In this book, the author offers an analysis of Hollywood's storytelling techniques and how they are used to make complex, easily comprehensible, entertaining films. She also takes on the myth that modern Hollywood films are based on a narrative system radically different from the one in use during the golden age of the studio system.;Drawing on a wide range of films from the 1920s to the 1990s - from Keaton's"Our Hospitality" to "Casablanca" to "Terminator 2" - Thompson explains such staples of narratives as the goal-oriented protagonist, the double plot-line, and dialogue hooks. She demonstrates that the "three-act structure," a concept widely used by practitioners and media commentators, fails to explain how Hollywood stories are put together.;The author then demonstrates in detail how classical narrative techniques work in ten box-office and critical successes made since the new Hollywood began in the 1970s: "Tootsie", "Back to the Future", "The Silence of the Lambs", "Groundhog Day", "Desperately Seeking Susan", "Amadeus", "The Hunt for Red October", "Parenthood", "Alien", and "Hannah and her Sisters".
In passing, she suggests reasons for the apparent slump in quality in Hollyw
- ISBN10 0674839749
- ISBN13 9780674839748
- Publish Date 5 November 1999
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 7 October 2008
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Harvard University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 412
- Language English