1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910461413203321

Autore

King Claire Sisco

Titolo

Washed in blood [[electronic resource] ] : male sacrifice, trauma, and the cinema / / Claire Sisco King

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick, N.J., : Rutgers University Press, c2012

ISBN

1-283-86572-6

0-8135-5206-0

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (235 p.)

Disciplina

791.43/652

Soggetti

Heroes in motion pictures

Death in motion pictures

Sacrifice in motion pictures

Psychic trauma in motion pictures

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- Reel presence, sacrifice, and the cinema -- Unhinged heroes and alpha traumas -- Free falls in the American nineties -- Remakes, resurrections, and sacrificial returns -- Epilogue: big screen memories.

Sommario/riassunto

Will Smith in I Am Legend. Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. Charlton Heston in just about everything. Viewers of Hollywood action films are no doubt familiar with the sacrificial victim-hero, the male protagonist who nobly gives up his life so that others may be saved. Washed in Blood argues that such sacrificial films are especially prominent in eras when the nation—and American manhood—is thought to be in crisis. The sacrificial victim-hero, continually imperiled and frequently exhibiting classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, thus bears the trauma of the nation. Claire Sisco King offers an in-depth study of three prominent cycles of Hollywood films that follow the sacrificial narrative: the early–to–mid 1970's, the mid–to–late 1990's, and the mid–to–late 2000's. From Vietnam-era disaster movies to post-9/11 apocalyptic thrillers, she examines how each film represents traumatized American masculinity and national identity. What she



uncovers is a cinematic tendency to position straight white men as America’s most valuable citizens—and its noblest victims.