The Hollywood Musical: Singing and Dancing the American Dream

Beyond its unapologetic praise of spectacularity and entertainment, what makes the Hollywood film musical a quintessential American genre? Since its origins, the Hollywood musical has been channelling various ideologies in its modes of performance and production; it has offered a space to address specific anxieties of the American society: modernity vs. nostalgia, representations of gender, ethnicity, class, and the low/high divide in arts. Emphasis will be given on its performative aspects, the relationship between choreography and song, the changing representations of the dancing body, musical styles, sexual objectification and the star persona.