Politics and Politicians in American Film / Edition 1

by Phillip L. Gianos

Overview

Films have been a part of U.S. society for a century—a source of great enjoyment for the audience and of great profit to filmmakers. How does a mass entertainment medium deal with some of the great sources of dramatic real-life political and economic conflict—the Great Depression, the Cold War—in a way that attracts an audience without making it angry? How does an industry, which has from its beginnings been the subject of attacks from social, political and religious groups deal with political issues and conflicts? This book is an attempt to examine these questions; it is also an examination of some of the greatest and most interesting American films ever made—westerns, gangster films, comedies, war films, satires, and film biographies—to see what American films say about politics and politicians, and what these films, in turban, say about the audience for which they were produced.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275967666
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/30/1999
Series:	Praeger Series in Political Communication (Paperback)
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

PHILLIP L. GIANOS is Professor of Political Science at California State University, Fullerton.

Table of Contents

Making Movies
Watching Movies
Politics and the Film Industry
Approach, Avoidance and Accommodation: Movies and the Great Depression
The Movies and World War II
The Cold War and Vietnam in Film
Aspiration, Disillusionment and Ambivalence: Politics and Politicians in Film
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

Gianos (political science, California State U., Fullerton) discusses the ways in which politics and movies inform each other and what they tell us about the society that produced them. He focuses on mass-market, fictional, US-produced films, including , , , , , , and . Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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