The Politics of Hollywood Cinema Popular Film and Contemporary Political Theory

The Politics of Hollywood Cinema radically transforms our understanding of cinema's potential to be politically engaging and challenging. Examining several films from Hollywood's classical era, including Marked Woman, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Born Yesterday, On the Waterfront and It Should Happen to You, alongside contemporary theories of democracy advanced by Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Claude Lefort, Étienne Balibar and Jacques Rancière, Richard Rushton argues that popular films can offer complex subtle, relevant and controversial approaches to democracy and politics.

Richard Rushton is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Lancaster University, UK. He is the author of The Reality of Film (2011), Cinema After Deleuze (2012) and, with Gary Bettinson, What is Film Theory? (2010).

1. What is a Politics of Cinema?
2. Discovering a Politics of Cinema: The Influence of Althusser
3. The Politics of Cinematic Pleasure (with some reflections on The Sound of Music)
4. Politics and Hollywood Cinema: Marked Woman
5. Suture and Political Identity: On the Waterfront
6. Democracy and Totalitarianism: Mr Smith Goes to Washington
7. Égaliberté and Citizenship: Born Yesterday
8. Equality and Democracy: It Should Happen to You
9. Concluding Remarks