The Hollywood war machine : U.S. militarism and popular culture
- Responsibility
- Carl Boggs and Tom Pollard.
- Imprint
- Boulder : Paradigm Pub., c2007.
- Physical description
- xii, 276 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.
Description
Creators/Contributors
- Author/Creator
- Boggs, Carl.
- Contributor
- Pollard, Tom (Leslie Thomas)
Contents/Summary
- Bibliography
- Includes filmography: p. 247-268.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-245) and index.
- Contents
-
- 1 Militarism in American Popular Culture
- Patriotism as Secular Religion
- Gun Culture and Civic Violence
- The Warrior Legacy and Patriarchy
- Corporate Media: Reservoir of Militarism
- 2 War and Cinema: The Historical Legacy
- Hollywood Mobilizes for Combat
- The Western as Combat Genre
- The Myth of the Good War
- Cold War and Popular Culture
- 3 The Vietnam Debacle: Politics and Cinema
- Innocence, Defeat, Tragedy
- Post-Vietnam Traumas
- Robert McNamara and the Fog of History
- 4 Recycling the Good War
- World War II - Again, and Again
- Hollywood: War and Nostalgia
- The Spectacle of War
- Pearl Harbor: Escape from History
- 5 Cinematic Warfare in the New World Order.
- (source: Nielsen Book Data)
- Summary
-
This title is written by prolific authors in the field of social sciences. It offers fresh perspectives on films related to WWII, the Cold War and Vietnam. It shows the increasing impact of the US film industry on popular and political culture. It is an excellent guide for undergraduate students in media and cultural studies. In this unique book, the authors provide a hard-hitting, radical critique of the growing culture of American militarism, focusing on the post-Cold War years. Analyzed in historical context and drawing on a broad mix of theoretical, political, and cultural sources, "The Hollywood War Machine" explores the U.S. film industry and its deepening impact on the popular and political culture. Through the lens of film makers like Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Jonathan Mostrow, Edward Zwick, Tony Scott, and John Woo, the volume deconstructs the narratives and images of nearly 200 combat and war-related movies, along with related consumer fare such as television and video games, in the context of the permanent war economy, security state, recurrent military interventions abroad, and the expansion of U.S. global power. Topics included are cinematic representations of terrorism, the return of "good war" motifs, the phenomenon of disguised militarism, the relationship between cinema and technowar, depictions of the Gulf War and the current war in Iraq, and general media spectacles of warfare as well as unique perspectives on films related to World War II, the Cold War, and Vietnam.
(source: Nielsen Book Data) - Supplemental links
- Table of contents
Subjects
Bibliographic information
- Publication date
- 2007
- ISBN
- 1594512973
- 9781594512971
- 1594512981 (pbk.)
- 9781594512988 (pbk.)