ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the shifting meanings Hollywood has brought to the question, "How has the alcoholic subject, and his or her family been defined by American feature films during the period 1932–1989?", assuming that there is no single agreed on thing called alcoholism, or alcoholic. It begins by retracing steps from 1932 to 1989. This will involve an interpretation of the multiple systems of discourse that have been brought to bear on the alcoholic subject. The chapter describes the alcoholism film in the context of the Hollywood social problem's film. Whether American alcoholics have become reflections of the reflections that have been brought to them by the media-oriented postmodern society remains unanswered. Real alcoholics may not be judged against their representations in filmic texts, but some make sense of real alcoholics by viewing films about them. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the themes of "love and death" and "redemption and suffering" in the American alcoholism film.
