The Films of the Nineties : The Decade of Spin

Through movies such as Forrest Gump and Titanic, The Films of the Nineties offers a reel-to-reel cultural analysis, chronicling the concept of “spin” as a major sociopolitical persuasion strategy. "The Films of the Ninetees is a real-to-reel cultural analysis of the 1990s. Drawing on the theories of postmodern philosophers Jean Baudrillard and Jean-Francois Lyolard, this volume scrutinizes films and television shows such as Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, Titanic, Shrek, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The West Wing with an eye trained on implicit attitudes about notions of reality and objective truth. Through these readings, Palmer chronicles the concept of "spin," the power to turn history to one's own agenda, a concept that emerged as the major sociopolitical persuasion strategy of the decade. In a world changed by the AIDS epidemic, the Clinton presidency, hip-hop, gay rights, and the redefinition of sexuality, the traditional conceptions of reality broke down and spin became a powerful force. The Films of the Nineties is an extensive analysis that dissects hundreds of individual works - but it is also a social, political, and sexual history of one of the most lively and complex decades of the twentieth century."--Jacket. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 1 Hollywood and History......Page 14 2 The New Historicist Films......Page 32 3 The Decade of Spin......Page 52 4 Politics and Spin......Page 78 5 The American President......Page 92 6 Spin Out: The Gay Nineties......Page 142 7 Sex and the Nineties......Page 178 8 Neo-spin......Page 220 Conclusion: Spinning into the Millennium......Page 232 Notes......Page 240 B......Page 258 C......Page 259 D......Page 260 G......Page 261 J......Page 262 M......Page 263 P......Page 264 S......Page 265 T......Page 266 Z......Page 267 By breaking down classic films from the nineteen-nineties such as Forest Gump and Titanic, this book offers a reel-to-reel cultural analysis, chronicling the concept of 'spin' as a major sociopolitical persuasion strategy.