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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... trying to get out . It's a hardball world , son . We've got to try to keep our heads until this peace craze blows over . Joker wears his contradictory words , the symbolic nihilism of language , on his sleeve . The Colonel repeats a ...
... trying to kill off . As in the other " strangers at home " films , the point of view of the bird ( the Vietnam vet ) finally gets expression in a final explanatory speech . Cameron's speech near the end of The Stunt Man is strikingly ...
... trying to gain entry into the real world while simultaneously trying to cope with the attractions and demands of sexual relationships . What both films emphasize most strong- ly is the terrible fear of commitment . St. Elmo's Fire ...
Contents
The Vietnam War as Film Text | 16 |
The Coming Home Films | 61 |
The Terrorism Film Texts | 114 |
Copyright | |
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