Mediating War and Identity: Figures of Transgression in 20th- and 21st-century War Representation

by Lisa Purse (Editor), Ute Wölfel (Editor)

Overview

In state and public discussion about war and conflict, figures of transgression such as deserters, pacifist and emigrants are often marginalised, but they also play a key role in rethinking cultural and national identity in the wake of military violence. Raising questions of agency, responsibility and culpability in relation to the ‘other’, their cultural representation can enable reflection on and renegotiation of values and collective norms after the destabilisation of war.
Through an interdisciplinary lens, this collection analyses the depiction of these transgressive figures in a variety of visual media, as well as the narrative, socio-cultural, political and historical contexts in which they emerge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474446266
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	11/19/2020
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Dr Lisa Purse is Associate Professor in Film in the Department of Film, Theatre & Television at the University of Reading.

Dr Ute Wolfel is Lecturer in German Studies at the University of Reading

Table of Contents

List of figures

Notes on the Contributors

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

Lisa Purse and Ute Wölfel

2. Momentary Rupture? Dawn (1928) and the Transgressive Potential of the Edith Cavell Case

Claudia Sternberg

3. ‘An act of wilful defiance’: Objection, Rebellion, and Protest in the Imperial War Museum’s First World War Galleries

Rebecca Clare Dolgoy

4. Figures of Transgression in Representations of the First World War on British Television

Emma Hanna

5. The End of Transgression: Fritz Bauer as Traitor on the German Screen

Ute Wölfel

6. ‘Just another Kraut': The Wehrmacht Traitor as ‘Good German’ in Hollywood’s Decision before Dawn (1951)

Patrick Major

7. Religious pacifism and the Hollywood war film: from Sergeant York (1941) to Hacksaw Ridge (2017)

Guy Westwell

8. Military Masculinity and the Deserting Soldier in Stop-Loss (2008)

Thomas Ærvold Bjerre

9. Activist, mother, filmmaker: competing transgressions in the Syrian war documentary

Lisa Purse

10. Marie Colvin – the war hero and the ‘nasty woman’

Agnieszka Piotrowska

Index

What People are Saying About This

Robert Burgoyne

This remarkable study illuminates the cultural imaginary of war in a fundamentally new way. Exploring the deep veins of resistance within a narrative frame dominated by symbols of consensus, the authors offer a wholly original reading of one of the most consequential genres of 20 and 21st century life. Timely and important.

Editorial Reviews

This remarkable study illuminates the cultural imaginary of war in a fundamentally new way. Exploring the deep veins of resistance within a narrative frame dominated by symbols of consensus, the authors offer a wholly original reading of one of the most consequential genres of 20 and 21st century life. Timely and important.

Robert Burgoyne