Cinema Wars

Cinema Wars explores the intersection of film, politics, and US culture and society through a bold critical analysis of the films, TV shows, and documentaries produced in the early 2000s Offers a thought-provoking depiction of Hollywood film as a contested terrain between conservative and liberal forces Films and documentaries discussed include: Black Hawk Down, The Dark Knight, Star Wars, Syriana, WALL-E, Fahrenheit 9/11 and other Michael Moore documentaries, amongst others Explores how some films in this era supported the Bush-Cheney regime, while others criticized the administration, openly or otherwise Investigates Hollywood s treatment of a range of hot topics, from terrorism and environmental crisis to the Iraq war and the culture wars of the 2000s Shows how Hollywood film in the 2000s brought to life a vibrant array of social protest and helped create cultural conditions to elect Barack Obama

Cinema Wars explores the intersection of film, politics, and US culture and society through a bold critical analysis of the films, TV shows, and documentaries produced in the early 2000s* Offers a thought-provoking depiction of Hollywood film as a contested terrain between conservative and liberal forces* Films and documentaries discussed include: Black Hawk Down, The Dark Knight, Star Wars, Syriana, WALL-E, Fahrenheit 9/11 and other Michael Moore documentaries, amongst others* Explores how some films in this era supported the Bush-Cheney regime, while others criticized the administration, openly or otherwise* Investigates Hollywood's treatment of a range of hot topics, from terrorism and environmental crisis to the Iraq war and the culture wars of the 2000s* Shows how Hollywood film in the 2000s brought to life a vibrant array of social protest and helped create cultural conditions to elect Barack Obama

Acknowledgments viiList of Plates ixIntroduction: Film, Politics, and Society 1Hollywood Film as a Contested Terrain 2Cinema, Politics, and Social History: From Cinematic Realism to Allegory 13Hollywood Film and the Contemporary Moment: Signs of the Times 18Reading Film Diagnostically: Imagining Obama 34In This Book 401 Confronting the Horrors of the Bush-Cheney Era: From Documentary to Allegory 51The Golden Age of Documentary 52Real Disaster Films: From An Inconvenient Truth and Environmental Documentaries to Animated Allegories 71Allegories of Catastrophe: Social Apocalypse in Disaster, Horror, and Fantasy Films 802 Hollywood's 9/11 and Spectacles of Terror 989/11 as Disaster Film and Spectacle of Terror 99Representations of 9/11 in Hollywood Film: United 93 and World Trade Center 101Disney Television Republican Propaganda: The Path to 9/11 108Hollywood's Terror War 1183 Michael Moore's Provocations 132Michael Moore, Emile de Antonio, and the Politics of Documentary Film 133Roger and Me and the Documentary of Personal Witnessing 136Bowling For Columbine and Exploratory Documentary Montage 140Fahrenheit 9/11 and Partisan Interventionist Cinema 146Sicko and the Michael Moore Genre 1554 Hollywood Political Critiques of the Bush-Cheney Regime: From Thrillers to Fantasy and Satire 163The Hollywood Political Thriller Against the Bush-Cheney Regime 165Star Wars Prequels as Anti-Bush-Cheney Allegory 173From Satire to Dystopia 1835 The Cinematic Iraq War 199Documenting Iraq 200Interpreting the Iraq Fiasco 208Iraq and Its Aftermath in Fiction Films 219Conclusion: Hollywood Cinema Wars in the 2000s 239Critical Representations 240History Lessons 250Final Reflections 258References 262Index 269