PhD Oral Exam - Kyla Smith, Film and Moving Image Studies

When studying for a doctoral degree (PhD), candidates submit a thesis that provides a critical review of the current state of knowledge of the thesis subject as well as the student’s own contributions to the subject. The distinguishing criterion of doctoral graduate research is a significant and original contribution to knowledge.

Once accepted, the candidate presents the thesis orally. This oral exam is open to the public.

Abstract

Sponsored films have traditionally been understood in film studies as motion pictures made for utilitarian rather than aesthetic or artistic purposes. Scholarly interventions emphasize production context over textual analysis. As such, general interpretation of “sponsored films” equates them with a utilitarian aesthetic. I propose the showcase film as a new subtype of sponsored motion pictures, a range of aesthetically rich expensive, large-scale productions which emerged in the United States in the period 1955–1965 from the context of an American visual culture saturated by the products of two prominent image domains: Hollywood, and the field of corporate promotion, two spheres predicated on display and performance.

The fluorescence of showcase films in the 10-year period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s is indicative of both the development of the sponsored film industry and its embeddedness in the communications and promotional processes of corporations. It is also emblematic of corporate America’s growing interest in design and aesthetics to facilitate brand-image creation as the postwar corporation was redefined. By mid-century “design” was established as an important tool in the operations of the modern corporation. In this period, the designer’s concept of visual appeal was central to the promulgation of large-scale promotional media as exemplified by the showcase film.

Like a shop window, these films were designed to present viewers with a compelling view of the sponsor’s brand identity. Previously, scholars have examined sponsored films as tools central to the emerging corporate hegemony, especially via the concept of useful cinema. This dissertation acknowledges this connection as central to their ontology while simultaneously urging reconsideration of the aesthetic aspects of these films as central to this utility. Showcase films are argued to function as sophisticated corporate calling cards in the ecology of corporate media promotion.