The study of cinema and film has diversified dramatically in recent years. This text provides an examination and reassessment of cinema contexts as well as film texts. The products of cinema styles throughout film history can only fully be appreciated with an understanding of the audience and of the social, historical and industrial contexts of production. This book argues for a holistic approach, focusing on a series of key moments in cinema history and drawing on a eclectic range of theories in order to reach a fuller appreciation of text and context. Combining theoretical insights with the study of film texts and through contextualization this book shows how central cinema and film are to mass communication and media studies.