From its earliest beginnings MGM established itself as Hollywood’s
foremost purveyor of taste, sophistication and glamor. Thus, from the
outset, quality of design was named supreme at MGM. It was considered
by many as the “Tiffany’s” of the industry. This was to remain so
even through a period of intense design limitations. Heavy
restrictions were put on the use of new materials during the period of
America’s involvement in WWII. Studios were constrained—by law—not to
exceed a budget of $5,000 on the purchase of new materials per film
produced. Based on this information, the main question this
dissertation concentrates on is how these restrictions affected the
design of sets and the backlot in films throughout this era. Re-use,
or the lack thereof, is key issue addressed throughout this body of
work. This dissertation also demonstrates that although re-use in the
design of films was not entirely new to MGM at this point in time, it
increased tremendously as a result of necessity. This trend, which
began as re-use out of need, transformed to re-use for profit in the
post-war era. The final segment of this dissertation considers the
MGM backlot as a postmodern space and as a pre-cursor to Disneyland
and Las Vegas. It has done so through such theoretical frameworks as
Simulation, Simulacra and Hyperreality. This dissertation centers on
the backlot: a complex and contradictory space where strange
disjointed elements of design come together, false materials are
employed in each building’s construction and most structures are mere
façades.
carrie.barrocas@network.rca.ac.uk
