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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... says " We Never Say No. " Unfortunately they have no trouble saying " No " to Eddie . Fourth , as Eddie sits in a bar , two guys start mocking his uniform and hassling him about losing the war . On his first day in Vietnam , Eddie was ...
... say . . . . Red Dawn says , Watch out : there are a group of people out there called the Russians that really do want to take away your freedom , to enslave you , and make no bones about it , and it's only people living in a dreamworld ...
... says that clothes don't make the man ? " this film seems to be saying . Pauline Kael says of Down and Out in Beverly Hills that it presents " a vision of the sensuousness of money " and goes on to declare , “ I don't think conspicuous ...
Contents
The Vietnam War as Film Text | 16 |
The Coming Home Films | 61 |
The Terrorism Film Texts | 114 |
Copyright | |
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