Enemies Within
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What enemies does the chapter talk about?
Right Wing Extremists (KKK)
Left Wing Extremists Communists
McCarthyism (Rabid Anti-Communists)
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Real vs. Imaginary Threats
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How real are/were these threats?
How does Hollywood exaggerate these threat?
Americanism in Film
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Films that promote the values of the
Declaration of Independence, the
Constitution, consensual pragmatism (just
because you disagree with me doesn’t
mean you are the enemy)
Films that display a problematic strand of
Americanism, often exemplified by
extremists
Right Wing Extremists
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Many films have examined the KKK
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Other Racist/Neo-Nazi groups
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Birth of a Nation (1915); Black Legion (1937);
Storm Warning (1951); Skokie (1981)
Less so in the 60s and 70s
Mississippi Burning (1988); Betrayed (1988);
American History X (1998)
But “this saga of racial oppression is
framed—as so many Hollywood films have
been—as a problem to be solved by white
protagonist” (p.159-60)
The Siege (1998)
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African-American protagonist
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Taking on a white antagonist (Bruce Willis)
Lebanese supporting actor (Tony Shalhoub)
Only white protagonist is a female (and a
badass) who dies in the end (A. Bening)
The Siege (1988)
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Who are the enemies in the Siege?
Terrorists
Religious extremists
Super-patriots
Military (Intelligence: CIA, NSA)
The Siege (1988)
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The Politics of Terrorism
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Last scene Hubbard tells Major General
Devereaux that the terrorist probably don’t
even want the Sheik, but instead wanted the
U.S. to declare Martial Law
Movie anticipates domestic terrorism by
Muslim extremists
Anti-Muslim backlash
Torture of combatants and noncombatants
Extraordinary Rendition
External and Internal Enemies
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Political officials (everywhere) have an
incentive to exaggerate external or internal
threats.
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This is true for Democracies or non-democracies
War on Crime
War on Terrorism
Red Menace
Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957)
McCarthyism
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Films depicting the red menace
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Walk a Crooked Mile (1948); I Married a
Communist (1949); The Red Menace (1949); I
Was a Communist for the FBI (1951); My Son
John (1952)
Big Jim McLain (1952): John Wayne stars as a
HUAC investigator (House UnAmerican Activities
Committee) assigned to smash a Communist Spy
ring in Hawaii
Traditional G-Men versus gangster plot, with the
mob being replaced by Communists
Anti-McCarthyism
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Films depicting the red scare
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Advise and Consent (1962); Guilty by Suspicion
(1991); The Way We Were (1973); The Front
(1976); The Majestic (2001); Good Luck and Good
Night (2005)
Films depicted people being falsly accused
Films did not depict the idea that being a
communist was acceptable
Few exceptions: Salt of the Earth (1954);Reds
(1981)
Sidney Lumet (1924-2011)
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12 Angry Men (1957)
Serpico (1973)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Network (1976)