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

Acknowledgments vii List of Plates ix Introduction: Film, Politics, and Society 1 Hollywood Film as a Contested Terrain 2 Cinema, Politics, and Social History: From Cinematic Realism to Allegory 13 Hollywood Film and the Contemporary Moment: Signs of the Times 18 Reading Film Diagnostically: Imagining Obama 34 In This Book 40 1 Confronting the Horrors of the Bush-Cheney Era: From Documentary to Allegory 51 The Golden Age of Documentary 52 Real Disaster Films: From An Inconvenient Truth and Environmental Documentaries to Animated Allegories 71 Allegories of Catastrophe: Social Apocalypse in Disaster, Horror, and Fantasy Films 80 2 Hollywood’s 9/11 and Spectacles of Terror 98 9/11 as Disaster Film and Spectacle of Terror 99 Representations of 9/11 in Hollywood Film: United 93 and World Trade Center 101 Disney Television Republican Propaganda: The Path to 9/11 108 Hollywood’s Terror War 118 3 Michael Moore’s Provocations 132 Michael Moore, Emile de Antonio, and the Politics of Documentary Film 133 Roger and Me and the Documentary of Personal Witnessing 136 Bowling For Columbine and Exploratory Documentary Montage 140 Fahrenheit 9/11 and Partisan Interventionist Cinema 146 Sicko and the Michael Moore Genre 155 4 Hollywood Political Critiques of the Bush-Cheney Regime: From Thrillers to Fantasy and Satire 163 The Hollywood Political Thriller Against the Bush-Cheney Regime 165 Star Wars Prequels as Anti-Bush-Cheney Allegory 173 From Satire to Dystopia 183 5 The Cinematic Iraq War 199 Documenting Iraq 200 Interpreting the Iraq Fiasco 208 Iraq and Its Aftermath in Fiction Films 219 Conclusion: Hollywood Cinema Wars in the 2000s 239 Critical Representations 240 History Lessons 250 Final Reflections 258 References 262 Index 269