ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses three very different action-adventure films with three very different scores, all of which track identifications with a particular US national subject. The next cue is organized around Jack Ryan, who a variety of filmic devices have made clear is the hero from the outset of the film. But the dramatic scoring almost never has an "ethnic" sound, and when it does, it only lasts for a few phrases. The microcosmic process of assimilating identification that The chapter described here depends on and participates in the macroscopic level production of US nationality by many, many layers of accumulated processes of assimilation. It argues that much more broadly, that assimilation is a necessary ongoing function for the constitution of the United States as a nation; that it operates in movie theaters; and that film scores regularly perform its work.
