Binding: Paperback
Description: Film Criticism the Cold War and the Blacklist examines the long - term reception of several key American films released during the postwar period focusing on the two main critical lenses used in the interpretation of these films: propaganda and allegory. Produced in response to the hearings held by the House Committee on Un - American Activities (HUAC) that resulted in the Hollywood blacklist these films ideological message and rhetorical effectiveness was often muddled by the inherent difficulties in dramatizing villains defined by their thoughts and belief systems rather than their actions. Whereas anti - Communist propaganda films offered explicit political exhortation allegory was the preferred vehicle for veiled or hidden political comment in many police procedurals historical films Westerns and science fiction films. Jeff Smith examines the way that particular heuristics such as the mental availability of exemplars and the effects of framing have encouraged critics to match filmic elements to contemporaneous historical events persons and policies. In charting the development of these particular readings Film Criticism the Cold War and the Blacklist features case studies of many canonical Cold War titles including The Red Menace On the Waterfront The Robe High Noon and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Title: Film Criticism The Cold War And The Blacklist Reading The Hollywood Reds
Author(s): Smith Jeff
Publisher: University Of California Press
Barcode: 9780520280687
Pages: 368 Pages
Publication Date: 3/26/2014
Category: The Cold War