American Film and the Culture Wars: Battleground in the Trump Era is an exploration of the relationship between American cinema and what many have referred to as the "Trump era," the "Trump age," or even the "Trump phenomenon." This book contends that American cinema offers an insight into this fractious period and emerged as one of the primary battlegrounds on which a war of interpretation was fought, a frontline in what many refer to as the "culture wars." This resulted in a body of films which should not be regarded as disposable entertainment, but rather as visceral cultural artefacts which reflect, engage with, and have even been able to influence the tumultuous period in a range of palpable ways. Films discussed include: Sound of Freedom (2023), Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Get Out (2017), Superman (2025), Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018), 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016), and The Hunt (2020), among many others. Across six theoretically informed but accessible chapters, McSweeney interrogates how American film emerged as a striking manifestation of the political and historical moment in which they were formed: engaging with a broad tapestry of social movements (Black Lives Matter [2013-], Me Too [2017-], and Times Up [2018-]); genres (superhero, horror, action, science fiction film); and key issues, debates, and events (gun control, abortion, religion), revealing that it is still the cinematic medium which provides a frame of reference for how we understand and comprehend the world, as much as, if not more than, it has ever done.

Autorentext
Terence McSweeney is a senior lecturer in film and television studies at Solent University, UK. He is widely recognised as one of the leading writers on contemporary American cinema. He has held research posts at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics, UK. Terence's newest book, Black Panther: Interrogating a Cultural Phenomenon (2021) won the Congrès Interdisciplinaire d'Etudes Africaines (COAFRO) Award for Best Book on African Studies (2021), a Non-Fiction Authors Association Gold Award (2022), an eLIt Gold Award in the category of Popular Culture (2022), a National Indie Excellence Award (2022), and has been nominated for an American Book Fest Award (result pending, 2022). He is also the author of The Contemporary Superhero Film (Short Cuts) (2020), Avengers Assemble! Critical Perspectives on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (2018), and The War on Terror and American Film: '9/11 Frames per Second' (2014).

Klappentext

American Film and the Culture Wars: Battleground in the Trump Era is an exploration of the relationship between American cinema and what many have referred to as the "Trump era," the "Trump age," or even the "Trump phenomenon."

This book contends that American cinema offers an insight into this fractious period and emerged as one of the primary battlegrounds on which a war of interpretation was fought, a frontline in what many refer to as the "culture wars." This resulted in a body of films which should not be regarded as disposable entertainment, but rather as visceral cultural artefacts which reflect, engage with, and have even been able to influence the tumultuous period in a range of palpable ways. Films discussed include: Sound of Freedom (2023), Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Get Out (2017), Superman (2025), Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018), 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016), and The Hunt (2020), among many others.

Across six theoretically informed but accessible chapters, McSweeney interrogates how American film emerged as a striking manifestation of the political and historical moment in which they were formed: engaging with a broad tapestry of social movements (Black Lives Matter [2013-], Me Too [2017-], and Times Up [2018-]); genres (superhero, horror, action, science fiction film); and key issues, debates, and events (gun control, abortion, religion), revealing that it is still the cinematic medium which provides a frame of reference for how we understand and comprehend the world, as much as, if not more than, it has ever done.

Inhalt

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements

Introduction: Contemporary American Film as Cultural Battleground

1. A Cinema of the Deplorables?
2. Cinema of the MeToo and Times Up Era (3522)
3. African American Film in the Era of Black Lives Matter
4. Tales from the Border: Drugs, Crime, Rapists and "Some, I Assume, Are Good People"
5. "THE LONE WARRIOR!": The Fears and Fantasies of an Action Hero Presidency

6. "America Needs a Superhero": The Conflicted Fantasylands of the Superhero Film in the Donald Trump Era
   Conclusion: Battlegrounds: "What Kind Of American Are You?"

   Works Cited
   Filmography
   Index