The Depiction of American Public Libraries in Film - Conclusion

9. Conclusion

This study demonstrates that, contrary to the expectations implied by less rigorous research in this area, libraries are portrayed in an overwhelmingly positive light in American cinema. Although negative depictions such as Sophie’s Choice and It’s A Wonderful Life spring readily to mind for many commentators (see Chapter 3) and are notable for their extremity, they are far outnumbered by their positive counterparts. Furthermore, it tends to be those films that feature the public library most prominently, for example Salmonberries and The Pagemaster, that give the most accurate and flattering depictions.

A common strand of public libraries in the films in this study is there use as signifiers for American values in either a reaffirming or a subversive manner. Most films have an implicitly patriotic outlook, reflected in their portrayal of libraries as government agencies. They are own to be of particular importance for groups who are otherwise lacking in power or resources. These groups include children (Matilda, The Pagemaster), immigrants (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), the semi-literate (Stanley and Iris) and the poor (Henry Fool).

In those instances in which the depiction of libraries is less positive, it is indicative of a broader problem in American society that the film-makers wish to investigate. Examples of such problems are corporate corruption (Chinatown), racism (Sophie’s Choice), moral breakdown (Se7en, It’s A Wonderful Life) and the complete disintegration of democracy (Rollerball). In both positive and negative depictions, the public library is representative of contemporary American culture as more widely seen by the film-makers.

An affinity between the worlds of film and public libraries is possibly explained by the startling amount that the two institutions have in common. Both were originally conceived in the nineteenth century but came to maturity over the course of the twentieth century. They are both made possible by and fundamentally serve capitalism, having come into being as a direct result of the industrial revolution . However, libraries are free and state funded, being regarded as socially beneficial by leaders of all political groupings. The commercial world of cinema has a more ambiguous role within society, so it is perhaps unsurprising if film-makers see public libraries as an institution with which it is advantageous to be associated.

A notable feature of the library scenes in film is the ongoing fetishisation of books. The standard cinematic grammar of libraries includes at least one tracking shot perpendicular to the orientation of the stacks, frequently showing a character in search of a particular item. The effect of this is to emphasise the massive range of material in the library. In a range of otherwise disparate sequences, such as those in Somewhere in Time, Se7en and City of Angels, the camera lingers lovingly over the page during close-ups of written text. The tendency is taken to an extreme in The Pagemaster, in which the books come to life to become characters in their own right. Books are signifiers of wisdom and history, and the public library is a place where these qualities are accessible to all. In contrast, computers and other sources of information feature only rarely, except in the science fiction genre which tends to emphasise technological possibilities. The internet, already a familiar resource for users of public libraries in the United States, is yet to make its cinematic debut in such a context.

There remains tremendous scope for further research in this field. In addition to any shortcomings the reader may detect in this study, additional research would be valuable in such areas as cinema from countries other than the United States, American films prior to 1940 and LIS sectors other than public libraries.

Both the cinema and the public library service face uncertain futures. Rapid developments in the field of information communications technology have enabled individuals to access almost limitless amounts of data, including digitised film files, from their desktop. In such a swiftly changing environment, the need for central meeting places in which services are accessed is brought into question. Both institutions will need to adapt in order to survive. It will be fascinating to observe the developing relationship between public libraries and cinema during the twenty-first century.