The Films of the Eighties: A Social HistorySouthern Illinois University Press, 1993 - 335 pages In this remarkable sequel to his Films of the Seventies: A Social History, William J. Palmer examines more than three hundred films as texts that represent, revise, parody, comment upon, and generate discussion about major events, issues, and social trends of the eighties. Palmer defines the dialectic between film art and social history, taking as his theoretical model the "holograph of history" that originated from the New Historicist theories of Hayden White and Dominick LaCapra. Combining the interests and methodologies of social history and film criticism, Palmer contends that film is a socially conscious interpreter and commentator upon the issues of contemporary social history. In the eighties, such issues included the war in Vietnam, the preservation of the American farm, terrorism, nuclear holocaust, changes in Soviet-American relations, neoconservative feminism, and yuppies. Among the films Palmer examines are Platoon, The Killing Fields, The River, Out of Africa, Little Drummer Girl, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Silkwood, The Day After, Red Dawn, Moscow on the Hudson, Troop Beverly Hills, and Fatal Attraction. Utilizing the principles of New Historicism, Palmer demonstrates that film can analyze and critique history as well as present it. |
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... asks . It turns out he is a Vietnam vet trying to visit an old Army friend . But his friend has not survived . He has died of " cancer . Brought it back from Nam . All that Orange stuff they spread around . " Later , when Colonel ...
... asks him how he feels , answers , “ like the invisible man . ” He reiterates this loss of identity because of Vietnam in that final speech when he decides that he wants to stay in the military asylum with his catatonic friend Birdy ...
... asks from a national perspective the same question that Al was asking from a personal perspective . " How do you respond to the accusations that you and other journalists underestimated the brutality of the Khmer Rouge and so share the ...
Contents
The Vietnam War as Film Text | 16 |
The Coming Home Films | 61 |
The Terrorism Film Texts | 114 |
Copyright | |
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