Eric S. Jenkins
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748695478
- eISBN:
- 9781474406413
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748695478.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter argues that ideology emerges from affective experience, tracing the translation of American Dream narratives from the versions common in classical Hollywood to the Disney version of the ...
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This chapter argues that ideology emerges from affective experience, tracing the translation of American Dream narratives from the versions common in classical Hollywood to the Disney version of the American dream. The chapter shows that the different translations articulate to the different modes and their special affections. Consonant with the classical mode, the Hollywood American Dream narrative holds that people climb the social ladder by comporting themselves correctly to their environment. In contrast, the Disney version suggests that one achieves the American Dream by sheer force of the imagination, by wishing upon a star. The Disney version is also consonant with animistic mimesis. The chapter concludes with the implications of such an understanding of ideological emergence for ideology critique.Less
This chapter argues that ideology emerges from affective experience, tracing the translation of American Dream narratives from the versions common in classical Hollywood to the Disney version of the American dream. The chapter shows that the different translations articulate to the different modes and their special affections. Consonant with the classical mode, the Hollywood American Dream narrative holds that people climb the social ladder by comporting themselves correctly to their environment. In contrast, the Disney version suggests that one achieves the American Dream by sheer force of the imagination, by wishing upon a star. The Disney version is also consonant with animistic mimesis. The chapter concludes with the implications of such an understanding of ideological emergence for ideology critique.
Steven Earnshaw
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780719099618
- eISBN:
- 9781526141934
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719099618.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Fred Ex is the committed drinking protagonist of Frederick Exley’s A Fan’s Notes, in thrall to the career of the New York Giants footballer Frank Gifford. He realises he will never have fame of his ...
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Fred Ex is the committed drinking protagonist of Frederick Exley’s A Fan’s Notes, in thrall to the career of the New York Giants footballer Frank Gifford. He realises he will never have fame of his own, and over time discovers himself to be alienated from all aspects of modern life and the American dream. The chapter analyses how these elements relate to Existential authenticity, including the novel’s play around the idea of ‘fictional memoir’ and autofiction. There are periods of depression for Fred Ex which lead to being committed to a mental asylum, and the chapter covers the philosophical issues around agency in relation to drinking and mental well-being. This chapter also looks at the protagonist as a developing writer since the novel is partly a künstlerroman, and how this in turn is entangled with drinking.Less
Fred Ex is the committed drinking protagonist of Frederick Exley’s A Fan’s Notes, in thrall to the career of the New York Giants footballer Frank Gifford. He realises he will never have fame of his own, and over time discovers himself to be alienated from all aspects of modern life and the American dream. The chapter analyses how these elements relate to Existential authenticity, including the novel’s play around the idea of ‘fictional memoir’ and autofiction. There are periods of depression for Fred Ex which lead to being committed to a mental asylum, and the chapter covers the philosophical issues around agency in relation to drinking and mental well-being. This chapter also looks at the protagonist as a developing writer since the novel is partly a künstlerroman, and how this in turn is entangled with drinking.
Eric S. Jenkins
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748695478
- eISBN:
- 9781474406413
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748695478.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Special Affects retells the history of the emergence of classical Hollywood cinema and Disney animation from the perspective of affect theory. It argues that these media enabled new modes of ...
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Special Affects retells the history of the emergence of classical Hollywood cinema and Disney animation from the perspective of affect theory. It argues that these media enabled new modes of perception that sparked special affects such as the astonishment of early cinema, the marvel of early animation, the fantastic in classical cinema, and wonder in classical Disney. These special affects become mined by culture industries and translated into modes of consumerism and consumer ideology, as represented here by different versions of the American Dream narrative. This retelling of media history concludes that there is an inherent connection between media and consumerism, since media enable new modes of perception that can spark special affections that both attract and train consumers. The book also concludes that, from the perspective of affect, Disney animation constitutes a unique contribution to consumer culture, one distinct from the contributions of classical Hollywood with which Disney is so often conflated. The book ends by considering how this retelling of media history might inform current changes to animation, cinema and consumer culture due to the emergence of digital animation.Less
Special Affects retells the history of the emergence of classical Hollywood cinema and Disney animation from the perspective of affect theory. It argues that these media enabled new modes of perception that sparked special affects such as the astonishment of early cinema, the marvel of early animation, the fantastic in classical cinema, and wonder in classical Disney. These special affects become mined by culture industries and translated into modes of consumerism and consumer ideology, as represented here by different versions of the American Dream narrative. This retelling of media history concludes that there is an inherent connection between media and consumerism, since media enable new modes of perception that can spark special affections that both attract and train consumers. The book also concludes that, from the perspective of affect, Disney animation constitutes a unique contribution to consumer culture, one distinct from the contributions of classical Hollywood with which Disney is so often conflated. The book ends by considering how this retelling of media history might inform current changes to animation, cinema and consumer culture due to the emergence of digital animation.
Andrew Marble
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780813178028
- eISBN:
- 9780813178035
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813178028.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Military History
John Shalikashvili: From Boy on the Bridge to Top American General tells the captivating tale of how John Shalikashvili, a penniless, stateless World War II refugee achieved the American dream by ...
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John Shalikashvili: From Boy on the Bridge to Top American General tells the captivating tale of how John Shalikashvili, a penniless, stateless World War II refugee achieved the American dream by being appointed the thirteenth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking officer in the US military, during the Clinton administration. Through a gripping narrative covering his wartime upbringing, aristocratic family background, parental influence, immigrant experience, and betrayals by loved ones—particularly by his high school girlfriend and by his father’s affiliation with the Waffen-SS, which came to light during Shalikashvili’s confirmation process—the biography explores the themes of nature vs. nurture and the role of agency vs. luck (i.e., the influence of his own actions vs. factors beyond his control) in determining Shalikashvili’s character, leadership abilities, and career success.Less
John Shalikashvili: From Boy on the Bridge to Top American General tells the captivating tale of how John Shalikashvili, a penniless, stateless World War II refugee achieved the American dream by being appointed the thirteenth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest-ranking officer in the US military, during the Clinton administration. Through a gripping narrative covering his wartime upbringing, aristocratic family background, parental influence, immigrant experience, and betrayals by loved ones—particularly by his high school girlfriend and by his father’s affiliation with the Waffen-SS, which came to light during Shalikashvili’s confirmation process—the biography explores the themes of nature vs. nurture and the role of agency vs. luck (i.e., the influence of his own actions vs. factors beyond his control) in determining Shalikashvili’s character, leadership abilities, and career success.
Justin Driver
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190873455
- eISBN:
- 9780190873486
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190873455.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter juxtaposes the tales of two ambitious men, both born in the American West, who moved east to New York in an effort to make names for themselves during the 1920s. The ambitions of Jay ...
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This chapter juxtaposes the tales of two ambitious men, both born in the American West, who moved east to New York in an effort to make names for themselves during the 1920s. The ambitions of Jay Gatsby—as recounted in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby—and William O. Douglas—as recounted in his autobiography, Go East, Young Man—led the two men in very different directions. Where Gatsby turned to lawlessness, Douglas instead turned to law. The distinct journeys and distinct fates that Gatsby and Douglas experience yield insight into the significance of class within the United States, and also offer significant complications of the American Dream.Less
This chapter juxtaposes the tales of two ambitious men, both born in the American West, who moved east to New York in an effort to make names for themselves during the 1920s. The ambitions of Jay Gatsby—as recounted in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby—and William O. Douglas—as recounted in his autobiography, Go East, Young Man—led the two men in very different directions. Where Gatsby turned to lawlessness, Douglas instead turned to law. The distinct journeys and distinct fates that Gatsby and Douglas experience yield insight into the significance of class within the United States, and also offer significant complications of the American Dream.
Jennifer M. Silva
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190888046
- eISBN:
- 9780190888077
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190888046.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change, Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
This chapter examines how the decline of the American Dream is lived and felt. It traces how three families attach meaning to their suffering, assign blame for it, and imagine a way out of it. The ...
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This chapter examines how the decline of the American Dream is lived and felt. It traces how three families attach meaning to their suffering, assign blame for it, and imagine a way out of it. The Lorino family blames politicians for offering government “handouts” to gain votes yet shielding their own daughter from the growing pains that might have made her strong enough to resist heroin. Although they are critical of corporations that place profit over workers, they turn to outsider candidates as a last-ditch effort to stem the tide of political corruption. The Adams’s, who have been disabled and out of work for years, fantasize about violent white supremacy to restore their family legacy. Finally, the Hunters, a newly arrived African American family with a history of trauma, drug abuse, and poverty, attempt to transcend the concerns of the outside world, turning safety and happiness into a matter of perception, rather than one of social change.Less
This chapter examines how the decline of the American Dream is lived and felt. It traces how three families attach meaning to their suffering, assign blame for it, and imagine a way out of it. The Lorino family blames politicians for offering government “handouts” to gain votes yet shielding their own daughter from the growing pains that might have made her strong enough to resist heroin. Although they are critical of corporations that place profit over workers, they turn to outsider candidates as a last-ditch effort to stem the tide of political corruption. The Adams’s, who have been disabled and out of work for years, fantasize about violent white supremacy to restore their family legacy. Finally, the Hunters, a newly arrived African American family with a history of trauma, drug abuse, and poverty, attempt to transcend the concerns of the outside world, turning safety and happiness into a matter of perception, rather than one of social change.
Jez Conolly and Emma Westwood
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- January 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781800859289
- eISBN:
- 9781800852396
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781800859289.003.0008
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Positions the film as emblematic of the hopeless and inescapable lifecycle that binds individuals into The American Dream. Draws comparisons to Billy Wilder’s The Apartment. Looks at the politics of ...
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Positions the film as emblematic of the hopeless and inescapable lifecycle that binds individuals into The American Dream. Draws comparisons to Billy Wilder’s The Apartment. Looks at the politics of Seconds, especially related to the McCarthy era blacklisting of actors and the assassination of Robert Kennedy.Less
Positions the film as emblematic of the hopeless and inescapable lifecycle that binds individuals into The American Dream. Draws comparisons to Billy Wilder’s The Apartment. Looks at the politics of Seconds, especially related to the McCarthy era blacklisting of actors and the assassination of Robert Kennedy.
