Trendsetter or follower? Hollywood has made over 5,000 war films in the past 100 years. Today’s episode probes whether Hollywood has been complicit in building a culture of warmongering and nationalism, whether inadvertently or by design. With a little help from our friend Krin - who has authored three books on Hollywood - and a handful of other resources, we look back over a few different eras in Hollywood and try to figure out whether the industry is holding up a mirror or influencing our feelings toward war. One thing the episode destroys is the myth that Hollywood is the cultural mouthpiece for the left.

Chapters

Intro: 00:01:49

Chapter One: Hollywood Doesn’t Fit Neatly in Any Box: 00:04:25

Chapter Two: A Deep History of Influence: 00:10:04

Chapter Three: Hollywood Goes to War: 00:19:05

Chapter Four: Influencer or Mirror: 00:28:06

Chapter Five: The Persistent Liberal Hollywood Myth: 00:38:54

Post Show Musings: 00:54:52

Outro: 01:16:58

Resources

The Atlantic: What's Wrong With 'The Hurt Locker'

NPR: Remembering Hollywood's Hays Code, 40 Years On

IMDb: War (Sorted by US Box Office Descending)

The Guardian: Conflict of interest: why Hollywood failed to honestly address the ‘war on terror’

Military.com: Why John Wayne Was Labeled a ‘Draft Dodger’ During World War II

Book Love

Jack G. Shaheen: Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People 

Ernest Giglio: Here's Looking at You: Hollywood, Film and Politics, Fourth Edition

Michael Ryan and Douglas Kellner: Camera Politica: The Politics of Contemporary Hollywood Film

Krin’s Books:

Psychiatry and the Cinema

Black Magic: White Hollywood and African American Culture

Jammin' at the Margins: Jazz and the American Cinema

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