Babel and Babylon: Spectatorship in American Silent Film [Paperback]

Babel and Babylon is a far-reaching book that leads us to new questions about history and theory. It amply proves that early cinema can be one of the most intriguing and productive domains of film study today. -- Dana Polan Film Criticism A bold and strikingly original exploration...Hansen has produced a work that has revolutionized the concept of spectatorship in American silent film and that will be an essential tool for historians and film scholars alike. -- Leslie Fishbein American Historical Review An innovative look at the role and impact of class and gender, Hansen's work significantly realigns many of the issues that have traditionally dominated the study of American silent film. -- Edward D. C. Campbell, Jr. Journal of American History Hansen's expansive, detailed, and exceptionally erudite study assesses key instances when cinema spectatorship opened up the possibility of articulating the contradictions of female experience. -- Constance Balides Signs

Miriam Hansen offers an original perspective on American film by tying the emergence of spectatorship to the historical transformation of the public sphere. Focusing on exemplary moments in the American silent era, she explains how the concept of the spectator evolved as a crucial part of the classical Hollywood paradigm - as one of the new industry's strategies to integrate ethnically, socially and sexually differentiated audiences in a modern culture of consumption.

Miriam Hansen is Professor of English at the University of Chicago.