Description
Book SynopsisIn the American popular imaginary, the Second World War remains the prime example of American virtue—the country is typified by individual and collective heroism.
Destructive Sublime complicates the oversimplified and commonly held view that film and video portray the war in ways that are conservative, both politically and aesthetically.
Trade Review“A compelling contribution to research on war and representation.” -- Stacy Takacs * author of Terrorism TV: Popular Entertainment in Post-9/11 America *
"Refocusing our attention on World War Two combat sequences, Allison usefully unsettles the generic construction of 'the good war,' highlighting the diverse and often contradictory aesthetic forms and affective appeals that structure the representation of violence in American film and media. Through consideration of production histories and contemporary critical reception alongside close textual analysis, the book offers a timely and accessible account of material that remains formative to the cultural imagination of war today." -- Jonna Eagle * Professor of American Studies at University of Hawai'i, Manoa *
“The spectacular violence of war cinema is explored with insight and subtlety in this fine volume. Centered on expressive violence as the signature subject of WWII film and video, Allison's important study embraces a subject that is often ignored -- the allure of screen violence in the genres of war representation.” -- Robert Burgoyne * author of "The Hollywood Historical Film" *
“Tanine Allison challenges our conventional understanding of Hollywood’s World War II combat movies. She skillfully demonstrates how their scenes of violence and destruction counter the myths about a 'good war' or a 'greatest generation.'” -- Stephen Prince * author of Classical Film Violence and Savage Cinema *
“
Destructive Sublime is a beautifully written, clearly conceived, and well theorized reconceptualization of how combat sequences offer counternarratives that trouble the notion of World War II as the 'good war.' Deploying theorists such as Edmund Burke, Paul Virilio, and André Bazin, Tanine Allison has provided us with crucial formal language to read the spatial relations and aesthetics of combat, from the understudied insertions of documentary footage into fiction films to the visceral pleasures of digital renditions of battles in video games. This is exciting work and should be required reading for anyone in the fields of digital studies, media studies, film studies, and war studies.” -- Anna Froula * co-editor of Reframing 9/11: Film, Popular Culture, and the 'War on Terror' *
"Chronicle of Higher Eduction weekly book list," by Nina C. Ayoub * Chronicle of Higher Education *
“A compelling contribution to research on war and representation.” -- Stacy Takacs * author of Terrorism TV: Popular Entertainment in Post-9/11 America *
"Refocusing our attention on World War Two combat sequences, Allison usefully unsettles the generic construction of 'the good war,' highlighting the diverse and often contradictory aesthetic forms and affective appeals that structure the representation of violence in American film and media. Through consideration of production histories and contemporary critical reception alongside close textual analysis, the book offers a timely and accessible account of material that remains formative to the cultural imagination of war today." -- Jonna Eagle * Professor of American Studies at University of Hawai'i, Manoa *
“The spectacular violence of war cinema is explored with insight and subtlety in this fine volume. Centered on expressive violence as the signature subject of WWII film and video, Allison's important study embraces a subject that is often ignored -- the allure of screen violence in the genres of war representation.” -- Robert Burgoyne * author of "The Hollywood Historical Film" *
“Tanine Allison challenges our conventional understanding of Hollywood’s World War II combat movies. She skillfully demonstrates how their scenes of violence and destruction counter the myths about a 'good war' or a 'greatest generation.'” -- Stephen Prince * author of Classical Film Violence and Savage Cinema *
“
Destructive Sublime is a beautifully written, clearly conceived, and well theorized reconceptualization of how combat sequences offer counternarratives that trouble the notion of World War II as the 'good war.' Deploying theorists such as Edmund Burke, Paul Virilio, and André Bazin, Tanine Allison has provided us with crucial formal language to read the spatial relations and aesthetics of combat, from the understudied insertions of documentary footage into fiction films to the visceral pleasures of digital renditions of battles in video games. This is exciting work and should be required reading for anyone in the fields of digital studies, media studies, film studies, and war studies.” -- Anna Froula * co-editor of Reframing 9/11: Film, Popular Culture, and the 'War on Terror' *
"Chronicle of Higher Eduction weekly book list," by Nina C. Ayoub * Chronicle of Higher Education *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: A Retrospective Look at the World War II Combat Genre
1 “No Faking Here”: The New Authenticity of Wartime Combat Documentaries
2 The “Good War”? Style and Space in 1940s Combat Films
3 Rationalizing War: Reconstructions of World War II During the Cold War and Vietnam
4 Nostalgia for Combat: World War II at the End of Cinema
5 Simulating War on an Algorithmic Playground
Conclusion: A Bad War? The World War II Combat Genre Now
Acknowledgments
Selected Bibliography
Index
