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

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:	9781594517600
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/30/2011
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(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

chapterOne Shock; chapterTwo Grief; chapterThree Horror; chapterFour Rage; chapterFive Vengeance; chapterSix Terror; chapterSeven Paranoia; chapterEight Post-9/11 Hollywood;