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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 37
Moral confusion , existential confusion , confusion of time , of place , of reality , of sanity , confusion of intention , confusion of direction , ultimately just the utter confusion of meaningless action is the fuel that fires the ...
Ultimately , the real contextualized history of the Vietnam War is a perfect postmodernist text . Ultimately , the history of the Vietnam War is a holographic , multilayered history of nothingness , of an event that never had ...
In human as well as pubic relations terms , terrorism is always an ultimately exploitative and ... What this film cannot ultimately decide , because no one , not John Le Carre nor the filmmakers nor the Israelis and Palestinians - can ...
What people are saying - Write a review
Contents
The Vietnam War as Film Text | 16 |
The Coming Home Films | 61 |
The Terrorism Film Texts | 114 |
Copyright | |
6 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| 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 |