Linda Levitt - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Linda Levitt

Women in Higher Education, Jun 1, 2015

Women in Higher Education, 2015

Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles has long served as a tourist attraction and a site of p... more Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles has long served as a tourist attraction and a site of public memory. The touristic visit or pilgrimage to the cemetery can be, like the visit to a sanctioned memorial, a means of stitching oneself into the cultural past. This dissertation considers the articulation and performance of commemoration in contemporary culture, specifically situated at Hollywood Forever. I examine how the cemetery leverages its rich resources from the past to generate new collective experiences and attitudes in the present. Through the outdoor film series Cinespia, a communitywide Dia de los Muertos celebration, performances of Shakespearean plays, and annual memorial services and commemorative events in honor of celebrities interred there, Hollywood Forever invites visitors to use the cemetery as social space. Combining ethnographic research with cultural analysis, I consider how the public interacts with Hollywood Forever. This dissertation looks at the influence of celebrity culture, how shared experience in a unique Chapter 1 Angeles, California, the final resting place of celebrities like Rudolph Valentino, Mel Blanc, and Marion Davies, along with thousands of "ordinary" Angelenos. Like cemeteries, sanctioned memorials redefine public space for commemorative practices. Some places, like the Flamme de Liberté monument near the Alma Tunnel where Lady Diana died, become significant sites of memory without being sanctioned memorials. The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed on the balcony, was not marked as an officially sanctioned site until 1991, when the motel became home to the National Civil Rights Museum. Other sites serve as the destination for pilgrimages on the anniversaries of celebrity deaths; examples include Jim Morrison's grave in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, and Dealey Plaza, the site of John F. Kennedy's assassination. These gatherings are not official, organized, or scripted events but rather mark the gesture of publicly acknowledging a cultural loss by situating oneself at a site of tragedy. The gravesite of Rudolph Valentino is the location of several memorial practices. Best-known among these events is the visit of a mysterious woman, dressed in black, who for years left roses at Valentino's grave on the anniversary of his death. Fans, film stars, and friends also make an annual pilgrimage for a memorial service at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Valentino's final resting place. Situated at Hollywood Forever, this project considers memorialization and cultural memory while also looking closely at the articulation and performance of commemoration in contemporary culture. Cemeteries are more significantly sites of personal or individual memory than cultural memory, yet Hollywood Forever, by virtue of who is buried there, becomes a site of cultural memory as well. As sociologist Eviatar Zerubavel points out, cultural memory is "more than just an aggregate of individuals' personal memories" but rather comprises what a group, culture, or nation "collectively considers historically eventful" (28, emphasis original). Unlike most cemeteries, but similar to many sanctioned memorials, Hollywood Forever is a tourist attraction. As the final resting place of many celebrities, visitors are drawn to the cemetery to remember people they did not know but feel connected to through their stardom. Like a site of tragedy, the celebrity cemetery enables a sense of proximity for the visitor who can get closer to the famous person, if only by virtue of his or her material remains. Cemetery Screenings On Saturday nights in the summer, as many as 2,700 Angelenos pack picnic baskets and gather at Hollywood Forever to watch classic films projected on the exterior wall of the Cathedral Mausoleum. The Cinespia film series enables filmgoers to enjoy the cemetery grounds through a communal event, but what, if anything, does the film series commemorate? Classic Hollywood film evokes the past, not only as representative of archival Hollywood but also a glimpse into an earlier time. While its primary function is entertainment, classic film offers a lens into the lifeways, practices, and ethics of another era. This pedagogical element-teaching about the past-in a film series like Cinespia is inevitably intertwined with its entertainment value. As communication theorist Anthony Wilden boldly states, "Moving pictures rival language as the most powerful system of communication between people ever created" (138). Media scholar John Ellis addresses the distinctions between film as an individual experience and as a shared, cultural experience. Noting that "the form of spectatorship offered by entertainment cinema is open to various kinds of social manifestation," Ellis adds that "it tends to remain an individual experience" (87). The circumstances which inspire social interaction during a film are rare, such as "when one or more members of the audience demand an explanation of a particular aspect of the plot, and someone volunteers this" (87). Ellis also points to a situation in which the audience's willful suspension of disbelief breaks down, and together, the audience will "make fun of it, laughing, mocking the film for being an ineffective piece of work" (87). Cinespia breaks from the cinematic scene Ellis describes in two ways that open opportunities for a

Culture, Celebrity, and the Cemetery, 2018

Culture, Celebrity, and the Cemetery, 2018

Culture, Celebrity, and the Cemetery, 2018

Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 2021

This essay draws on excerpts from published obituaries, interviews, and news stories to argue tha... more This essay draws on excerpts from published obituaries, interviews, and news stories to argue that the AIDS crisis led to practices modeling a good death that have since been put in practice more broadly.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles has long served as a tourist attraction and a site of p... more Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles has long served as a tourist attraction and a site of public memory. The touristic visit or pilgrimage to the cemetery can be, like the visit to a sanctioned memorial, a means of stitching oneself into the cultural past. This dissertation considers the articulation and performance of commemoration in contemporary culture, specifically situated at Hollywood Forever. I examine how the cemetery leverages its rich resources from the past to generate new collective experiences and attitudes in the present. Through the outdoor film series Cinespia, a communitywide Dia de los Muertos celebration, performances of Shakespearean plays, and annual memorial services and commemorative events in honor of celebrities interred there, Hollywood Forever invites visitors to use the cemetery as social space. Combining ethnographic research with cultural analysis, I consider how the public interacts with Hollywood Forever. This dissertation looks at the influence of celebrity culture, how shared experience in a unique Chapter 1 Angeles, California, the final resting place of celebrities like Rudolph Valentino, Mel Blanc, and Marion Davies, along with thousands of "ordinary" Angelenos. Like cemeteries, sanctioned memorials redefine public space for commemorative practices. Some places, like the Flamme de Liberté monument near the Alma Tunnel where Lady Diana died, become significant sites of memory without being sanctioned memorials. The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed on the balcony, was not marked as an officially sanctioned site until 1991, when the motel became home to the National Civil Rights Museum. Other sites serve as the destination for pilgrimages on the anniversaries of celebrity deaths; examples include Jim Morrison's grave in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, and Dealey Plaza, the site of John F. Kennedy's assassination. These gatherings are not official, organized, or scripted events but rather mark the gesture of publicly acknowledging a cultural loss by situating oneself at a site of tragedy. The gravesite of Rudolph Valentino is the location of several memorial practices. Best-known among these events is the visit of a mysterious woman, dressed in black, who for years left roses at Valentino's grave on the anniversary of his death. Fans, film stars, and friends also make an annual pilgrimage for a memorial service at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Valentino's final resting place. Situated at Hollywood Forever, this project considers memorialization and cultural memory while also looking closely at the articulation and performance of commemoration in contemporary culture. Cemeteries are more significantly sites of personal or individual memory than cultural memory, yet Hollywood Forever, by virtue of who is buried there, becomes a site of cultural memory as well. As sociologist Eviatar Zerubavel points out, cultural memory is "more than just an aggregate of individuals' personal memories" but rather comprises what a group, culture, or nation "collectively considers historically eventful" (28, emphasis original). Unlike most cemeteries, but similar to many sanctioned memorials, Hollywood Forever is a tourist attraction. As the final resting place of many celebrities, visitors are drawn to the cemetery to remember people they did not know but feel connected to through their stardom. Like a site of tragedy, the celebrity cemetery enables a sense of proximity for the visitor who can get closer to the famous person, if only by virtue of his or her material remains. Cemetery Screenings On Saturday nights in the summer, as many as 2,700 Angelenos pack picnic baskets and gather at Hollywood Forever to watch classic films projected on the exterior wall of the Cathedral Mausoleum. The Cinespia film series enables filmgoers to enjoy the cemetery grounds through a communal event, but what, if anything, does the film series commemorate? Classic Hollywood film evokes the past, not only as representative of archival Hollywood but also a glimpse into an earlier time. While its primary function is entertainment, classic film offers a lens into the lifeways, practices, and ethics of another era. This pedagogical element-teaching about the past-in a film series like Cinespia is inevitably intertwined with its entertainment value. As communication theorist Anthony Wilden boldly states, "Moving pictures rival language as the most powerful system of communication between people ever created" (138). Media scholar John Ellis addresses the distinctions between film as an individual experience and as a shared, cultural experience. Noting that "the form of spectatorship offered by entertainment cinema is open to various kinds of social manifestation," Ellis adds that "it tends to remain an individual experience" (87). The circumstances which inspire social interaction during a film are rare, such as "when one or more members of the audience demand an explanation of a particular aspect of the plot, and someone volunteers this" (87). Ellis also points to a situation in which the audience's willful suspension of disbelief breaks down, and together, the audience will "make fun of it, laughing, mocking the film for being an ineffective piece of work" (87). Cinespia breaks from the cinematic scene Ellis describes in two ways that open opportunities for a

Tourism recreation research, 2012

As the final resting place of celebrities and notable public figures, Hollywood Forever Cemetery ... more As the final resting place of celebrities and notable public figures, Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles has long served as a tourist attraction and a site of public memory. Unique among dark tourism sites, Hollywood Forever brings together the gravity of death and a celebratory sense of remembrance. This is made possible in part by the cemetery’s history as a tourist attraction and by its use as a site of festivals, film screenings, and other events. Tourists are encouraged to use the cemetery as social space, transforming relationships to the site. Many visitors respond warmly to these events, yet the cemetery faces disapproval from those who find these practices irreverent and lacking respect for the dead.

Visual Studies, 2017

interpretations. There is not one valid gaze, and not one valid interpretation. There is a multit... more interpretations. There is not one valid gaze, and not one valid interpretation. There is a multitude of gazes, interpretations and understandings. This ambiguity, which offer multiple readings according to the eye of the beholder, was key in allowing muralists such as Tadeo Escalante to insert a scathing social critique – understandable to the indigenous communities in Huaro, but probably invisible to the Hispanic church hierarchy – in church murals, at a time of heavy censorship and repression during the post-Tupac Amaru rebellion in the early 19th century.

Choice Reviews Online, 2008

The Velvet Light Trap, 2010

Radical History Review, 2011

Culture, Celebrity, and the Cemetery, 2018

Women in Higher Education, Jun 1, 2015

Women in Higher Education, 2015

Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles has long served as a tourist attraction and a site of p... more Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles has long served as a tourist attraction and a site of public memory. The touristic visit or pilgrimage to the cemetery can be, like the visit to a sanctioned memorial, a means of stitching oneself into the cultural past. This dissertation considers the articulation and performance of commemoration in contemporary culture, specifically situated at Hollywood Forever. I examine how the cemetery leverages its rich resources from the past to generate new collective experiences and attitudes in the present. Through the outdoor film series Cinespia, a communitywide Dia de los Muertos celebration, performances of Shakespearean plays, and annual memorial services and commemorative events in honor of celebrities interred there, Hollywood Forever invites visitors to use the cemetery as social space. Combining ethnographic research with cultural analysis, I consider how the public interacts with Hollywood Forever. This dissertation looks at the influence of celebrity culture, how shared experience in a unique Chapter 1 Angeles, California, the final resting place of celebrities like Rudolph Valentino, Mel Blanc, and Marion Davies, along with thousands of "ordinary" Angelenos. Like cemeteries, sanctioned memorials redefine public space for commemorative practices. Some places, like the Flamme de Liberté monument near the Alma Tunnel where Lady Diana died, become significant sites of memory without being sanctioned memorials. The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed on the balcony, was not marked as an officially sanctioned site until 1991, when the motel became home to the National Civil Rights Museum. Other sites serve as the destination for pilgrimages on the anniversaries of celebrity deaths; examples include Jim Morrison's grave in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, and Dealey Plaza, the site of John F. Kennedy's assassination. These gatherings are not official, organized, or scripted events but rather mark the gesture of publicly acknowledging a cultural loss by situating oneself at a site of tragedy. The gravesite of Rudolph Valentino is the location of several memorial practices. Best-known among these events is the visit of a mysterious woman, dressed in black, who for years left roses at Valentino's grave on the anniversary of his death. Fans, film stars, and friends also make an annual pilgrimage for a memorial service at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Valentino's final resting place. Situated at Hollywood Forever, this project considers memorialization and cultural memory while also looking closely at the articulation and performance of commemoration in contemporary culture. Cemeteries are more significantly sites of personal or individual memory than cultural memory, yet Hollywood Forever, by virtue of who is buried there, becomes a site of cultural memory as well. As sociologist Eviatar Zerubavel points out, cultural memory is "more than just an aggregate of individuals' personal memories" but rather comprises what a group, culture, or nation "collectively considers historically eventful" (28, emphasis original). Unlike most cemeteries, but similar to many sanctioned memorials, Hollywood Forever is a tourist attraction. As the final resting place of many celebrities, visitors are drawn to the cemetery to remember people they did not know but feel connected to through their stardom. Like a site of tragedy, the celebrity cemetery enables a sense of proximity for the visitor who can get closer to the famous person, if only by virtue of his or her material remains. Cemetery Screenings On Saturday nights in the summer, as many as 2,700 Angelenos pack picnic baskets and gather at Hollywood Forever to watch classic films projected on the exterior wall of the Cathedral Mausoleum. The Cinespia film series enables filmgoers to enjoy the cemetery grounds through a communal event, but what, if anything, does the film series commemorate? Classic Hollywood film evokes the past, not only as representative of archival Hollywood but also a glimpse into an earlier time. While its primary function is entertainment, classic film offers a lens into the lifeways, practices, and ethics of another era. This pedagogical element-teaching about the past-in a film series like Cinespia is inevitably intertwined with its entertainment value. As communication theorist Anthony Wilden boldly states, "Moving pictures rival language as the most powerful system of communication between people ever created" (138). Media scholar John Ellis addresses the distinctions between film as an individual experience and as a shared, cultural experience. Noting that "the form of spectatorship offered by entertainment cinema is open to various kinds of social manifestation," Ellis adds that "it tends to remain an individual experience" (87). The circumstances which inspire social interaction during a film are rare, such as "when one or more members of the audience demand an explanation of a particular aspect of the plot, and someone volunteers this" (87). Ellis also points to a situation in which the audience's willful suspension of disbelief breaks down, and together, the audience will "make fun of it, laughing, mocking the film for being an ineffective piece of work" (87). Cinespia breaks from the cinematic scene Ellis describes in two ways that open opportunities for a

Culture, Celebrity, and the Cemetery, 2018

Culture, Celebrity, and the Cemetery, 2018

Culture, Celebrity, and the Cemetery, 2018

Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 2021

This essay draws on excerpts from published obituaries, interviews, and news stories to argue tha... more This essay draws on excerpts from published obituaries, interviews, and news stories to argue that the AIDS crisis led to practices modeling a good death that have since been put in practice more broadly.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles has long served as a tourist attraction and a site of p... more Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles has long served as a tourist attraction and a site of public memory. The touristic visit or pilgrimage to the cemetery can be, like the visit to a sanctioned memorial, a means of stitching oneself into the cultural past. This dissertation considers the articulation and performance of commemoration in contemporary culture, specifically situated at Hollywood Forever. I examine how the cemetery leverages its rich resources from the past to generate new collective experiences and attitudes in the present. Through the outdoor film series Cinespia, a communitywide Dia de los Muertos celebration, performances of Shakespearean plays, and annual memorial services and commemorative events in honor of celebrities interred there, Hollywood Forever invites visitors to use the cemetery as social space. Combining ethnographic research with cultural analysis, I consider how the public interacts with Hollywood Forever. This dissertation looks at the influence of celebrity culture, how shared experience in a unique Chapter 1 Angeles, California, the final resting place of celebrities like Rudolph Valentino, Mel Blanc, and Marion Davies, along with thousands of "ordinary" Angelenos. Like cemeteries, sanctioned memorials redefine public space for commemorative practices. Some places, like the Flamme de Liberté monument near the Alma Tunnel where Lady Diana died, become significant sites of memory without being sanctioned memorials. The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed on the balcony, was not marked as an officially sanctioned site until 1991, when the motel became home to the National Civil Rights Museum. Other sites serve as the destination for pilgrimages on the anniversaries of celebrity deaths; examples include Jim Morrison's grave in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, and Dealey Plaza, the site of John F. Kennedy's assassination. These gatherings are not official, organized, or scripted events but rather mark the gesture of publicly acknowledging a cultural loss by situating oneself at a site of tragedy. The gravesite of Rudolph Valentino is the location of several memorial practices. Best-known among these events is the visit of a mysterious woman, dressed in black, who for years left roses at Valentino's grave on the anniversary of his death. Fans, film stars, and friends also make an annual pilgrimage for a memorial service at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Valentino's final resting place. Situated at Hollywood Forever, this project considers memorialization and cultural memory while also looking closely at the articulation and performance of commemoration in contemporary culture. Cemeteries are more significantly sites of personal or individual memory than cultural memory, yet Hollywood Forever, by virtue of who is buried there, becomes a site of cultural memory as well. As sociologist Eviatar Zerubavel points out, cultural memory is "more than just an aggregate of individuals' personal memories" but rather comprises what a group, culture, or nation "collectively considers historically eventful" (28, emphasis original). Unlike most cemeteries, but similar to many sanctioned memorials, Hollywood Forever is a tourist attraction. As the final resting place of many celebrities, visitors are drawn to the cemetery to remember people they did not know but feel connected to through their stardom. Like a site of tragedy, the celebrity cemetery enables a sense of proximity for the visitor who can get closer to the famous person, if only by virtue of his or her material remains. Cemetery Screenings On Saturday nights in the summer, as many as 2,700 Angelenos pack picnic baskets and gather at Hollywood Forever to watch classic films projected on the exterior wall of the Cathedral Mausoleum. The Cinespia film series enables filmgoers to enjoy the cemetery grounds through a communal event, but what, if anything, does the film series commemorate? Classic Hollywood film evokes the past, not only as representative of archival Hollywood but also a glimpse into an earlier time. While its primary function is entertainment, classic film offers a lens into the lifeways, practices, and ethics of another era. This pedagogical element-teaching about the past-in a film series like Cinespia is inevitably intertwined with its entertainment value. As communication theorist Anthony Wilden boldly states, "Moving pictures rival language as the most powerful system of communication between people ever created" (138). Media scholar John Ellis addresses the distinctions between film as an individual experience and as a shared, cultural experience. Noting that "the form of spectatorship offered by entertainment cinema is open to various kinds of social manifestation," Ellis adds that "it tends to remain an individual experience" (87). The circumstances which inspire social interaction during a film are rare, such as "when one or more members of the audience demand an explanation of a particular aspect of the plot, and someone volunteers this" (87). Ellis also points to a situation in which the audience's willful suspension of disbelief breaks down, and together, the audience will "make fun of it, laughing, mocking the film for being an ineffective piece of work" (87). Cinespia breaks from the cinematic scene Ellis describes in two ways that open opportunities for a

Tourism recreation research, 2012

As the final resting place of celebrities and notable public figures, Hollywood Forever Cemetery ... more As the final resting place of celebrities and notable public figures, Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles has long served as a tourist attraction and a site of public memory. Unique among dark tourism sites, Hollywood Forever brings together the gravity of death and a celebratory sense of remembrance. This is made possible in part by the cemetery’s history as a tourist attraction and by its use as a site of festivals, film screenings, and other events. Tourists are encouraged to use the cemetery as social space, transforming relationships to the site. Many visitors respond warmly to these events, yet the cemetery faces disapproval from those who find these practices irreverent and lacking respect for the dead.

Visual Studies, 2017

interpretations. There is not one valid gaze, and not one valid interpretation. There is a multit... more interpretations. There is not one valid gaze, and not one valid interpretation. There is a multitude of gazes, interpretations and understandings. This ambiguity, which offer multiple readings according to the eye of the beholder, was key in allowing muralists such as Tadeo Escalante to insert a scathing social critique – understandable to the indigenous communities in Huaro, but probably invisible to the Hispanic church hierarchy – in church murals, at a time of heavy censorship and repression during the post-Tupac Amaru rebellion in the early 19th century.

Choice Reviews Online, 2008

The Velvet Light Trap, 2010

Radical History Review, 2011

Culture, Celebrity, and the Cemetery, 2018