American Cinema of the 1990s

by Holmlund, Chris

• ISBN13: 9780813543659
• ISBN10: 0813543657
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-12-30
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

With the U.S. economy booming under President Bill Clinton and the cold war finally over, many Americans experienced peace and prosperity in the nineties. Digital technologies gained popularity, with nearly one billion people online by the end of the decade. The film industry wondered what the effect on cinema would be.The essays in American Cinema of the 1990s examine the big-budget blockbusters and critically acclaimed independent films that defined the decade. The 1990s' most popular genre, action, channeled anxieties about global threats such as AIDS and foreign terrorist attacks into escapist entertainment movies. Horror films and thrillers were on the rise, but family-friendly pictures and feel-good romances netted big audiences too. Meanwhile, independent films captured hearts, engaged minds, and invaded Hollywood: by decade's end every studio boasted its own "art film" affiliate.

Table of Contents

Timeline: The 1990s

Movies and the 1990s

1990: Movies and the Off-White Gangster

1991: Movies and Wayward Images

1992: Movies and the Politics of Authorship

1993: Movies and the New Economics of Blockbusters and Indies

1994: Movies and Partisan Politics

1995: Movies, Teens, Tots, and Tech

1996: Movies and Homeland Insecurity

1997: Movies and the Usable Past

1998: Movies, Dying Fathers, and a Few Survivors

1999: Movies and Millennial Masculinity

Select Academy Awards, 1990-1999

Works Cited and Consulted

Index

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