DeMille and Danger: Seven Heuristic Taxonomic Categories of His Hollywood (Mis)Adventures

The legendary producer-director Cecil B. DeMille1 was an unsung auteur, a master of the American cinema, and a seminal cofounder of both Hollywood and Paramount Pictures who was professionally enamoured with the pursuit of sensationalism, authenticity and realism for his crowd-pleasing productions....

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Main Author: Anton Karl Kozlovic
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Association for American Studies 2014-03-01
Series:European Journal of American Studies
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/10165
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author Anton Karl Kozlovic
author_facet Anton Karl Kozlovic
author_sort Anton Karl Kozlovic
collection DOAJ
description The legendary producer-director Cecil B. DeMille1 was an unsung auteur, a master of the American cinema, and a seminal cofounder of both Hollywood and Paramount Pictures who was professionally enamoured with the pursuit of sensationalism, authenticity and realism for his crowd-pleasing productions. Whilst pursuing this filmic quest, many of his crew were subjected to real danger, distress and injury, sometimes mortally. Utilising humanist film criticism as the guiding analytical lens, the critical DeMille, autobiographical and related anecdotal literature was selectively reviewed for illustrative instances of this infamous production penchant. Seven heuristic taxonomic categories were identified and explicated herein, namely: (1) Unexpected Working Accidents: From Annoying to Dangerous to Deadly, (2) Pain as a By-Product of Production: Expected and Unexpected, (3) Personal Discomfort as a Professional Norm: More Real Than Real?, (4) Professionalism as Expected Risk-Taking: Normalising Danger, (5) Miserliness and Rebellion: Managerial Risk-Taking, (6) The Engineering of “Accidents”: Applied Miserliness?, and (7) Bravely Leading from the Front: DeMille as Macho-Man. It was concluded from this montage of reported incidents that DeMille played a very colourful part in creating the factually-based legends of this never-to-be-repeated Golden Age of Hollywood. Further research into DeMille studies, the expansion of the above-constructed categories, and other autobiographical reminiscences about Tinsel Town is warmly recommended; whether as history, art or entertainment.
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spelling doaj-art-228f54482d5f4b40818cb3598c4400542025-01-06T09:10:48ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362014-03-019110.4000/ejas.10165DeMille and Danger: Seven Heuristic Taxonomic Categories of His Hollywood (Mis)AdventuresAnton Karl KozlovicThe legendary producer-director Cecil B. DeMille1 was an unsung auteur, a master of the American cinema, and a seminal cofounder of both Hollywood and Paramount Pictures who was professionally enamoured with the pursuit of sensationalism, authenticity and realism for his crowd-pleasing productions. Whilst pursuing this filmic quest, many of his crew were subjected to real danger, distress and injury, sometimes mortally. Utilising humanist film criticism as the guiding analytical lens, the critical DeMille, autobiographical and related anecdotal literature was selectively reviewed for illustrative instances of this infamous production penchant. Seven heuristic taxonomic categories were identified and explicated herein, namely: (1) Unexpected Working Accidents: From Annoying to Dangerous to Deadly, (2) Pain as a By-Product of Production: Expected and Unexpected, (3) Personal Discomfort as a Professional Norm: More Real Than Real?, (4) Professionalism as Expected Risk-Taking: Normalising Danger, (5) Miserliness and Rebellion: Managerial Risk-Taking, (6) The Engineering of “Accidents”: Applied Miserliness?, and (7) Bravely Leading from the Front: DeMille as Macho-Man. It was concluded from this montage of reported incidents that DeMille played a very colourful part in creating the factually-based legends of this never-to-be-repeated Golden Age of Hollywood. Further research into DeMille studies, the expansion of the above-constructed categories, and other autobiographical reminiscences about Tinsel Town is warmly recommended; whether as history, art or entertainment.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/10165HollywooddangeraccidentsGolden Agehumanist film criticismsilent films
spellingShingle Anton Karl Kozlovic
DeMille and Danger: Seven Heuristic Taxonomic Categories of His Hollywood (Mis)Adventures
European Journal of American Studies
Hollywood
danger
accidents
Golden Age
humanist film criticism
silent films
title DeMille and Danger: Seven Heuristic Taxonomic Categories of His Hollywood (Mis)Adventures
title_full DeMille and Danger: Seven Heuristic Taxonomic Categories of His Hollywood (Mis)Adventures
title_fullStr DeMille and Danger: Seven Heuristic Taxonomic Categories of His Hollywood (Mis)Adventures
title_full_unstemmed DeMille and Danger: Seven Heuristic Taxonomic Categories of His Hollywood (Mis)Adventures
title_short DeMille and Danger: Seven Heuristic Taxonomic Categories of His Hollywood (Mis)Adventures
title_sort demille and danger seven heuristic taxonomic categories of his hollywood mis adventures
topic Hollywood
danger
accidents
Golden Age
humanist film criticism
silent films
url https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/10165
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