Hollywood, the UN and the Long History of Film Communicating Internationalism.

Abstract

For more than 75 years, Hollywood—its studios and its stars—have played their parts in the political and cultural history of the UN, and twentieth-century internationalism. These days that relationship has been glamorized by celebrities who regularly report back from the world’s crisis spots as ambassadors for UNICEF and UNHCR, or who speak out on women’s issues on the UN’s behalf. In this chapter I draw on original Academy of Motion Picture archives to examine the early history of the UN’s relationship with Hollywood and the long history of the politics of media and international organizations. I situate that history in the context of the current debate regarding the imperialist dimensions of liberal internationalism, in order to better understand the significance of internationalism at the end of the Second World War. This is a history that takes us across a spectrum of mid-twentieth century political motivations: from idealism to economics. It also returns us to an older story of the significance of ideas in political history, and changing conceptions of the role ideas, and images, might play in changing the world’s course.