To the Film Industry in Crisis by Frank O'Hara
"To the Film Industry in Crisis" by Frank O'Hara is a poetic homage to the motion picture industry, capturing its cultural significance and impact on society. The poem contrasts the accessibility of film with more elite forms of art, such as experimental theatre and opera, suggesting a preference for the populist appeal of movies. O'Hara's choice to refer to Hollywood as an "industry" emphasizes its production nature, likening it to a factory that creates entertainment for the masses. The poem introduces the concept of a "crisis," though it intentionally leaves its specifics ambiguous, inviting readers to ponder its implications while celebrating the art form.
Throughout the poem, O'Hara exuberantly lists film techniques and notable actors, illustrating the emotional connection many have with cinema. He playfully critiques the notion of tragedy in the vibrant world of Technicolor, ultimately highlighting the magic that film brings to everyday life. O'Hara's work serves as a reflection on the power of movies to shape public imagination and offers a lively examination of their role in contemporary culture. This piece is a testament to the joy and complex relationships people cultivate with the art of film, prompting a deeper consideration of its place in society.
To the Film Industry in Crisis by Frank O'Hara
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1957 (collected in The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara, 1971, 1995)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
“To the Film Industry in Crisis” is a love letter from O’Hara to the most popular and accessible of the arts: motion pictures. The poem begins by excluding serious and pompous arts such as “experimental theatre” and “Grand Opera.” The speaker rejects also “lean quarterlies and swarthy periodicals,” because they, too, are for the elite, not the masses. The speaker does not merely approve of the “Motion Picture Industry” but declares his love and devotion to it. The title’s emphasis on Hollywood as an industry effectively distinguishes the filmmaking world from the realm of art by defining it as a factory producing for the masses.
The second verse paragraph places O’Hara’s preferences in a context. “In time of crisis, we must all decide again and again whom we love./ And give credit where it’s due.” O’Hara never makes clear what the “crisis” is, and the reference seems to be used as a comical provocation to inflate the reader’s response to the subject.
The speaker rejects a few more candidates for his affection, such as the Catholic Church and the American Legion, and finally begins to discuss his true love: “glorious Silver Screen, tragic Technicolor, amorous Cinemascope,/ stretching Vistavision and startling Stereophonic Sound, with all/ your heavenly dimensions and reverberations and iconoclasms!” The technical innovations of the “industry” are greeted with the same hyperbole that went into their advertisement and promotion. Each of these has its own adjective; some of the adjectives are wildly inappropriate, such as “tragic Technicolor.” The ironic point that O’Hara is making is that there can be no tragedy in the gaudy world of Technicolor.
The next section of the poem contains an even longer list of actors and their famous roles. The list ends with a reaffirmation of the devotion of the speaker: “yes, to you/ and to all you others, the great, the near-great, the featured, the extras/ . . . / my love!”
O’Hara often refers to the popular arts in his poems, and “To the Film Industry in Crisis” is his fullest and wittiest attempt to account for the power that motion pictures have over the public imagination. The poem first shows what films are not—high art—and then shows what they really are—magic. O’Hara does echo the hyperbole of his subject in his own style and reveal its essential function as providing myths by which to live.
Bibliography
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