American Cinema of the 1990s: Themes and Variations
American Cinema of the 1990s: Themes and Variations
edited by Chris Holmlund contributions by Debra White-Stanley, Caryl Flinn, José Capino, Krin Gabbard, Chris Holmlund, Linda Mizejewski, Sharon Willis, Amy Villarejo, Chuck Kleinhans, Diane Waldman and Timothy Shary
Rutgers University Press, 2008 Cloth: 978-0-8135-4365-9 | eISBN: 978-0-8135-7668-8 | Paper: 978-0-8135-4366-6 Library of Congress Classification PN1993.5.U6A8579 2008 Dewey Decimal Classification 791.43097309049
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
With the U.S. economy booming under President Bill Clinton and the cold war finally over, many Americans experienced peace and prosperity in the nineties. Digital technologies gained popularity, with nearly one billion people online by the end of the decade. The film industry wondered what the effect on cinema would be.
The essays in American Cinema of the 1990s examine the big-budget blockbusters and critically acclaimed independent films that defined the decade. The 1990s' most popular genre, action, channeled anxieties about global threats such as AIDS and foreign terrorist attacks into escapist entertainment movies. Horror films and thrillers were on the rise, but family-friendly pictures and feel-good romances netted big audiences too. Meanwhile, independent films captured hearts, engaged minds, and invaded Hollywood: by decade's end every studio boasted its own "art film" affiliate.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
CHRIS HOLMLUND is a professor of cinema studies, women's studies, and French at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She is also chair of the Cinema Studies Program and the author of several books on film.
REVIEWS
“There is nothing like this series. Screen Decades firmly situates American cinema in the realms of material culture, popular culture, cultural narrative, reception analysis, and industrial history.”
— American Quarterly
“There is nothing like this series. Screen Decades firmly situates American cinema in the realms of material culture, popular culture, cultural narrative, reception analysis, and industrial history.”
— American Quarterly
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Movies and the off-white gangster / Linda Mizejewski
Movies and wayward images / Sharon Willis
Movies and the politics of authorship / Amy Villarejo
Movies and the new economics of blockbusters and indies / Chuck Kleinhans
Movies and partisan politics / Diane Waldman
Movies, teens, tots, and tech / Tim Shary
Movies and homeland insecurity / Debra White-Stanley and Caryl Flinn
Movies and the usable past / José B. Capino
Movies, dying fathers, and a few survivors / Krin Gabbard
Movies and millennial masculinity / Chris Holmlund