LARB Digital eDitions #46: Film

April 201612 pages

LARB Digital eDitions #46: Film

Chris Rock’s monologue at this year’s Academy Awards — in which he called Hollywood “sorority racist” and the Oscars the “White People’s Choice Awards” — was consistent with the film industry’s self-critique. The five essays featured in this collection concern films, from Trumbo to What Happened, Miss Simone?, which address Hollywood’s politically incorrect history in their stories or backstories. When the genius of the Hollywood system delighted and disappointed as publicly and systematically as it did in 2015, the writers in this collection answered genius with genius, demonstrating a mastery of film history and theory, and a deep understanding of how Hollywood critiques itself.