Reel power : Hollywood cinema and American supremacy / Matthew Alford ; foreword by Michael Parenti.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alford, Matthew.

Contributor:

Parenti, Michael.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion picture industry--Political aspects--United States.

Motion picture industry.

Motion pictures--Political aspects--United States.

Motion pictures.

United States--Politics and government--1989-.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (232 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Pluto Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Hollywood is often characterised as a stronghold of left-liberal ideals. In Reel Power, Matthew Alford shows that it is in fact deeply complicit in serving the interests of the most regressive US corporate and political forces.Films like Transformers, Terminator: Salvation and Black Hawk Down are constructed with Defence Department assistance as explicit cheerleaders for the US military, but Matthew Alford also emphasises how so-called 'radical' films like Three Kings, Hotel Rwanda and Avatar present watered-down alternative visions of American politics that serve a similar function.Reel Power is the first book to examine the internal workings of contemporary Hollywood as a politicised industry as well as scores of films across all genres. No matter what the progressive impulses of some celebrities and artists, Alford shows how they are part of a system that is hard-wired to encourage American global supremacy and frequently the use of state violence.

Contents:

Pt. 1. Controlling the dream factory

pt. 2. Power projected

pt. 3. Reel violence.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Filmography: p. 205-210.

ISBN:

9781783714445

1783714441

9781849645560

1849645566

OCLC:

730515022