Flatlining on the Field of Dreams
Cultural Narratives in the Films of President Reagan's America
by Alan Nadel
(0 vote)Average rating:
| 0 | rating |  = We can do without |
| 0 | rating |  = Good book |
| 0 | rating |  = Excellent book |
| 0 | rating |  = Unique / a reference |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
"Flatlining on the Field of Dreams takes a apart some of the most commercially successful films of the epoch, demonstrating how they reflected, debated, and played with the dominant ideology of the time. . . . cleverly and wittily written . . . . The book will work extremely well in the classroom."
-Film Quarterly
"From Back to the Future to Forrest Gump, Nadel shows not only how notions of cinematic time re-script political change but how our very conceptualizations of change are thematized by our experiences of watching movies. This is not simply film history, or film as history, but film affirming "history" in the same way that Ronald Reagan affirmed film narratives."
-Susan Jeffords, University of Washington
"Flatlining on the Field of Dreams brilliantly restages the cultural narratives associated with Reaganism within a neo-imperialist cinematic space and reveals the heretofore unexamined role class played in the reproduction of those narratives."
-Donald E. Pease, Dartmouth College
Flatlining on the Field of Dreams demonstrates, with witty prose and careful analysis, how the overindulgent, image-conscious years of the Reagan administration are reflected in sundry aspects of American films produced during that era. Discussing dozens of films, including Home Alone, Beetlejuice, Ghost, The Little Mermaid, Working Girl, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and Trading Places, Alan Nadel identifies narratives about credit, deregulation, gender, race, and masculinity that defined "President Reagan's America." Linking the way Hollywood films work to the stories they tell, he explains how the ideas and values of Reaganism became the symbolic food of a hyper-consumptive society. The book provides hard-to-ignore demonstrations of the extensive synergy between politics, history, and popular culture.
About the Author:
Alan Nadel is Professor of Literature at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Press Reviews:
"Flatlining on the Field of Dreams takes a apart some of the most commercially successful films of the epoch, demonstrating how they reflected, debated, and played with the dominant ideology of the time. . . . cleverly and wittily written . . . . The book will work extremely well in the classroom."
— Film Quarterly
"From Back to the Future to Forrest Gump, Nadel shows not only how notions of cinematic time re-script political change but how our very conceptualizations of change are thematized by our experiences of watching movies. This is not simply film history, or film as history, but film affirming history in the same way that Ronald Reagan affirmed film narratives."
— Susan Jeffords
"Flatlining on the Field of Dreams brilliantly restages the cultural narratives associated with Reaganism within a neo-imperialist cinematic space and reveals the heretofore unexamined role class played in the reproduction of those narratives."
— Donald E. Pease
"Flatlining on the Field of Dreams takes a apart some of the most commercially successful films of the epoch, demonstrating how they reflected, debated, and played with the dominant ideology of the time. . . . cleverly and wittily written . . . . The book will work extremely well in the classroom."
— Film Quarterly
"From Back to the Future to Forrest Gump, Nadel shows not only how notions of cinematic time re-script political change but how our very conceptualizations of change are thematized by our experiences of watching movies. This is not simply film history, or film as history, but film affirming history in the same way that Ronald Reagan affirmed film narratives."
— Susan Jeffords
"Flatlining on the Field of Dreams brilliantly restages the cultural narratives associated with Reaganism within a neo-imperialist cinematic space and reveals the heretofore unexamined role class played in the reproduction of those narratives."
— Donald E. Pease
> From the same author:
Demographic Angst (2017)
Cultural Narratives and American Films of the 1950s
by Alan Nadel
Subject: Sociology
The Men Who Knew Too Much (2012)
Henry James and Alfred Hitchcock
Dir. Susan M. Griffin and Alan Nadel
Subject: Director > Alfred Hitchcock
> On a related topic:
American Film and Politics from Reagan to Bush Jr (2002)
Dir. Philip Davies and Paul Wells
Subject: Countries > United States
The Lost Decade (2025)
Altman, Coppola, Friedkin and the Hollywood Renaissance Auteur in the 1980s
by Chris Horn
Subject: On Films > Per period
Rewinding The '80s (2025)
Cinema Under the Influence of Music Videos, Action Stars, and a Cold War
by John Malahy
Subject: On Films > Per period
Life Moves Pretty Fast (2016)
The Lessons We Learned from Eighties Movies (and Why We Don't Learn Them from Movies Anymore)
Subject: On Films > Per period
American Cinema of the 1980s (2007)
Themes and Variations
Dir. Stephen Prince
Subject: On Films > Per period
The Films of the Eighties (2006)
A Complete, Qualitative Filmography to Over 3400 Feature-Length English Language Films, Theatrical and Video-Only, Released Between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 1989
by Robert A. Nowlan and Gwendolyn Wright Nowlan
Subject: On Films > Per period
Back
