Description
Book SynopsisAnalyses the production and reception of recent Iraq war films, asking why they have become known as a 'Toxic Genre'.
Trade Review'A critical, multidimensional analysis of how film culture deals with war and politics. Clearly written, broadly informed, and engagingly insightful' -- Michael Parenti, author of God and His Demons and The Face of Imperialism
'An excellent and original analysis of a range of films related to the war in Iraq that also makes a wider contribution to our understanding of the various pressures. Lucidly argued and a model of level-headed analysis' -- Geoff King, Professor of Film and TV Studies, Brunel University, London
'One of the best studies yet of filmmaking in our contemporary age of war. This volume is an indispensable guide both to a challenging cycle of films and to the wider struggle of cinema to be seriously political today' -- David Slocum, Professor and Faculty Director of the Executive MBA Program at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, Steinbeis University, editor of Hollywood and War (2006).
'A touchstone: the first to comprehend entirely the wave of war films in the decade following 9/11. As a chronicle, it is encyclopedic. As a work of interpretation, it deftly sketches the complex of narrative contradictions that animate the genre. Baker's book cuts like a laser sight through the fog of contemporary war film' -- Roger Stahl, Associate Professor in the Department of Speech Communication at University of Georgia, author of Militainment, Inc(2009).
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
1. The disappearing Iraq war films
2. No True Glory: the film that never was
3. Constructing an ‘Iraq war experience’
4. From Doughboys to Grunts: the ‘American soldier’
5. Understanding film ‘failures’
6. Bringing the war home
7. Explaining the Iraq war
8. Producing a ‘toxic genre’
9. Free-riders and outliers
10. Latino grunts: the new victim-heroes
11. The Hurt Locker and beyond
Notes
Bibliography
Index
