Deck 8: A New New Hollywood, 1981-1999

Question 1

This 1986 court ruling essentially reversed the Paramount decision, allowing studios to repurchase exhibition venues.

A) the Miracle decision
B) the Capitol Service decision
C) the Time Warner decision
D) the Brown decision

Answer 1

the Capitol Service decision

Question 2

The introduction of this home technology in 1980 fundamentally changed how we consume film in the United States.

A) Netflix
B) DVD
C) VCR
D) Blu-Ray

Answer 2

VCR

Question 3

At the center of the 1980 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strike was negotiations over this form of ancillary revenue, which has become a key point of contention in nearly every union negotiation since.

A) health coverage
B) pensions
C) residuals
D) likeness rights

Answer 3

residuals

Question 4

This cult classic sci-fi film deals with the fine line between real and fake, the human and the artificial.

A) Star Wars
B) Alien
C) Tron
D) Blade Runner

Question 5

Name the MGM executive who bought stock in a rival studio, triggering a Justice Department antitrust suit that defined 1980s Hollywood in the era of deregulation.

A) Herbert Allen
B) Ronald Reagan
C) Mark Fowler
D) Kirk Kerkorian

Question 6

Name the comedian who began his career on In Living Color with a persona defined equally by antisocial gross-out humor and his physical flexibility, earning him comparisons to Jerry Lewis.

A) Eddie Murphy
B) Adam Sandler
C) Mike Myers
D) Jim Carrey

Question 7

What rationale stood at the center of the Justice Department's case against Kirk Kerkorian?

A) Hollywood violated First Amendment rights via the MPAA.
B) The consolidation of two studios in an environment where six companies controlled the bulk of the marketplace undermined fair competition.
C) Hollywood's product had become too edgy and was in need of government regulation.
D) Hollywood could not become involved in the television industry.

Question 8

This film producer is primarily identified by his brand of "male rampage films" such as Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, and The Matrix.

A) Jerry Bruckheimer
B) Joel Silver
C) Michael Bay
D) Steven Spielberg

Question 9

This 1980s action trope is best embodied by Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

A) the robotic killer
B) the male body
C) the recessive male
D) the metrosexual male

Question 10

The comic-book adaptation craze that defines contemporary Hollywood can be traced back to this 1978 blockbuster.

A) Superman
B) Batman
C) Spider-Man
D) Dick Tracy

Question 11

Which U.S.historical event often defines the plot and themes of many 1980s and 1990s action films (examples include Rambo, The Rock, and Lethal Weapon)?

A) Watergate
B) the Iran-Contra Affair
C) World War II
D) Vietnam

Question 12

Name the auteurs behind the Top Gun formula: films about independent and dangerous men who live fast, prove their manhood, climb the ranks, suffer setbacks, and ultimately learn to work with others.

A) Tony Scott and Ridley Scott
B) Joel Silver and Michael Bay
C) Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson
D) Michael Bay and Tony Scott

Question 13

This franchise has continually defined the superhero genre as being dark, brooding, and tortured.

A) Iron Man
B) Batman
C) Guardians of the Galaxy
D) Spider-Man

Question 14

This sci-fi franchise follows the plight of Ripley as she battles insect-like creatures and greedy capitalist corporations.

A) Ghostbusters
B) Alien
C) Blade Runner
D) Star Wars

Question 15

This 1989 blockbuster became the prototype for the new, synergized Hollywood blockbuster due to its ancillary and licensing income flows.

A) Purple Rain
B) Superman
C) Batman
D) Star Wars

Question 16

The roots of the contemporary action-adventure film can be traced back to this influential franchise.

A) Star Wars
B) James Bond
C) Star Trek
D) Indiana Jones

Question 17

Name Tim Burton's directorial debut, a 1985 comedy that followed Paul Reubens's childlike stage persona.

A) Beetlejuice
B) The Nutty Professor
C) Caddyshack
D) Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

Question 18

In 1989, these two communications companies merged, becoming a horizontally integrated powerhouse whose holdings included theme parks, publishing companies, a cable company, and a movie studio that was the prototype for the contemporary studio environment.

A) Time Inc.and Warner
B) Disney and Marvel
C) Warner and America Online
D) Disney and Fox

Question 19

Disney bought out Capital Cities for $19 billion in the second-largest corporate takeover in U.S.history, merging their studios with which TV broadcast network?

A) CBS
B) NBC
C) ABC
D) Fox

Question 20

Name the auteur(s) who defined 1990s gross-out comedy, employing sketch-comedy aesthetics in such films as Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary.

A) the Zucker brothers
B) the Farrelly brothers
C) Mike Judge
D) Jay Roach

Question 21

This auteur often explored sexuality with his films 9½ Weeks, Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal, and Unfaithful.

A) Quentin Tarantino
B) David Lynch
C) Spike Lee
D) Adrian Lyne

Question 22

Which description best matches Kevin Smith's comedic aesthetic in films like Clerks and Chasing Amy?

A) obscenity, blasphemy, and bathroom humor
B) reactive wholesomeness
C) bodily performance
D) incoherent dadaism

Question 23

The dawn of the independent film opened up filmmaking opportunities for which of the following demographics?

A) LGBTQ filmmakers
B) nonwhite filmmakers
C) female filmmakers
D) all of the above

Question 24

Spielberg and Lucas eventually gained independence from the studio system via which career maneuver?

A) transcendence of the commercial power structure
B) deft accommodation of the commercial power structure
C) crowd-sourced production budgets
D) international coproductions

Question 25

Which description best matches the Spielberg/Lucas aesthetic?

A) vividly defined, rich characterization
B) spectacle-based entertainment that provides a thrill ride divorced from social commentary and politics
C) spectacle-based entertainment that provides a thrill ride that engages with social commentary and politics
D) social satire that engages with social commentary and politics

Question 26

Name the 1980s comedy auteur who followed an old-fashioned formula suited to white suburban teens in films such as Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club.

A) Kevin Smith
B) Mike Judge
C) John Hughes
D) Tom Green

Question 27

Name the 1989 Spike Lee studio film that unflinchingly deals with the racial conflict surrounding a New York pizzeria and which remains relevant today.

A) Get on the Bus
B) The 25th Hour
C) Scarface
D) Do the Right Thing

Question 28

This term describes the independent film phenomenon of making a film for a "specific and narrow demographic."

A) high-concept film
B) packaging
C) niche film
D) Indiewood

Question 29

Name the auteur who made his career with a celebrated trilogy on the Vietnam War (including Platoon) and whose JFK became one of the most acclaimed films of the 1990s.

A) Tom Cruise
B) Quentin Tarantino
C) Tony Scott
D) Oliver Stone

Question 30

Name the auteur whose debut film sex, lies, and videotape broke the indie film mold when it grossed $25 million and propelled the distributor Miramax to the center of the Sundance generation.

A) Quentin Tarantino
B) John Sayles
C) Steven Soderbergh
D) the Coen brothers

Question 31

Spike Lee extensively uses this device in his films-including his debut film, She's Gotta Have It-to make the viewer wonder if she or he is watching a fiction film or a documentary.

A) split screen
B) direct address
C) amateur actors
D) voice-over

Question 32

Which "electronic cinema"-based film essentially bankrupted Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Studios in the early 1980s?

A) Apocalypse Now
B) The Outsiders
C) One from the Heart
D) Rumble Fish

Question 33

Tim Burton solidified his unique aesthetic with his work on this notable blockbuster franchise.

A) Star Wars
B) Indiana Jones
C) Batman
D) Toy Story

Question 34

Name the postproduction house founded by George Lucas that innovated cutting-edge special effects for movies ranging from the Indiana Jones series to Terminator 2.

A) Pixar
B) LucasFilm
C) Industrial Light and Magic
D) Weta Digital

Question 35

Which description best matches Quentin Tarantino's aesthetic?

A) family-friendly morality tales
B) ultraviolent, self-aware, nonlinear genre experiments
C) jukebox musical romantic comedies
D) high-art dramas

Question 36

Which studio eventually bought the rights to Star Wars from LucasFilm and has been producing films in the franchise since 2012?

A) Warner Bros.
B) MGM
C) United Artists
D) Disney

Question 37

Which New Hollywood auteur struggled throughout the 1980s before finding renewed success with Goodfellas and The Departed?

A) Francis Ford Coppola
B) Martin Scorsese
C) Oliver Stone
D) Robert Altman

Question 38

This auteur's films-from Eraserhead and Blue Velvet to Mulholland Dr.and Lost Highway-showcase dreamscape imagery and nonnarrative form.

A) Oliver Stone
B) Tim Burton
C) Adrian Lyne
D) David Lynch

Question 39

This auteur credits Jean-Luc Godard as an influence and, like Godard, made an homage to the gangster film with his debut film, Reservoir Dogs.

A) Oliver Stone
B) Tony Scott
C) Quentin Tarantino
D) Martin Scorsese

Question 40

Name the Coen brothers' debut film, a dead-slow neo-noir about a bartender who tries to cover up his boss's murder.

A) Blood Simple
B) Raising Arizona
C) The Big Lebowski
D) The Man Who Wasn't There

Question 41

Define the characteristics of the 1980s action film.

Question 42

Choose one of the following auteurs and describe how they would direct a film about the 2016 presidential election: the Farrelly brothers, Spielberg/Lucas, and Quentin Tarantino.

Question 43

Describe the variables that led to the deregulation of Hollywood and the rise of the corporate multimedia conglomerate in the 1980s.

Question 44

Name the female filmmaker who began her career with action films such as Point Break and Strange Days and ultimately became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director for The Hurt Locker.

A) Allison Anders
B) Julie Dash
C) Penelope Spheeris
D) Kathryn Bigelow