Paper short abstract:

The paper revisits American anthropologist Hortense Powdermaker's pioneer ethnographic study of the American film industry, in the forties, to discuss what a media anthropological approach to cinema might look like today.

Paper long abstract:

In 1950, Hortense Powdermaker published 'Hollywood, the Dream Factory' (1951), the first ethnographic study of a film industry. As an experienced anthropologist, she drew on Bronislaw Malinowski, Franz Boas and other anthropological authorities to frame her inquest and justify her (then rather unorthodox) research object. Powdermaker's aim was to 'look at the movies as an anthropologist', by applying some of the general premises and viewpoints of anthropology to 'an institution of contemporary society' (Powdermaker, 1947). The result remains striking, revealing as much about the kind of anthropology that was being practised in those days as about the American film industry itself. I am about to launch a similar ethnographic inquiry into the film production field in Portugal. Though still in its initial stages, the project is placed at the crossroads of media anthropology, media industry studies and media production studies, and shares some of the concerns voiced in this panel. In this paper, I will revisit Powdermaker's contribution to discuss what it means to choose ethnography to study film production and what a media anthropological approach to cinema might look like.