Projecting Politics

"This well-researched, clearly-written, and informative view of politics and film will be appreciated by scholars and students alike. The aptly-titled Projecting Politics systematically surveys, decade by decade, the history of overt and covert political messages in American films from the silent era to the present day in refreshingly readable prose. Whether addressing explicit movies about Democrats and Republicans or subtextual sociopolitical issues such as race, gender, sexuality, and social class, the authors successfully merge political science and cinema studies in an engaging synthesis. Using an integrative cultural studies perspective, this volume also uncharacteristically (and significantly) offers a look at both the financial side and the artistic aspects of filmmaking that convey themes and ideological meaning in more subtle ways than obvious plot and dialogue. Thus, this volume could serve as a work of interdisciplinary scholarship, a course textbook, or just a great read. The revised and expanded second edition brings this all up to date, and with special attention to documentaries, cable-TV movies, and genre studies." —Frank P. Tomasulo, Pace University

"In a slowly expanding literature on film and politics, the substantially expanded second edition of Projecting Politics features among the very best monographs on the subject. The two new chapters complement the millennial filmography of this ‘problematic’ genre and along with updated chapters on the intersections of politics, race, and gender offer valuable and original insight to the closer relationship between film and politics in the 21st century. Projecting Politics should be included in every reading list of not only film and politics courses but also in media, and political science departments." —Betty Kaklamanidou, Aristotle University, Greece

"This text successfully delivers its message through the historical and contemporary analyses of films and the political messages they seek to convey. The newly revised edition provides a fresh and contemporary perspective on this fascinating subject." —Kenneth Christie, Royal Roads University