Discussing such classic films as Sergeant York, Air Force, and All Quiet on the Western Front, as well as more modern blockbusters like Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan, this outstanding volume focuses on Hollywood and its production of war films.
Topics covered include:
- the early formation of war cinema
- the apotheosis of the Hollywood war film
- the ascendancy of ambivalence
- Hollywood and the war since Vietnam
- war as a way of seeing.
For any student of film studies or American cultural studies, this is a valuable companion.
Part 1: Early Formations of War Cinema in the United States 1. The Spanish-American War in US Media Culture James Castonguay 2. National Cinemas, Hollywood Classicism, and World War 1, 1913–1919 Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell 3. War on Film: The American Cinema and World War, 1914–1941 Michael Isenberg 4. War and Cinema: Interpreting the Relationship Pierre Sorlin Part 2: The Apotheosis of the Hollywood War Film 5. World War II and the Hollywood War Film Thomas Schatz 6. Leni Riefenstahl's Contribution to the American War Effort Thomas Doherty 7. Will this Picture Help to Win the War? Clayton R. Koppes and Gregory D. Black 8. Definition Jeanine Basinger 9. Hollywood and the World War II Conversion Narrative Lary May 10. The Organization Man Goes to War Peter Biskind Part 3: The Ascendance of Ambivalence 11. Chambers II, All Quiet on the Western Front, John Whitelay 12. Missing Action: POW Films, Brainwashing and the Korean War 1954–1968 Charles Young 13. Film and the War: Representing Vietnam David E. James 14. Vietnam and the New Militarism Michael Ryan and Douglas Kellner 15. The Colonialist Subtext in Platoon, Claude Taylor Part 4: Hollywood and War since Vietnam 16. Techno-Muscularity and the Boy Eternal: From the Quagmire to the Gulf Lynda Boose 17. Seriously Spectacular: Authenticity and Art in the War Epic Geoff King 18. The New War Movies as Moral Rearmament Tom Doherty 19. A Cultural History of War without End Melani McAlister 20. Welcome to the Desert of the Real Slavoj Zizek Part 5: War as a Way of Seeing 21. War, Film, History: American Images of Real War, 1890–1925 Geoffrey Klingsporn 22. A Travelling Shot over Eighty Years Paul Virilio 23. Experiences of Modern Warfare and the Crisis of Representation Bernd Huppauf 24. War as a Way of Seeing George H. Roeder, Jr. 25. 'Make My Day!': Spectacle as Amnesia in Imperial Politics Michael Rogin
Biography
J. David Slocum is Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Science and Visiting Associate Professor of Cinema Studies in the Tisch School of Arts, both at New York University. His previous edited collections include Terrorism, Media, Liberation (2005), Rebel Without a Cause (2005) and Violence and American Cinema (2001).
