Movies in the Age of Obama (eBook)

The Era of Post-Racial and Neo-Racist Cinema

David Garrett Izzo (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2014
314 Seiten
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (Verlag)
978-1-4422-4130-5 (ISBN)

Infos

This collection of essays looks at how films in the last few years have reflected and juxtaposed the ascent of Barack Obama and his administration. The films examined here include The Help, Django Unchained, Lincoln, The Mist, Invictus, Black Dynamite, and The Great Gatsby.

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The historic election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States had a significant impact on both America and the world at large. By voting an African American into the highest office, those who elected Obama did not necessarily look past race, but rather didn't let race prevent them for casting their ballots in his favor. In addition to reflecting the changing political climate, Obama's presidency also spurred a cultural shift, notably in music, television, and film. In Movies in the Age of Obama: The Era of Post-Racial and Neo-Racist Cinema, David Garrett Izzo presents a varied collection of essays that examine films produced since the 2008 election. The contributors to these essays comment on a number of films in which race and ';otherness' are pivotal elements. In addition to discussing such films as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Black Dynamite, The Blind Side, The Butler, Django Unchained, The Help, and Invictus, this collection also includes essays that probe racial elements in The Great Gatsby, The Hunger Games, and The Mist. The volume concludes with several essays that examine the 2013 Academy Award winner for best picture, 12 Years a Slave.Though Obama's election may have been the main impetus for a resurgence of black films, this development is a bit more complicated. Moviemakers have long responded to the changing times, so it is inevitable that the Obama presidency would spark an increase in films that comment, either subtly or overtly, on the current cultural climate. By looking at the issue these films address, Movies in the Age of Obama will be of value to film scholars, of course, but also to those interested in other disciplines, including history, politics, and cultural studies.

Autor

David Garrett Izzo is professor of English at Shaw University. He is the author or editor of several books, including Bruce Springsteen and the American Soul (2011) and Huxley’s Brave New World: Essays (2008).

Inhalt

IntroductionDavid Garrett IzzoPart I: Resonance from the Past: Experience Is Learned Backward But Must Be Lived ForwardChapter 1 - “I Really Need a Maid!” White Womanhood in The HelpKwakiutl L. DreherChapter 2 - Gwendolyn Brooks’s Bronzeville and Tate Taylor’s Jackson: “Art hurts. Art urges voyages—and it is easier to stay at home.”Blake G. HobbyChapter 3 - If Django and Lincoln Could Talk: James Baldwin Goes to the MoviesRobert McParlandChapter 4 - The Exceptional N*gger: Redefining African American Identity in Django UnchainedRodney M. D. FierceChapter 5 - Blaxploitation in the Age of Obama: Black Dynamite, Django Unchained, Racial Reasoning, and Racial CapitalismBrian E. ButlerChapter 6 - Between The Butler and Black Dynamite: Servility, Militancy, and the Meaning of BlaxploitationAndrew GrossmanChapter 7 - Rednecks, Racism, and Religion: King and Darabont’s Precarious Prophecy of Obama’s ComingVictoria McCollumPart II: The Present Is an Eternal Now Connecting Past and FutureChapter 8 - “I Am Trayvon Martin”: Obama and the Black Male in CinemaMohanalakshmi Rajakumar and Alisha SaiyedChapter 9 - Invictus: South Africa as a Post-racial Fantasy in the Age of ObamaSohinee RoyChapter 10 - “Mama, I Think I Broke Something”: Thinking about the Environment in Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern WildIrina NegreaChapter 11 - It’s Not a Wonderful Life: The Financial Crisis on Film and the Limits of Hollywood LiberalismPeter GrosvenorChapter 12 - Reimagining Barack Obama as Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann’s Film Adaptation of The Great GatsbyCammie SublettePart III: The Present Imagines the FutureChapter 13 - The Hunger Games, Race, and Social Class in Obama’s AmericaSonya C. BrownChapter 14 - Rise of the Planet of the People: Contradictions and Revolution in Rise of the Planet of the Apes doug morrisPart IV: The 2013 Academy Award for Best Picture: 12 Years a SlaveChapter 15 - “Under the Floorboards of This Nation”: Trauma, Representation, and the Stain of History in 12 Years a SlaveEd Cameron and Linda BelauChapter 16 - 162 Years after 12 Years a Slave: A Viewing through Double-ConsciousnessSalvador MurguiaChapter 17 - Revoking the Privilege of Forgetting: White Supremacy Interrogated in 12 Years a SlaveDavid M. JonesChapter 18 - No, You Can’t: Passive Protagonists in The Blind Side, Django Unchained, and 12 Years a SlaveThomas BrittIndexAbout the Editor and Contributors

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 26.8.2014
• Co-Autor: Linda Belau, Blake G. Hobby, David M. Jones, Victoria McCollum, Robert McParland, Salvador Jimenez Murguia, Irina Negrea, Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar, Sohinee Roy, Alisha Saiyed, Cammie Sublette, Thomas Britt, Doug Morris, Sonya C. Brown, Brian E. Butler, Ed Cameron, Kwakiutl L. Dreher, Rodney M. D. Fierce, Andrew Grossman, Peter C. Grosvenor
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Theater / Ballett
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• ISBN-10: 1-4422-4130-6 / 1442241306
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4422-4130-5 / 9781442241305