The Films of the Eighties: A Social History

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Southern Illinois University Press, 1993 - 335 pages
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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

 

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Page 48
The grunt in Hamburger Hill , therefore , is caught between two types of nothingness and can only choose action , going up that hill one more time — some choice ! Hamburger Hill is different from Platoon and Full Metal Jacket in that it ...
Page 49
But the documentarylike quality of Hamburger Hill is not the only way that it differs from the other films of this year . Each of these films is different in setting , which affects their textuality . The grunts in Platoon are ...
Page 52
For the dying soldiers in Hamburger Hill , the villains of the piece are not the enemy in their bunkers at the top of the hill raining down death , but the American society that has hung them out here by themselves to die .

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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

The Films of the Eighties: A Social History
William J. Palmer
Limited preview - 1995
The Films of the Eighties: A Social History
William J. Palmer
Snippet view - 1993

Common terms and phrases

action actually American society asks attempt become begins bomb called central characters City cold comic book confusion critical deal death death squad decade early eighties exploitation fact farm feminist fight film's final Fire forced girl give guilt happened Hill Hollywood human images involved ironic issue John Kerr-McGee kill later lives look major meaning metaphor military moral mother movie never nuclear Oliver Stone opening past Perhaps Platoon play political present problems Rambo Reagan reality represented rhetoric Russian says scene seems seventies social history soldiers speech story Street symbolic tells terrorism terrorist theme things trying turns ultimately Vietnam veteran Vietnam War Vietnam War films Vietnamese violence White whole wife woman women writes York young yuppie

References to this book

About the author (1993)

William J. Palmer, a professor of English at Purdue University, is also a novelist whose Highwayman and Mr. Dickens was an Alternate Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club.

Bibliographic information

QR code for The Films of the Eighties
TitleThe Films of the Eighties: A Social History
AuthorWilliam J. Palmer
Editionillustrated
PublisherSouthern Illinois University Press, 1993
ISBN0809318377, 9780809318377
Length335 pages
  
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