Audiences and Ideological Work in the "Dream Factory": Halldór Laxness and Cinematic Modernity

Abstract

Halldór Laxness was twentyfive years old when he arrived in Los Angeles, California, in the Fall of 1927. The movies, and they were the reason he came, were not much older. While it might seem facile to speak of the congruence of youthful energies, Laxness’s arrival in L.A. in the late 1920s was not a coincidence. From shortly after its inception, the world film market had been characterized by international competition for global motion picture prominence, a struggle that had been proceeding along a variety of avenues for close to 2 decades but was, by the time of Laxness’s arrival, pretty much settled in Hollywood’s favor (Thompson 1985, 124–48). For those who sought a career in the movies, there were few places that could equal the luster and promise of Hollywood.2