Course Description

'Hollywood' meant 'movies' during its golden years, but today 'Hollywood' encompasses an entire series of connected industries that form the locus of a profoundly important global imaginary. What economic and institutional structures influence the politics of production inside Hollywood? What moments of individual agency are available inside these structures? How does this dialectic shape the cultural products we consume? How is digitalization changing Hollywood? What possibilities does it hold for increasing cultural diversity? For generic innovation?  To what extent is Hollywood even located in Hollywood anymore, and what are the implications of its gradual geographical diffusion for the Canadian entertainment industries? These are some of the questions that "The Political Economy of Hollywood" will undertake to answer.