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Jeanine Basinger

American film historian at Wesleyan University

Jeanine Basinger (born February 3, , Ravenden, Arkansas[1]) is an American film historian who was the Corwin-Fuller professor of film studies at Wesleyan University and the founder and curator of the university's cinematic archives.[2]

Early life and education

Jeanine Basinger was raised in Brookings, South Dakota.[3] She first became interested in film at the age of 11 when she worked as an usher at The College Theater.[3] She said that seeing the same film over and over gave her an understanding of "the way films [affect] the audience, where they work and where they don't."[3] She attended and received her BS and MS from South Dakota State University.[2][4]

Career

Basinger first arrived in Middletown, Connecticut, where Wesleyan University is located, in as marketing director of American Education Publications,[3] then owned by the university and later sold to Xerox.[5] In the late s, art professor John Frazer recruited her into helping him set up the university's first "serious film course" at a time when it was, according to Sam Wasson, unclear what that meant.[3] This soon evolved into her teaching a class at Wesleyan on her own, beginning in , despite lacking the usual academic credentials.[3] Basinger eventually received the title of Professor of Film Studies, and later an endowed chair as Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies.[3]

In , she and then-student Laurence Mark established a student-run film series that eventually became the country's longest-lasting such series.[3] She was a pioneer of taking Hollywood film seriously as a subject of academic study, teaching the work of Clint Eastwood as early as [3] Because of Basinger, Wesleyan increasingly became seen as a place for Hollywood figures to deposit their archives; among those who have done so are Elia Kazan, Frank Capra, and eventually the aforementioned Clint Eastwood.[3]

Under her leadership, by film had become a standalone program and major at Wesleyan separate from the art department, cross-listing courses with the art department and other established departments.[3] It evolved into a formal department in , with its own faculty and with Basinger as chair, a role she relinquished in before retiring in , by which time that department had evolved into the College of Film and the Moving Image.[3]

Basinger is also a trustee emeritus of the American Film Institute,[6] a member of the Steering Committee of the National Center for Film and Video Preservation, and one of the Board of Advisors for the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers. On February 11, , she was named to the board of directors of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.[6] She is an advisor to Martin Scorsese's film foundation, produced an American Masters special on Clint Eastwood, and was head consultant and producer of PBS's American Cinema: Years of Filmmaking, as well as author of its companion volume.[3]

Legacy

Basinger has been described as "one of the most important film scholars alive today."[7] Among other accomplishments, she is credited with having built Wesleyan's Film Studies program into one of the ten best film schools in the world.[8][9] "A shockingly disproportionate number of Hollywood movers and shakers" are graduates of the program.[10] Graduates include Akiva Goldsman, Joss Whedon, Michael Bay, Paul Weitz, Laurence Mark, Paul Schiff, Gary Walkow, Alex Kurtzman, Bruce Eric Kaplan, Toby Emmerich, Nick Meyer, Marc Shmuger, Rick Nicita, Bradley Fuller, Dana Delany, Stephen Schiff, Rodger Grossman, Toni Ross, Bradley Whitford, Sam Wasson, Domenica Cameron-Scorsese, Liz Garcia, Jon Turteltaub, Owen Renfroe, Jeffrey Lane, Ed Decter, Zak Penn, Jeremy Arnold and Miguel Arteta.[11][12]

She has appeared in numerous documentaries and in a dramatic role in A Better Way to Die (). In she participated in Wanderlust, a documentary film on road movies and their effect on American culture.

Awards

  • Wesleyan Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching[6]
  • National Board of Review's William K. Everson Prize for Film History for Silent Stars[13]
  • Governor's Arts and Tourism Award from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism[14]
  • Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the American Film Institute on June 7, [15]
  • Theatre Library Association Award for The Star Machine[16]
  • Wesleyan Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching
  • Robert Osborne Award

Works

Books

  • The World War II Combat Film: Anatomy of a Genre (, )
  • Anthony Mann: A Critical Study
  • The It's a Wonderful Life Book
  • Shirley Temple ()
  • Lana Turner ()
  • Gene Kelly ()
  • A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women ()
  • American Cinema: Years of Filmmaking (companion book for a PBS series).
  • Silent Stars ()
  • The Star Machine, Alfred A. Knopf () (ISBN&#;). About the height of the studio system in the Golden Age from the s to the s.
  • I Do and I Don't: A History of Marriage in the Movies ()[17]
  • The Movie Musical! ()

Notes

  1. ^"Basinger, Jeanine (Jeanine Deyling Basinger)".
  2. ^ ab"Jeanine D. Basinger - Faculty, Wesleyan University".
  3. ^ abcdefghijklmWasson, Sam (). "Who Could Ask for Anything More?". Wesleyan University Magazine (2): 6– Retrieved
  4. ^"Faculty". .
  5. ^Wesleyan Facts and TriviaArchived May 27, , at the Wayback Machine, Wesleyan University. Retrieved May 28,
  6. ^ abc"Wesleyan Film Chair Jeanine Basinger to Join the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Board of Directors"Archived at the Wayback Machine. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, accessed October 20,
  7. ^Pulle, Goug (August 12, ). "Experts' insights add to Plaza Classic Film Festival experience"Archived at El Paso Times, accessed October 18,
  8. ^Appelo, Tim (July 27, ). "The 25 Best Film Schools Rankings". The Hollywood Reporter, accessed October 18,
  9. ^Women's Impact Report Academics Jeanine Basinger, Film Studies Chair, Wesleyan U. Variety. By Anneta Konstantinides. 4 October Retrieved 13 October
  10. ^"Wesleyan's Entertaining Class". Vanity Fair, Oct. , Issue , p, 1p, 32 Color Photographs.
  11. ^Loewenstein, Lael (March 27, ). "Basinger's students make their mark". Variety, accessed October 20,
  12. ^"Students and peers praise Basinger". Variety (March 27, ), accessed October 18,
  13. ^"William K. Everson Award for Film History"Archived at the Wayback Machine. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, accessed October 21,
  14. ^"The Wesleyan Connection's Achievements "Archived at the Wayback Machine. Wesleyan University newsletter, accessed October 18,
  15. ^Rich, Katey (May 5, ). "Basinger to receive honorary degree". The Wesleyan Argus, accessed October 20,
  16. ^"Theatre Library Association Award - Winners, "Archived at the Wayback Machine. Theatre Library Association, accessed October 21,
  17. ^"I Do and I Don't by Jeanine Basinger - ". .

References