Summary Points

• We can still talk about a mainstream American culture as a cluster of core ideals and values that represent “the broadest dimensions of shared meanings and assumptions.”
• The classical Hollywood film blends the melodramatic aesthetic mode and outlook with ideals and values associated with American individualism.
• The basic features of a classical Hollywood film are: (1) a main protagonist whose traits, motivations, and goal are all clearly defined; (2) a linear cause-and-effect narrative; and (3) a complete story resolution or closed ending.
• An alternative film might feature: (1) a confused or conflicted protagonist whose goals are not clear, (2) a disjointed or disrupted narrative instead of a linear one, or (3) an ambiguous or open ending that leaves questions and events unresolved.
• The reluctant hero’s journey to self-realization is typical of Hollywood stories. Believing in yourself is a means of redemption for the individual and community.
• Focusing on a central protagonist makes storytelling more dramatic, particularly in a culture that prizes individualism but tends to downplay the impact of institutions and external forces in people’s lives.

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Movie Clips

The Wizard of Oz (1939) Opening Scenes (part 1)

The Wizard of Oz (1939) Opening Scenes (part 2)

Wizard of Oz (1939) Ending

Rocky (1976) Opening Scene

Rocky (1976) Training Montage

Running Scenes from Rocky (1976) to Rocky Balboa (2006)

Do the Right Thing (1989) Right Hand Left Hand

Do the Right Thing (1989) Racist Stereotypes

Here’s Looking at You, Kid—Casablanca (1942) (5/6) Movie CLIP (1942) HD

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship—Casablanca (6/6)

What’s So Great About Casablanca? Ask a Film Professor

The Big Short (2015) Mark Baum’s Final Decision and the Aftermaths

The Big Short (2015) Explained

You’ve Got Mail (1998) Coffee Shop Scene

The Shop Around the Corner (1940) First Date

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Fun Stuff

Peter Dreier, “The Real Story of Baseball’s Integration That You Won’t See in 42,” Atlantic, April 11, 2013.

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Sidebar: Going to the Mattress in You've Got Mail (1998)

“The movie is sophisticated enough not to make the megastore into the villain.” —Roger Ebert, review of You’ve Got Mail

Nora Ephron’s romantic comedy, You’ve Got Mail (1998), is a charming, if also formulaic, remake of Shop Around the Corner; the original film title is now the name now of Kathleen Kelly’s (Meg Ryan) boutique children’s bookstore—an intertextual reference. In the 1940 version, two gift-shop employees who dislike each other immensely correspond namelessly through handwritten letters, and they fall in love in the process. The 1998 remake updates the story in two ways: first, the twosome’s secret romance and growing affections happen anonymously via email; and second, ruthless corporate competition magnifies the tension between them.

Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) is the owner of Fox Books, a bookstore chain, and builds one just around the corner in Kathleen’s Upper West Side neighborhood in Manhattan. Ephron patterns one scene after the original film, having the undisclosed pen pals agree to finally meet at a café. Joe shows up, but he doesn’t divulge his identity as Kathleen’s online confidant. Hanks’s character now knows what viewers have known all along, while the narration withholds that same information from Ryan’s character. The effect is to merge the two storylines, the one having to do with their work and the other their romance, and to heighten spectators’ anticipation of Kathleen’s discovery that her business nemesis and her anonymous online correspondent are one and the same (and her true love).

Kathleen’s quaint bookstore is not just a business; it is her mother’s legacy, and she feels deeply responsible for maintaining it. It’s not long after the grand opening of Fox Books that The Shop Around the Corner begins losing business with formerly loyal customers lured away by the megastore’s huge selection and low prices. Kathleen “goes to the mattresses,” a phrase from The Godfather (1972) that means to go to war. Eventually, however, Kathleen is forced to close. Leaving the store for the last time, her feelings are revealed in a voiceover: “I’m heartbroken. I feel as if a part of me has died, and my mother has died all over again. And no one can ever make it right.” No one except Joe Fox.

Following the genre’s conventions, the same mega-bookstore owner who ruins Kathleen’s life also restores it. Their fierce business rivalry is overcome easily enough with them finding satisfaction in love. Even though Joe intentionally, and without caring, drives her family-owned bookstore out of business! Love is a wonderful thing. Other than to simply accept it as an economic reality, the film never deals with large corporations destroying small businesses, even though this is a major aspect of the film’s plot.

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