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Reelpolitik II moves past typical left-right political distinctions
to examine political ideologies cycling through U.S. history during
the '50s and '60s. These eight Cold War movies especially equipped
the moviegoer with a unique vantage point to scrutinize the arms
race, the Red Scare, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War. They
also helped audiences to observe the way film functions as a
purveyor of American mythology, a megaphone to shout political
messages, a metaphorical route to the emotions, a flattering
mirror, an unflattering microscope, and a magic carpet ride back to
the future.
In Reelpolitik Ideologies in American Political Film, Beverly
Merrill Kelley examines more than a century of political movie
history, providing a thorough historical background for
diametrically opposed political ideologies in order to facilitate
debate and dialectical learning. Kelley explores 185 American
political movies (categorized by ideological themes and presented
in chronological order) in order to illustrate the history of film
as well as the history of the specific political ideology. Each
chapter includes a case study which provides an in-depth analysis
of the single film that best illustrates the ideology at hand,
including: The Candidate (populism), Wall Street (elitism), The
Godfather (fascism), All the President's Men (anti-fascism), Patton
(interventionism), and M*A*S*H (isolationism). Reelpolitik
Ideologies in American Political Film establishes a paradigmatic
analysis of political films that details the cyclical nature of
ideological dialectic throughout American history and identifies
the values, attitudes, and beliefs of the voters who choose not to
affiliate with Republicans and Democrats, and who often determine
the outcomes of elections. The text also includes an extensive
ideological filmology spanning more than 100 years of American
cinema. This study represents a bold investigation of the political
and social values of American film, and is an essential text in the
study of the relationship between culture and politics.
The movies that document American history during the interwar years
still hold relevance today. While we may be put off by the corny
sentimentality popular at the time, we feel attracted, despite our
1990s veneer of sophistication, to healthy portions of
unadulterated American spirit. Americans resist encumbering
themselves with political labels, Kelley asserts, content to remain
simultaneously fragmented between elitism and populism,
isolationism and interventionism even today, yet remain somehow
united by a fundamental essence they can't quite define but readily
recognize as the American can-do attitude. Using the unique vantage
point of eight classic American movies--Mr. Smith Goes to
Washington, Magnificent Ambersons, Gabriel Over the White House,
Citizen Kane, Casablanca All Quiet on the Western Front, Daily
Bread, and The Fountainhead--Kelley and her colleagues explore the
political ideologies thrumming through the American psyche. The
stock market crash and ensuing depression proved a defining
experience. For the first time, the national psyche was sent
careening toward alien political ideologies; the seductiveness of
communism and fascism took hold in the wreckage wrought by the
Depression. American foreign policy likewise fluctuated from the
isolationist stance adopted after fighting the "war to end all
wars" to an interventionist response to the intensifying pressure
to vanquish communist and fascist bullies. Students, scholars, and
the general public will find intriguing insights on a period of
national catastrophe and triumph.
The movies that document American history during the interwar
years still hold relevance today. While we may be put off by the
corny sentimentality popular at the time, we feel attracted,
despite our 1990s veneer of sophistication, to healthy portions of
unadulterated American spirit. Americans resist encumbering
themselves with political labels, Kelley asserts, content to remain
simultaneously fragmented between elitism and populism,
isolationism and interventionism even today, yet remain somehow
united by a fundamental essence they can't quite define but readily
recognize as the American can-do attitude.
Using the unique vantage point of eight classic American
movies--"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Magnificent Ambersons,"
"Gabriel Over the White House," "Citizen Kane," "Casablanca" "All
Quiet on the Western Front," "Daily Bread," and "The
Fountainhead"--Kelley and her colleagues explore the political
ideologies thrumming through the American psyche. The stock market
crash and ensuing depression proved a defining experience. For the
first time, the national psyche was sent careening toward alien
political ideologies; the seductiveness of communism and fascism
took hold in the wreckage wrought by the Depression. American
foreign policy likewise fluctuated from the isolationist stance
adopted after fighting the war to end all wars to an
interventionist response to the intensifying pressure to vanquish
communist and fascist bullies. Students, scholars, and the general
public will find intriguing insights on a period of national
catastrophe and triumph.
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