Changing Preferences: A Change of Perspective
Wojciech Świdziński
woyciesz@gmail.comThe Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6840-4069
Abstract
Joseph Garncarz’s book Zmienność upodobań. O preferencjach filmowych Europejczyków w latach 1896-1939 (2022) [Polish translation of the original German edition, Wechselnde Vorlieben: Über die Filmpräferenzen der Europäer 1896-1939 /2015/] attempts to reconstruct the choices that historical audiences made at cinema box offices. The author gathered figures which show that, early on, cinema was transnational, with audiences in many European countries choosing the same films. By the 1930s, however, even though Hollywood films dominated most markets quantitatively, audiences preferred films from their own country. The conviction that the audience is the main driving force behind the film industry allows the author to look at pre-1939 cinema from a new perspective. At the same time, however, the quantitative method reveals some limitations, primarily regarding the impossibility of gathering fully reliable data. Still, due to its methodological ambitions and many interesting findings, this is a significant publication.
Keywords:
audience, cinema before 1939, quantitative researchReferences
Garncarz, J. (2022). Zmienność upodobań. O preferencjach filmowych Europejczyków w latach 1896-1939 (tłum. A. Dębski). Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Centrum Studiów Niemieckich i Europejskich im. Willy’ego Brandta Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego.
Google Scholar
Lewicki, A. (2014). Analiza box office’ów jako narzędzie badań filmoznawczych. Kwartalnik Filmowy, (85), ss. 118-132.
Google Scholar
Włast, A. (2017). Dziesiąta Muza (impresje). Felietony filmowe z lat 1923-1924 (oprac. W. Świdziński). Warszawa: Instytut Sztuki PAN.
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Authors
Wojciech Świdzińskiwoyciesz@gmail.com
The Aleksander Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6840-4069
PhD in Humanities; theatre and film scholar. Lecturer at the Theatre Academy in Warsaw, member of the Polish Society for Film and Media Studies. He published the book Co było grane? Film zagraniczny w Polsce w latach 1918-1929 na przykładzie Warszawy [What Was on Screens? Foreign Movies in Poland 1918-1929. A Case Study of Warsaw] (2015). He is also the author of an academic study of Andrzej Włast’s collection of movie columns. He published scientific and popular science articles in Kwartalnik Filmowy, Ekrany, Pleograf, and Stolica.
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