Hollywood 9/11: Superheroes, Supervillains, and Super Disasters / Edition 1

by Tom Pollard

Overview

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent US-led invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 profoundly affected all aspects of society, including cinema. Or did they? Even now, years after those horrific events, debate still rages over their impact on films. At the time many expected Hollywood to tamp down graphic movie violence, while others hoped that filmmakers would finally lay bare volatile socio-political issues fuelling terrorist attacks. In fact, what has emerged is a thicket of darkly pessimistic genres including thrillers, combat films, sci-fi, and horror that makes pre-9/11 films appear naive and optimistic. Hollywood 9/11 explores this transformation, critically examining everything from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to The Hurt Locker and placing the films in the context of both the socio-political scene and the history of cinema.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594517594
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/30/2011
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Tom Pollard is Professor of Social Sciences at National University in San Jose and a documentary filmmaker whose work has appeared on BBC, the Discovery Channel, the Life Network, Canadian Broadcasting System, and various PBS channels. His most recent book is Sex and Violence: The Hollywood Censorship Wars (Paradigm, 2010) and he has coauthored with Carl Boggs The Hollywood War Machine (Paradigm, 2007) and A World in Chaos: Social Crisis and the Rise of Postmodern Cinema (Rowman & Littlefield 2003).

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments ix

1 Shock 1

December 7, 1941 3

Violence 4

Post-9/11 Emotions 5

Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome 7

Hollywood's Initial Reactions 8

2 Grief 13

Television Films and Documentaries 16

Conspiracy Theories 20

War on Terror 22

Satire 29

3 Horror 33

Early Horror Films 36

Post-9/11 Horror 37

Vampires 48

Horror at the Box Office 56

4 Rage 59

World War II: The Good War 60

Vietnam: The Bad War 62

Post-9/11 Vietnam 63

Afghanistan 65

Distant Wars 67

Ancient Rage 70

Return of the Good War 70

5 Vengeance 73

Early Superheroes 75

Post-9/11 Superheroes 78

Supervillains 96

Science and Technology 97

Cyborgs 100

Shape-Shifters 100

Psychics 101

Echolocation 101

Supervigilantes 102

Satire 104

Revenge 105

6 Terror 107

Thrillers 108

Pre-9/11 Terrorists 109

Post-9/11 Terrorists 112

Domestic Terrorists 122

Revenge 124

Serial Killers 125

Femmes Fatales 126

7 Paranoia 131

Apocalypse 131

Pre-9/11 Science Fiction 131

Post-9/11 Science Fiction 132

Computer-Generated Imagery 134

Conspiracy 135

Super Disasters 137

8 Post-9/11 Hollywood 149

Vampires 151

Rage 152

Supervillains 153

Super Disasters 158

Repressed Superheroes 160

Terror 161

Demonized Politicians 164

Rogue Corporations 165

Religion 166

Special Effects 168

Post-9/11 Heroes 171

Post-9/11 Neonoir 173

Blurred Genres 175

Vietnam 177

Post-9/11 Style 177

The Age of Paranoia 179

Future Trends 180

Notes 185

Selected Filmography 193

Index 207

About the Author 214