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Only Recently Have Authors Such As King (2002) Started To Analyze The Makings ...

Only recently have authors such as King (2002) started to analyze the makings behind some of the most famous films of our times. The film market is highly competitive; hence the difficulties in obtaining background information to analyze the techniques employed to turn a film into a blockbuster success.
It seems that the debate about Hollywood's success in film making has always fallen into two distinct clichés: that which advocates Hollywood films as products of careful manipulation by the Hollywood producers in connection with cultivating a certain image and the publicity surrounding it to manipulate audience preferences, and that which sees Hollywood films as outcomes of audience choice due to personal preferences that are not being influenced by Hollywood's marketing and advertising campaigns.
Neals's et al. Contemporary Hollywood Cinema (1998) is the first comprehensive survey of Hollywood's use of various techniques in contemporary film production that examines marketing, advertising and publicity structures, which help turn Hollywood films into global commodities. It also provides an overview of the cult of Hollywood film making and its social function among audiences and within society. Neale et al. are some of few theorists, who believe that a Hollywood film may have gained prominence due to high public attention and recognition and not necessarily through its outstanding plot. Their claim that especially blockbusters are often mere products of audience manipulation by Hollywood advertising masterminds is backed up with numerous examples of shallow film-making and figures showing audience preferences and actual film profits. Another author to agree to this viewpoint is Goodman (1961), who feels that Hollywood creativity has slightly decreased over time. In his opinion, many plots are repeated so that they do not have the same effect as the original one from which they derived.
Neale's et al. insight into the cultural processes of film consumption is of great interest due to its analysis of how various audiences respond differently to film culture and the author's conclusion of the cultural functions of Hollywood films. The first function in Neale's et al. opinion is Hollywood's role in shaping cultural identity by forming social and personal identity among audiences. This insofar benefits this project as it helps the reader to understand why consumers mould their watching preferences around Hollywood productions and often discredit foreign ‘cheaper' and ‘less action-packed' productions. According to Neale et al., the biggest box office successes are when target audiences have certain expectations before watching the movie and like and trust the actors' image, and, consequently, are willing to invest money to obtain a piece of the advertised lifestyle by, for example, buying film merchandise such as T-shirts or buying the film on DVD.

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