German Wartime Memory, American Exceptionalism, and Post-Cold War Blockbuster Cinema

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Independence Day (1996): Processing German Memories of the Luftkrieg in Roland Emmerich’s Alien Invasion Epic

2. Troy (2004): Wolfgang Petersen’s Achilles as the Bearer of German Wartime Trauma

3. 2012 (2009) and Anonymous (2011): Roland Emmerich’s Dashed Political Hopes through the Prism of David Caspar Friedrich Motifs

4. Valkyrie (2008) and Inglourious Basterds (2009): Tom Cruise and Quentin Tarantino Attempt to Master the Nazi Past

5. In the Line of Fire (1993) and Valkyrie (2008): November 1963 and July 1944 through a Transatlantic Lens

6. Midway (2019) and Air Force One (1997): German Hollywood’s Transatlantic Discourse of Geopolitics 

Conclusion 

Index

Biography

Robert C. Pirro is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Georgia Southern University, U.S.A. He came to Georgia Southern in 1997 after finishing graduate work at U.C. Berkeley (Ph.D., 1996) and undergraduate work at Harvard (B.A., 1986). He covers most of the department’s survey courses in political theory/philosophy (Ancient Political Thought, Modern Political Thought, Contemporary Political Thought, American Political Thought, Feminist Political Thought). Film and Politics is the newest addition to the political theory/philosophy courses he offers. Among his scholarly interests are the politics of tragedy, the political thought of Auschwitz survivor, industrial chemist, and writer Primo Levi, the political theory of the German-Jewish refugee-turned-American political theorist Hannah Arendt, and the politics of film. His book publications include Motherhood, Fatherland, and Primo Levi: The Hidden Groundwork of Agency in His Auschwitz Writings (2017); The Politics of Tragedy and Democratic Citizenship (2011); and Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Tragedy (2001).

'For anyone who, like me, has long been interested in the relationship between Hollywood and the Germans, this book on films ranging from Independence Day (1996) and Air Force One (1997) to Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Midway (2019) and filmmakers such as Roland Emmerich, Wolfgang Petersen and Quentin Tarantino is a must-read. Pirro’s ingenious and thought-provoking interpretations of blockbuster movies are based on authoritative discussions of American and German politics and culture, in-depth explorations of filmmakers’ biographies and public statements, detailed and perceptive analyses of the style, stories and themes of individual films, and a wide-ranging examination of their popular and critical reception.        While the book very effectively covers some familiar film historical ground, going back to the beginnings of Hollywood and Weimar cinema, it truly comes into its own with the surprising connections it establishes between two countries, different periods and divergent film traditions, between popular entertainment and political trauma, between cinematic as well as biographical details and the grand sweep of history.' 

Peter Krämer, Senior Research Fellow in Cinema & TV, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK and Honorary Fellow in the School of Media, Language and Communication Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK