Winning the Crowd

The Politics of Popular Films

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by Jonathan Ashbach, Joey M. Barretta, Sean Beienburg and Luigi Bradizza

Type

Studies

Subject

Sociology

Keywords

popular films, ideology

Publishing date

2025 (March 15, 2025)

Publisher

Lexington Books

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 252 pages
6 x 9 inches (15 x 23 cm)

ISBN

978-1-6669-5527-9

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Book Presentation:
How are the films we watch shaping our political worldview? Studies show that films shape us, they affect our values, our beliefs, and our actions. Consequently understanding the messages reinforced by many popular films is vital for everyone, and especially for the student of politics.
Winning The Crowd: The Politics of Popular Films showcases careful, close readings of recent, popular films as serious texts of political thought. Ten contributors select a film or small set of related films - from the John Wick franchise to Pixar's The Incredibles - and analyze the political orientations that these films convey. The volume will be a helpful introduction for those interested in what Hollywood is teaching its viewers about power and the good life. It will also be a valuable model for those wishing to sharpen their own ability to think critically about the meaning of their evening entertainment.
How have your values and beliefs been formed by Hollywood? Winning The Crowd takes you on a guided journey through some of the smartest popular films of recent years.

About the authors:
Jonathan Ashbach is Elizabeth Randel and Ana Scales Assistant Professor in American Constitutional Law at Oklahoma Baptist University.

Press Reviews:
Like the movies it discusses, Winning The Crowd: The Politics of Popular Films is both entertaining and powerful. It makes you see your favorite movies - like the James Bond series - in a new way. But it also makes you see all movies in a new way, as a force of cultural power, civic formation, and political education. As a movie critic would say: Five stars! -- Susan McWilliams Barndt, Pomona College

See the publisher website: Lexington Books