Horror and Science Fiction Cinema and Society

American Culture and Politics in the Cold War and After Through the Projector Lens
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-032-44460-4
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 254 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 549 g

Examining how horror and science fiction films from the 1950s to the present invent and explore fictional “us-versus-them” scenarios, this book analyzes the different ways such films employ allegory and/or satire to interrogate the causes and consequences of increasing polarization in American politics and society.

Starting with the killer ants film with an anti-communist subtext Them! (1954) and concluding with Jordan Peele’s social horror film with revenge-seeking homicidal doppelgängers Us (2019), Martin Harris highlights social and political contexts, contemporary reviews and responses, and retrospective evaluations to show how American horror and science fiction films reflect and respond to contemporary conflicts marking various periods in U.S. history from post-WWII to the present, including those concerning race, gender, class, faith, political ideology, national identity, and other elements of American society.

Horror and Science Fiction Cinema and Society draws upon cinematic sociology to provide a resourceful approach to American horror and science fiction films that integrates discussion of plot construction and character development with analyses of the thematic uses of conflict, guiding readers’ understanding of how filmmakers create otherworldly confrontations to deliver real-world social and political commentary.

Zielgruppe

Academic, Postgraduate, Undergraduate Advanced, and Undergraduate Core

Autoren/Hrsg.

Harris, Martin

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Populärkultur
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Freizeitsoziologie, Konsumsoziologie, Alltagssoziologie, Populärkultur
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmgattungen, Filmgenre

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: “Us vs. Them” in Society and on the Screen
1. Defending the American Way of Life Against Them!
2. Surrendering Selfhood in Invasion of the Body Snatchers
3. Legend or Monster? Judging The Last Man on Earth
4. See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil: Racial Antipathy in Planet of the Apes
5. Divided We Fall: Conflict and Crisis in Night of the Living Dead
6. Quarantine, Containment, and Covering Up in The Crazies
7. “Just Another Stage”: Mainstreaming Feminism and the Backlash in The Stepford Wives
8. The Enemy Within: Alien’s Oppositions
9. A Cop Movie With Aliens: Self-Reflexivity in The Hidden
10. “We All Sell Out Every Day”: Trickle-Down Ideology in They Live
11. Foregrounding Fascism: Starship Troopers and Satirical Adaptation
12. In-Groups and Out-Groups: Monsters Within and Monsters Without in The Mist
13. Cloverfield, 9/11, and the New Normal
14. Get Out and the Struggle to Escape America’s Post-Racial Lie
15. Unity on the Surface, Division Underneath: Exploring American Discord in Us
Appendix: Other “Us vs. Them” Horror Sci-Fi Films

Über Autor(innen)

Martin Harris teaches in the American Studies program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of Poker & Pop Culture: Telling the Story of America’s Favorite Card Game (2019) and Leatherface vs. Tricky Dick: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as Political Satire (2021).