Chapter 2: Beyond Subsistence: The Rise of the Middle Class in the Twentieth Century
- Why were movies—and performers—considered low-status in the early days of the movie industry?
- Describe the social context at the start of the twentieth century. What social changes took place that enabled the growth of the movie industry?
- What was the purpose of the earliest fan magazines?
- What tactics did fan magazines use in order to shift public opinion about movies? About “picture players?”
- What role did World War I play in the evolution of the movie industry?
- How and why did fan magazines tend to focus so much on female performers?
- Describe the advertisements in the early fan magazines. What kind of lifestyle did they promote?
- How did stories about celebrities in the 1910s reflect the Horatio Alger myth?
- Discuss how advertisements in the early fan magazines reflected the notion of upward mobility.
- How do articles about celebrities differ from those of the 1910s? In what way are they similar?
