Hollywood's overseas campaign

Hollywood's Overseas Campaign: The North Atlantic Movie Trade, 1920-1950 examines how Hollywood movies became one of the most successful U.S. exports, a phenomenon that began during World War I. Focusing on Canada, the market closest to the United States, on Great Britain, the biggest market, and on the U.S. movie industry itself, Ian Jarvie documents how fear of this mass medium's impact and covetousness toward its profits motivated many nations to resist the cultural invasion and economic drain that Hollywood movies represented. The national sentiments used to justify resistance to Hollywood imports are shown to be essentially disingenuous, in that they were motivated by special-interest groups who felt their power threatened by U.S. movies or considered themselves entitled to some of the profits. The efforts of various Canadian and British interest groups to limit film imports and foster domestic production failed because of lack of capital, mismanaged propaganda campaigns, and audience resistance. Indeed, as Ian Jarvie argues, Hollywood's ability to exploit their weaknesses derived, to a great extent, from its mastery of supply, distribution, and the coherent orchestration of the component parts of the industry through the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America.