Transatlantic Cinema

Though it is a commonplace to describe Hollywood as a transatlantic (and indeed international) movie 'factory', as the smithy in which images of transatlantic relations were forged, Hollywood from its infancy right up to the present day has simultaneously been inspired and enriched by influences from Europe. Although transatlantic relations and transatlantic cultural exchange have been a fruitful field of academic research, most scholarly work to date has been carried out by historians, sociologists and by political scientists, whereas there are as yet few book-length studies about the representation of European-American relations on the silver screen. Given the enormous influence which cinema has wielded on international audiences since its inception, it is high time that the cinematic aspects of transatlanticism were explored in depth. The present volume, which addresses transatlantic relations and cultural exchange by focusing on European-American cultural encounters and negotiations in the genre of film through the multidisciplinary lens of American Studies, British Studies, Communications and Media Studies, German Studies, History, and Romance Studies, is a first attempt at closing this scholarly gap.