In this book, Pablo Castrillo Maortua analyzes the emergence of the political thriller in Hollywood at a time of angst and turmoil in the United States. The Cold War, the nuclear age, domestic and international scandals, and an increasingly deceitful political culture catalyzed a filmmaking current that would gradually develop its own narrative form and aesthetics into a new genre. Maortua explores the dramatic identity and design of the American political thriller, tracking the close correlation between the evolution of the genre and the history of the United States from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the ensuing War on Terror. Ultimately, the author demonstrates how the American political thriller defies Hollywood conventions and cultural presuppositions with an entertaining yet critical view of the state of politics. Scholars of film studies, screenwriting, and genre theory will find this book of particular interest.
Pablo Castrillo Maortua is associate professor in the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media at the University of Navarra.
Acknowledgments Introduction PART I: GENRE Chapter 1. The Thriller Form Chapter 2. American Political Cinema Chapter 3. The Political Thriller Film PART II: HISTORY Chapter 4. Gangsters and Communists: Formative Phase (1930s-50s) Chapter 5. A Cold, M.A.D. World: Birth of the Political Thriller (1960s) Chapter 6. A Dulled and Dreary Golden Age (1970s) Chapter 7. The Political Thriller in the Blockbuster Age (1980s-1990s) Chapter 8. Fire, Brimstone, and Drones: The New Wave of the 2000s Chapter 9. The Labyrinth Within (2010s) PART III. STORY Chapter 10. Across the Labyrinth: Plotting A Course Chapter 11. Theseus Against the System: Character Types Chapter 12. Spatial Aesthetics: Labyrinths and Fortresses Epilogue Appendix: Selected Filmography References About the Author
"In History and Story in the American Political Thriller Film, Pablo Castrillo Maortua brings the story of one of Hollywood's most striking and contentious genres right up-to-date. Detailed, lucid and highly readable, Castrillo Maortua's book is essential reading for students and scholars of the political movie, and the paranoid/conspiracy thriller especially. A great recollection of the scholarship and history of political film, this is the text for our current age when even the most outlandish of Hollywood narratives is no longer able to match the scarcely believable events going on in Washington and the country at large." -- Ian Scott, University of Manchester "History and Story in the American Political Thriller Film: Hollywood in the Labyrinth is a compelling and highly readable account of a critically neglected but enduring and timely genre. The book provides a detailed analytical overview of almost a century of films about the relationship between America political thrillers and the socio-political contexts in which they were created. However, it does something more than this by demonstrating on multiple occasions how these films came to not just reflect but also influence American society in tangible ways. It is an important work which impresses with both its depth and breadth, one which makes an excellent contribution to the field of American screen studies. " -- Terence McSweeney, Solent University
