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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 37
... represented by Richard Bone ( Jeff Bridges ) to take responsibility for what it did to them . As political allegory ... represents that segment of the Vietnam generation that avoided the draft , then vilified the soldiers when they ...
... represented . But the concept of international terrorist image consciousness is also represented . After the London bombing , Wulfgar is censured by his IRA contact : " They want to talk to you about that bomb . Mercer says it was ...
... represented by Vietnam - weakened cowboy Mitchell Gant trying to get it back together ) toward Russia . Gant , in his weakened condition post - Vietnam , represents America at the beginning of the Reagan eighties . On a social level ...
Contents
The Vietnam War as Film Text | 16 |
The Coming Home Films | 61 |
The Terrorism Film Texts | 114 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown