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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... exploitation of historical fact and realism , Hollywood ( a generic term for the film industry ) is usually quite reactive and timely in its handling of social history . Since the New Historicists have presented their arguments that ...
... exploitation film is character allowed to emerge . All of the " coming home " veterans ' issues erupt in Rambo's climactic speech , and ironically , their final liberation justifies all of the comic book action and supervet stereo ...
... exploitation of the anguish of Vietnam veterans and Reagan administration jingoism was the personal memoir The Killing Fields ( 1984 ) . Not really about Vietnam ( though the Vietnam War that contributed to the fall of Cambodia is ...
Contents
The Vietnam War as Film Text | 16 |
The Coming Home Films | 61 |
The Terrorism Film Texts | 114 |
Copyright | |
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