The films of the nineties
Subtitle: the decade of spin
By: William J. Palmer.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 254
ISBN-13: 9780230613447
Subjects: Motion pictures -- United States -- History; Motion pictures -- Social aspects -- United States; Motion pictures -- Political aspects -- United States
Other titles: Films of the '90s
Description: "The Films of the Ninetees is a real-to-reel cultural analysis of the 1990s. Drawing on the theories of postmodern philosophers Jean Baudrillard and Jean-Francois Lyolard, this volume scrutinizes films and television shows such as Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, Titanic, Shrek, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The West Wing with an eye trained on implicit attitudes about notions of reality and objective truth. Through these readings, Palmer chronicles the concept of "spin," the power to turn history to one's own agenda, a concept that emerged as the major sociopolitical persuasion strategy of the decade. In a world changed by the AIDS epidemic, the Clinton presidency, hip-hop, gay rights, and the redefinition of sexuality, the traditional conceptions of reality broke down and spin became a powerful force. The Films of the Nineties is an extensive analysis that dissects hundreds of individual works - but it is also a social, political, and sexual history of one of the most lively and complex decades of the twentieth century."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-244) and index.
Table of contents: title: Hollywood and history; title: The new historicist films; title: The decade of spin; title: Politics and spin; title: The American president; title: Spin out: the gay nineties; title: Sex and the nineties; title: Neo-spin; title: Conclusion: spinning into the millennium.