University Distinguished Professor
jlewis@oregonstate.edu

Office: 541-737-1647

Moreland Hall

Moreland Hall 312

2550 SW Jefferson Way

2550 SW Jefferson Way
Corvallis, OR 97331
Credentials: 
Ph.D. - University of California, Los Angeles 1983
M.A.H. - State University of New York at Buffalo 1979
B.A. - Hobart College 1977
Professional Affiliations: 

Society for Cinema Studies

Education: 

          PhD, University of California, Los Angeles, 1983. Dissertation: The Comedy Films of Marilyn Monroe  and Jerry Lewis: A Narratological Study and An Introduction to the Social/Ideological Project.                  

          MAH, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1979. Thesis: The Flash in the Pan. 

         BA with High Honors in English, Hobart College, 1977.

Honors and Awards: 

           2015: OSU Distinguished Professor Award

           2015: University Honors College Eminent Professor, Oregon State University.

            2014: Center for the Humanities Research Fellowship, Oregon State University, awarded for research on Transition-era Hollywood.

            2006-2008: Judge, Ashland Independent Film Festival.

            2006: Center for the Humanities Research Fellowship, Oregon State University, awarded for research on file sharing and the MPAA.

            2005: Post-tenure Review Award, Oregon State University. 

             2003: Named Editor of Cinema Journal.

            2002: New York Times “New and Noteworthy in Paperback,” for Hollywood v. Hard Core.

             2001: Center for the Humanities Research Fellowship, Oregon State University, awarded for research on blacklist memoirs.

             2000: College of Liberal Arts Research Fellowship, Oregon State University, awarded for research on blacklist memoirs.

              1996: Center for the Humanities Research Fellowship, Oregon State University, awarded for research on the industrial impact of the 1968 MPAA Ratings Code.

              1995: Booklist Medal, Booklist Magazine, for Whom God Wishes to Destroy ... Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood.        

             1995: College of Liberal Arts Researcher of the Year, Oregon State University

             1994: “Outstanding Academic Book,” awarded by Choice Magazine for The Road to Romance and Ruin: Teen Films and Youth Culture.

             1992: College of Liberal Arts Research Fellowship, Oregon State University, awarded for research on Walt Disney Productions, January-April, 1992.

             1991: Corporation for Public Broadcasting/Annenberg Foundation Grant, awarded for the development of "distance learning" courses, June 1991-June 1993.

             1990: Center for the Humanities Research Fellowship, Oregon State University, awarded for research on youth culture and teen films, September-December 1990.    

             1990: Oregon Committee for the Humanities Summer Research Fellowship, awarded for research on youth culture and teen films, June-September 1990.

             1989: Judge, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Student Film Awards, April, 1989.          

             1988: Visiting Academic Director, Northwest Inter-institutional Council on Study Abroad, Bath, England, September-December 1988

             1987: Center for the Humanities Research Fellowship, Oregon State University, awarded for research on Francis Coppola's Zoetrope Studios, April-June 1987. 

             1985: College of Liberal Arts Research Fellowship, Oregon State University, awarded in support of the video production, "Fat Boy Prince of Darkness," January-March 1985.

             1984: College of Liberal Arts Research Grant, Oregon State University, awarded for research on 1950's American film comedy, April-June 1984.

Additional Information: 

Books:

 

The Godfather, Part II (BFI Film Classics/Bloomsbury 2022)

 

Road Trip to Nowhere: Hollywood Encounters the Counterculture (University of

     California Press, 2022)

 

The Godfather, 2nd edition (BFI Film Classics/Bloomsbury, 2022)

 

American Film: A History, 2nd edition (W.W. Norton, 2018)

 

Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Post-war Los Angeles (University of  

      California Press, 2017)

 

Essential Cinema: An Introduction to Film Analysis (Wadsworth/Cengage, 2013).

 

The Godfather (BFI Film Classics, Palgrave/MacMillan, 2010; translated into Turkish and

     published by Alfa Publishing Group, 2014; translated into Mandarin and published by  

     Peking University Press, 2015; translated into French and published by Editions

     Akileos, 2017).

 

American Film: A History (W.W. Norton, 2008)

 

Hollywood v. Hard-Core: How the Struggle over Censorship Created the Modern Film

     Industry  (NYU Press, 2000).

 

Whom God Wishes to Destroy ... Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood  (Duke  

     University, 1995; Athlone Press, 1995).

 

The Road to Romance and Ruin: Teen Films and Youth Culture (NY: Routledge, 1992).

     Re-issue: (NY: Routledge Library Edition: Cinema, 2013).

 

 

 

Books (edited):

 

Oxford Handbook of American Film History (Oxford University Press, forthcoming)

 

When the Movies Mattered: The New Hollywood Revisited, with Jonathan Kirshner,

     (Cornell University Press, 2019).

 

Behind the Silver Screen: Producers (Rutgers University Press, 2015; IB Tauris, 2015).

 

The American Film History Reader (with Eric Smoodin) (Routledge, 2014).

 

Looking Past the Screen: Case Studies in American Film History and Method (with Eric

     Smoodin) (Duke University Press, 2007).

 

The End of Cinema As We Know It ... American Film in the Nineties (NYU, 2001).

 

The New American Cinema (Duke University Press, 1998).

Curriculum Vitae: 
File curriculum_vitae_jon_lewis.docx

Profile Field Tabs

Biography

Jon Lewis is the University Distinguished Professor of Film Studies and a University Honors College Eminent Professor in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University where he has taught film and cultural studies since 1983. He has published sixteen books, including: The Road to Romance and Ruin: Teen Films and Youth Culture, which won a Choice Magazine Academic Book of the Year Award; Whom God Wishes to Destroy … Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood; The New American Cinema; Hollywood v. Hard Core: How the Struggle over Censorship Saved the Modern Film Industry, a New York Times New and Noteworthy paperback; The End of Cinema as We Know It: American Film in the Nineties, American Film: A History, Looking Past the Screen: Case Studies in American Film History, for the British Film Institute’s Film Classics series, The Godfather; the popular textbook Essential Cinema, The American Film History Reader, Producing (for Rutgers’ University Press’ Silver Screen series), Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles, When the Movies Mattered (with Jonathan Kirschner), Road Trip to Nowhere: Hollywood Encounters the Counterculture, and for the BFI Film Classics series: The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II.  He edited Behind the Silver Screen, a ten book series for Rutgers University Press on the history of selected film occupations (screenwriter, director, actor, producer, cinematographer, art director, sound engineer, animator, editor, and costume designer).

Professor Lewis has appeared in two theatrically released documentaries on film censorship: Inside Deep Throat (Fenton Bailey, 2005) and This Film is Not Yet Rated (Kirby Dick, 2006). Between 2002 and 2007, Professor Lewis was editor of Cinema Journal and had a seat on the Executive Council of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.

At OSU
Affiliated with: 
School of Writing, Literature, and Film
Headquarters: 
OSU Main Campus
Courses Taught: 

PARTIAL List of courses taught:

 

     Cold War Hollywood

     Documentary Film

     Film and the New Wave

     Film Censorship

     Film Comedy

     Film Criticism and Theory

     Film Form

     Film Noir

     Films for the Future

     From Romance to Ruin: Teen Films and Youth Culture

     Hitchcock: Movies and Madness

     Introduction to Film Studies I (Film History 1895-1941)

     Introduction to Film Studies I (Film History 1942-1968)

     Los Angeles: A Cultural History

     Movie Stars: The Fundamental Thing

     Narrative Theory and Film

     Postmodernism

     Soap Operas and Society

     The Films of Francis Coppola

     The New American Cinema (1968-present)

     The Pleasure of Terror: the Horror Film

     The Sixties: A Cultural History

     The Wonderful World of Disney

     Women in Cinema: Position, Presentation and Representation

Research/Career Interests: 

Jon Lewis is a Distinguished Professor of Film Studies and a University Honors College Eminent Professor in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University where he has taught film and cultural studies since 1983. He has published ten books: The Road to Romance and Ruin: Teen Films and Youth Culture, which won a Choice Magazine Academic Book of the Year Award; Whom God Wishes to Destroy … Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood; The New American Cinema; Hollywood v. Hard Core: How the Struggle over Censorship Saved the Modern Film Industry, a New York Times New and Noteworthy paperback; The End of Cinema as We Know It: American Film in the Nineties, American Film: A History, Looking Past the Screen: Case Studies in American Film History, for the British Film Institute’s Film Classics series, The Godfather; the popular textbook Essential Cinema, and The American Film History Reader. He is currently editing Behind the Silver Screen, a ten book series for Rutgers University Press on the history of selected film occupations (screenwriter, director, actor, producer, cinematographer, art director, sound engineer, animator, editor, and costume designer).

Professor Lewis has appeared in two theatrically released documentaries on film censorship: Inside Deep Throat (Fenton Bailey, 2005) and This Film is Not Yet Rated (Kirby Dick, 2006). Between 2002 and 2007, Professor Lewis was editor of Cinema Journal and had a seat on the Executive Council of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.

Publications:

Books:

Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles (University of California Press, 2017)

The American Film History Reader (with Eric Smoodin) (Routledge, 2014).

Essential Cinema: An Introduction to Film Analysis (Wadsworth/Cengage, 2013).

The Godfather (BFI Film Classics, Palgrave/MacMillan, 2010.

American Film: A History (W.W. Norton, 2008)

Looking Past the Screen: Case Studies in American Film History and Method (with Eric Smoodin) (Duke University Press, 2007).

The End of Cinema As We Know It ... American Film in the Nineties (NYU, 2001).

Hollywood v. Hard-Core: How the Struggle over Censorship Created the Modern Film Industry  (NYU Press, 2000).

The New American Cinema (Duke University Press, 1998).

Whom God Wishes to Destroy ... Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood  (Duke University, 1995 and in the U.K. Athlone Press, 1995).

The Road to Romance and Ruin: Teen Films and Youth Culture (NY: Routledge, 1992). Re-issue: (NY: Routledge Library Edition: Cinema, 2013).

 

Proceedings and Conference Presentations: 

Papers and presentations (Invited):

 

“LA Noir,” with NYU Professor Dana Polan, delivered at the invitation of Noircon,

     Philadelphia, October 2022.

 

“Hollywood Encounters the Counterculture,” delivered at the invitation of the College of

     Liberal Arts, Oregon State University, November 2019.

 

“Hollywood Encounters the Counterculture,” delivered at the invitation of the Institute on

     the Americas, University College, London, December 2018.

 

“Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles,” delivered at

     the invitation of the 92nd Street Y, New York, May 2017.

 

“Hard-Boiled Hollywood: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles,” delivered at

     the invitation of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Los Angeles, California,

     April, 2017.

 

“Censorship by Contract: Movies, Money and Morality,” delivered at the invitation of the       

     University of Kent, Canterbury, December, 2016.

 

“Mobsters and Movie Stars: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles,” delivered at  

     the invitation of King’s College, London, December 2016.

 

“Editing American Film History,” delivered at the invitation of the Program in American

     Studies, University of California, Davis, May 2016.

 

“Hollywood Confidential: Crime and Punishment in Postwar Los Angeles,” delivered at

     the invitation of the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice-President, Oregon State

     University, May 2015.

 

“Random Reviews: Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War,”

     delivered at the invitation of the Friends of Corvallis Library, Corvallis Public Library,

     February 2015.

 

“Paths of Glory,” delivered at the Invitation of the School of Writing, Literature, and Film;

     the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion and the Northwest Film Center,  

     “Citizenship and Crisis” series, Portland Art Museum, January 2015.

 

“Few Things Sadder than the Truly Monstrous: The Black Dahlia Murder and Transition

     Era Hollywood,” delivered at the invitation of the School of Communication and Multi-

     Media Studies, Comparative Studies Colloquia on Interdisciplinarity, Florida Atlantic

     University, November 2014.

 

“A Simple Visual Figure in the Horror Film,” delivered at the invitation of the Center for

     the Humanities, “A Night of the Uncanny,” October 2014.

 

“Few Things Sadder than the Truly Monstrous: The Black Dahlia Murder and Transition

     Era Hollywood,” delivered at the invitation of the Center for the Humanities, Oregon   

     State University, October 2014.

 

Papers Delivered at Professional Conferences:

 

       “The Object of Performance in The Godfather, Part II: Pacino and DeNiro In 

          Coppola’s Movie of Meetings,” delivered to the Society for Cinema Studies,  

           remote-delivery conference, March 2022.

 

       “Christopher Jones Does Not Want to Be a Movie Star,” delivered to the Society for

           Cinema Studies, remote-delivery conference, March 2021.

 

       “Antonioni’s America: the American Counterculture and Hollywood in Transition,”

           delivered to the Society or Cinema Studies, Seattle, March 2019.

 

      “Frank Sinatra and Surviving Celebrity in the 20th Century,” delivered to the Society

          for Cinema Studies, Toronto, Canada, March 2018.

 

      “Turning Kids into Killers: Theater Violence and Movie Promotion in Modern

            Hollywood,” delivered to the Society for Cinema Studies, Chicago, Illinois, April     

            2017.

 

     “Fly Straight and Live Right (Fly Right and Live Straight): Westbrook Pegler and the      

          Politics of Gossip,” delivered to the Society for Cinema Studies, Atlanta, Georgia,

           April 2016.

 

       “Disney’s World Cup: ESPN and the Un-Americanization of Global Football,”

           delivered to the Society for Cinema Studies, Montreal, Canada, March 2015.

 

      “The Dahlia and Transition-era Hollywood … An Epigram on Transient Lives,”

          delivered to the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Seattle, March, 2014.