MGM #WarnerBros

✅ @rahyafte_en