The Films of the Eighties: A Social HistoryIn 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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See , we're born with a killer instinct that you can't just turn on and off like some , some radio . We have to be right in the middle of the ... Before the fight begins , Ludmilla Drago turns to Mrs. Creed and says , “ Good Luck .
This particular E.T. does not turn on his heartlight ; instead , Danko turns on his headlights and drives right over ( in a bus ) the criminals he has come to America to kill . A much better , more human , version of the international ...
When the refuge to which the yuppie escapes turns against him , the yuppie must flee further from the pressures of both the urban workplace battlefield and the hostility and paranoia of suburban life . That is exactly what Clark ...
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Contents
The Vietnam War as Film Text | 16 |
The Coming Home Films | 61 |
The Terrorism Film Texts | 114 |
Copyright | |
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| Title | The Films of the Eighties: A Social History |
| Author | William J. Palmer |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Southern Illinois University Press, 1993 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | 26 Feb 2008 |
| ISBN | 0809318377, 9780809318377 |
| Length | 335 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |