ABSTRACT

American cinema has always been violent, and never more so than now: exploding heads, buses that blow up if they stop, racial attacks, and general mayhem. From slapstick's comic violence to film noir, from silent cinema to Tarantino, violence has been an integral part of America on screen. This new volume in a successful series analyzes violence, examining its nature, its effects, and its cinematic and social meaning.

chapter |34 pages

Introduction

Violence and American Cinema: Notes for an Investigation

part |66 pages

Historicizing Hollywood Violence

chapter |38 pages

Violence American Style

The Narrative Orchestration of Violent Attractions

part |107 pages

Revisiting Violent Genres

chapter |14 pages

“Clean, Dependable Slapstick”

Comic Violence and the Emergence of Classical Hollywood Cinema

chapter |23 pages

Murder's Tongue

Identity, Death, and the City in Film Noir

chapter |16 pages

Passion and Acceleration

Generic Change in the Action Film

part |87 pages

Hollywood Violence and Cultural Politics

chapter |15 pages

Black Violence as Cinema

From Cheap Thrills to Historical Agonies

chapter |26 pages

Splitting Difference

Global Identity Politics and the Representation of Torture in the Counterhistorical Dramatic Film