War and Film in America: Historical and Critical Essays

Front Cover
Marilyn J. Matelski, Nancy Lynch Street
McFarland, Aug 4, 2003 - Performing Arts - 218 pages

America's chief exports are war and entertainment; combined, they are the war films viewed all over the world. The film industry is a partner of the government; American film shapes the ways in which both Americans and others view war. The authors herein explore differing film perspectives across five decades.

The essays, written especially for this volume, explore topics such as frontier justice, Cold War fervor, government-sponsored terrorism, the "back-to-Nam" films, films as a venue for propaganda, and war's far-reaching effects on personal values, family relationships, and general civility. The movies used in these analyses vary from conventional battle epics like Bridge on the River Kwai and The Green Berets to motion pictures with a war motif either as part of the story (The Way We Were) or as a historical setting (The Graduate). Some of the films are satirical (Dr. Strangelove); some are propagandistic (The Alamo, Big Jim McLain). Other films include Black Hawk Down, True Lies, The Deer Hunter, Patriot Games and Let There Be Light.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

 

Contents

Preface
1
Introduction
3
The Bridge on the River Kwai The Collision of Duty and Pride
13
John Wayne American Icon Patriotic Zealot and Cold War Ideologue
25
The Cold War Three Episodes in Waging a Cinematic Battle
43
Troubled Silences Trauma in John Hustons Film Let There Be Light
67
Patriot or Pariah? The Impact of War on Family Relationships
79
The Cold War Cinema and Civility The Top Films of 1967
94
Trauma Treatment and Transformation The Evolution of the Vietnam Warrior in Film
134
American Hero Meets Terrorist True Lies and Patriot Games After September 11 2001
159
Stanley Kubrick and Americas Strange Love of War
175
Filmography
195
Bibliography
199
About the Contributors
203
Index
207
Copyright

Top Guns in Vietnam The Pilot as Protected Warrior Hero
114

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About the author (2003)

Nancy Lynch Street is professor emerita of communication studies at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Marilyn J. Matelski is professor emerita of communication at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

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