Collecting together some of the best thinking about the relationship between movies and politics, this book, originally published in 1993, encourages an awareness of the political dimension of film, both for film scholars and those entering the film industry. Eight essays are grouped into four parts addressing political ideology and movie narrative, political myth in the movies, political history and movie culture, and political communication and the movies. An introductory essay, as well as prefatory remarks to each of the four parts, brings additional insight and perspective and puts the essays into context.
Preface. Introduction Part 1: Political Ideology and Movie Narrative 1. Who’s Running this Show?: Ideology, Formula and Hegemony in American Film and Television John G. Cawelti 2. Film, Politics, and Ideology: Toward a Multiperspectival Film Theory Douglas Keller Part 2: Political Myth in the Movies 3. The Prices of Power: Women’s Depictions in Film June Sochen 4. Leatherstocking in ‘Nam: Rambo, Platoon, and the American Frontier Myth Harold Schechter and Joanna G. Semeiks Part 3: Political History and Movie Culture 5. "Grief in the Limelight": Al Capone, Howard Hughes, the Hays Code and the Politics of the Unstable Text Richard Maltby 6. Designing Multi-Cultural America: Modern Movie Theatres and the Politics of Public Space 1920-1945 Lary May Part 4: Political Communication and the Movies 7. Politics and Auteurs: From Chaplin to Wajda Charles Maland 8. Political Propaganda in the Movies: A Typology Dan Nimmo. Afterword. Index. Film Index
Biography
James E. Combs
