Context

Industrial contexts – 2001 was the first time that two films released in the same year grossed more than $800 million at the box office, with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring surpassing the milestone.

The inaugural entries of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings film franchises prompted a shift in both the film and literary communities by propelling fantasy into mainstream culture, popularizing young adult novels, and reforming the blockbuster to promote film franchises and cater to fandom communities.

Socio-political and cultural contexts –

This film was part of the post-modern film movement in 1990-2000s, and contains intertextual references, one being sunset Boulevard (1950) which became inspiration for the plot. Though predating movements against misogyny in Hollywood, Mullholland Drive still criticises this in it’s hyper-realistic depiction of Hollywood and parts of the industry.

Popular culture in 2001 saw the beginnings of the Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings film franchises, the development of the iPod and iTunes for music, and the release of three major video game systems. The year also saw the release of Mac OS X and Windows XP, as well as the launch of Wikipedia.