science

Hollywood Hex

Hollywood Hex is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hollywood Hex rather than just read about it. In short: Hollywood Hex is a book by Mikita Brottman, an in-depth history of movies plagued with bad luck or perceived as cursed. The book deals with deaths on-set, copycat crimes, obsessed fans, bizarre coincidences, and other incidents which lead a film to be called "cursed".

Key takeaways

Hollywood Hex belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hollywood Hex to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hollywood Hex from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hollywood Hex is a book by Mikita Brottman, an in-depth history of movies plagued with bad luck or perceived as cursed. The book deals with deaths on-set, copycat crimes, obsessed fans, bizarre coincidences, and other incidents which lead a film to be called "cursed".

Description The book's origins are in several essays by the author, Mikita Brottman. Brottman received her Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from Oxford University, taught Comparative Literature at Indiana University as a Visiting Assistant Professor, served as a professor at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, and is currently on the staff of the Pacifica Graduate Institute. Brottman's writings on film and film culture have appeared in Film Quarterly, Literature Film Quarterly and indieWire, where she regularly covers international film festivals. The book covers "cursed movies" in a period ranging from Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968) to The Crow (1994) with Brandon Lee. In a 2005 interview for the Sunday Herald, Brottman defined the elements that make a "cursed movie": "A film will appear to be hexed if one or more of the stars has died after filming or during filming or if it turns out that the stars have drug or health problems or suicidal tendencies - something that the audience wasn't aware of at the time. Or if there's been an unusual pattern of co-incidences associated with the film such as a series of deaths or a series of accidents during filming." The central section of the book, and the two films which receive the most analysis, are Polanski's Macbeth (1971), and William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973). Polanski's Macbeth, which receives the most complete coverage, is intercut with descriptions of and parallels with the Manson Family murder of Sharon Tate, Polanski's wife. The section on The Exorcist details extreme audience reactions to the film. Films which receive shorter coverage include Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994).

Criticism A review of the book in the film and popular culture journal Images judges that Hollywood Hex is most successful in the sections covering The Exorcist and Macbeth because of not, "exploiting the subject material but in maintaining distance." Brottman's objective approach to the material gives it an academic and neutral point of view which, in a subject which could easily be sensationalized, is remarked on approvingly in the review. The reviewer, David Ng, comments, "How easy it would have been to sensationalize this material, to cheapen it with tabloidish conjectures, to dilute it with pop psychology, or to kill it with over-analysis... It is a mature book that trusts its readers to extrapolate... freely." Images points out that other films covered by the book are not done in as complete a manner as are Macbeth and The Exorcist, giving the book a somewhat disjointed quality. Ng comments, "The shorter essays... while always fascinating, seldom reach the subtle genius of the two centerpieces." Nevertheless, Brottman's academic approach to the subject is consistent throughout the book, according to Ng, who writes that she, "never short changes a movie because it was a bomb or a turkey. Poltergeist III, for instance, is scrutinized with the same level of intelligence as The Exorcist. The Headpress Guide to the Counter Culture (2004) calls the book, "a fascinating account of murder and misadventure in Tinseltown," and an "unashamedly esoteric film book with a very entertaining premise."

Notes

References Creation Books/Hollywood Hex (English) Creation Books Retrieved on 2008-2-20

Further reading Didcock, Barry (October 23, 2005). "Curse of the OMEN and other Hollywood hexes". Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on October 27, 2007. Retrieved November 5, 2008.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hollywood Hex

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hollywood Hex claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hollywood Hex before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hollywood Hex ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hollywood Hex

In research: Hollywood Hex appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hollywood Hex in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hollywood Hex is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1999 non-fiction books, History of film, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hollywood Hex outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hollywood Hex in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hollywood Hex means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hollywood Hex out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hollywood Hex in simple terms?

Why does Hollywood Hex matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hollywood Hex?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hollywood Hex.