Mgm: the Superior Studio of the Golden Age

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MGM: The Superior Studio of the Golden Age MGM was a cut above the rest. Its sole make up of film stars, production managers and size is enough to make a person’s head spin. Of all the products of popular culture over the years, none have stood out or etched themselves in our imagination as film. Most Americans and people throughout the world can easily recognize the timeless songs “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” from the movie The Wizard of Oz, and distinguish the beautiful scenery and acting from the classic film Gone With the Wind. Neither of these films would have been made possible without the genius business mind of MGM production chief Louis B. Mayer or MGM. “In what we seem doomed to regard as the movies’ Golden Age, MGM defined Hollywood in ways that transcend any individual movie. Some of those things are intangible-glamour, gloss, the specific sound of the MGM orchestra- but some are not. Louis B. Mayer defined MGM, just as MGM defined Hollywood, and Hollywood defined America” (Eyman, 2005, p.12). America would likely not be the same today without the cultural influences of studio systems, the Golden Age of film, and more specifically without MGM studios. Brief History of the Hollywood Golden Age There were two major advances that started the transition from basic film to the studio system: feature films and the star system. The growth of motion pictures from single “one reeler” films which lasted about 15 minutes to features lasting ninety minutes and longer made it possible for studios to create more meaningful stories with a complex plot and additional actors. This change in story type was much more intriguing to the more affluent middle-class (Balio, 1995, p. 12). Because the audience was now able to view stars for longer periods of time, thus feeling more connected to certain actors and causing stars to take on

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