The negative factors included declining audiences,
caused in part by competition from television; the
escalating costs of producing films independently
rather than in the studios, where the permanent
physical and human support structure was very
cost-effective; and the forced retirement or reloca-
tion of studio personnel. However, these were out-
weighed by the positive factors. The new
Hollywood adapted conventions of classical genres
to conform to new modes of expression and meet
audience expectations, abandoned the code for a
new rating system, and did more shooting on loca-
tion; the result was a more authentic look for the
movies. Furthermore, while the studios retained
their names and kept their production facilities
open to ensure the smoothness of the established
preproduction/production/postproduction matrix,
they have changed ownership frequently over the
years. Movies are now made in complex deals
involving the studios and independent production
companies headed by individual producers, many
of whom invested capital in their own work. The
“star machine” collapsed as well, ushering in
decades of new talent whose careers, which once
would have been meticulously planned and moni-
tored, were now subject to market forces. Market-
ing of movies remained a precise tool, carefully
adapted to meet the needs of new audiences. One
of the positive effects of this transition was the
increase in audience members who, because of
college film-study classes and an overall greater
awareness of film, had a better understanding of
cinematic conventions than their parents and were
attracted to films by a new breed of American direc-
tors, also trained in university film schools. With the
old labor-dominated system gone, producers could
hire artists from anywhere in the world, and Amer-
ican production was greatly enhanced by their
contributions. Finally, to seal the death of the “old”
Hollywood, New York and other cities in the United
States and Canada emerged as thriving centers of
film production.
Unlike the French New Wave, the New Ameri-
can Cinema was not born in theory but rather out
of the more practical need to adapt to the values of
its time. However, like the French New Wave, the
prevailing spirit was innovation. But with so many
auteurs—some from the old Hollywood and some
from film schools—no single defining style emerged.
Indeed, there was a range of styles, resulting in per-
sonal, highly self-reflexive films; edgy, experimental,
low-budget movies; movies that played homage to
great European directors; and, of course, those that
still adhered to the conventions of the golden age.
Thus diversity and quality are the only links among
such directors as Woody Allen, Robert Altman,
Tim Burton, John Cassavetes, Joel and Ethan
Coen, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, ClintStranger Than Paradise:a milestone in the New
American CinemaJim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than
Paradise(1984) did more than any other movie to define the
New American Cinema. It tells a distinctly American story; it
was made in a fresh, easy style clearly influenced by
American movies as well as the new waves in European and
Asian cinema; and it was produced by a film-school graduate
using funds from various sources, both American and
foreign. Although unusual in production, form, and content,
this art film was surprisingly successful at the box office. It is
a distinctly marginal effort, but in winning the Cannes Film
Festival prize for best first feature, it encouraged
independent filmmakers and the reception of their work.
Stranger Than Paradisewas shot in a series of long takes,
which are structured into three stages of a journey
undertaken by three offbeat travelers. They are Willie (John
Lurie), a hipster living in New York City; his cousin Eva
(Eszter Balint), who comes from Hungary to visit him and
their aunt in Ohio; and Willie’s friend Eddie (Richard Edson).
Eva’s visit to New York is the first stage; the second, which
takes place a year later, recounts a trip that Willie and Eddie
make to Cleveland to visit Eva and the aunt; and the third
stage follows them to the “paradise” of Florida. Their travels
through the bleak landscape, shot in washed-out black and
white, ultimately show that they are going nowhere, but they
have a good time, and so do we. Here, we see the trio in
Florida—(left to right) Eddie, Eva, and Willie—putting on
their new sunglasses so they can look like “real tourists.”1965––1995: THE NEW AMERICAN CINEMA 473