Hollywood and the Baby Boom

Between 1946 and 1964 seventy-five million babies were born, dwarfing the generations that preceded and succeeded them. At each stage of its life-cycle, the baby boom’s great size has dictated the terms of national policy and public debate. While aspects of this history are well-documented, the relationship between the baby boom and Hollywood has never been explored. And yet, for almost 40 years, baby boomers made up the majority of Hollywood’s audience, and since the 1970s, boomers have dominated movie production.

Hollywood and the Baby Boom weaves together interviews with leading filmmakers, archival research and the memories of hundreds of ordinary filmgoers to tell the full story of Hollywood’s relationship with the boomers for the first time. The authors demonstrate the profound influence of the boomers on the ways that movies were made, seen and understood since the 1950s. The result is a compelling new account that draws upon an unprecedented range of sources, and offers new insights into the history of American movies.

James Russell is Principal Lecturer in Film Studies at De Montfort University, UK. His last book was The Historical Epic and Contemporary Hollywood (Bloomsbury, 2007). His short writing has appeared in Cinema Journal, the Journal of American Studies, the Guardian and numerous edited collections.

Jim Whalley is an independent scholar based in the UK. He writes on American cinema history, and is the author of Saturday Night Live, Hollywood Comedy and American Culture (2010). His short writing has also appeared in The New Review of Film and Television Studies.