German Wartime Memory, American Exceptionalism, and Post Cold War - Transatlantic Popular Cinema in German Hollywood and American

This book excavates the diverse and mostly unnoticed political meanings made available to American and German audiences by the blockbuster films helmed by transplanted West German directors Roland Emmerich and Wolfgang Petersen.

List of contents

Introduction 1. Independence Day (1996): Processing German Memories of the Luftkrieg in Roland Emmerich's Alien Invasion Epic 2. Troy (2004): Wolfgang Petersen's Achilles as the Bearer of German Wartime Trauma 3. 2012 (2009) and Anonymous (2011): Roland Emmerich's Dashed Political Hopes : Through the Prism of David Caspar Friedrich Motifs 4. Valkyrie (2008) and Inglourious Basterds (2009): Tom Cruise and Quentin Tarantino Attempt to Master the Nazi Past 5. In the Line of Fire (1993) and Valkyrie (2008): November 1963 and July 1944 through a Transatlantic Lens 6. Midway (2019) and Air Force One (1997): German Hollywood's Transatlantic: Discourse of Geopolitics Conclusion

About the author

Robert C. Pirro is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at Georgia Southern University, USA. He came to Georgia Southern in 1997 after finishing graduate work at U.C. Berkeley (Ph.D. 1996) and undergraduate work at Harvard (B.A. 1986). He covers most of the department's survey courses in political theory/philosophy (Ancient Political Thought, Modern Political Thought, Contemporary Political Thought, American Political Thought, Feminist Political Thought). Film and Politics is the newest addition to the political theory/philosophy courses he offers. Professor Pirro has many scholarly interests including the politics of tragedy, the political thought of Auschwitz survivor, industrial chemist, and writer Primo Levi, the political theory of the German-Jewish refugee-turned-American Political theorist Hannah Arendt, and the politics of film. His book publications include Motherhood, Fatherland, and Primo Levi: The Hidden Groundwork of Agency in His Auschwitz Writings (2017); The Politics of Tragedy and Democratic Citizenship (2011); and Hannah Arendt and the Politics of Tragedy (2001).

Product details

• Authors: Robert C. Pirro, Pirro Robert C.
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 29.08.2025
• EAN: 9781041036579
• ISBN: 978-1-0-4103657-9
• No. of pages: 198
• Series: Popular Culture and World Politics
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Media science; USA, Media Studies, Popular Culture, HISTORY / Europe / Germany, Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, European History, Germany, HISTORY / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies), POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, Social & cultural history, Social and cultural history, Political campaigning & advertising, History of the Americas, Political campaigning and advertising, History and Archaeology, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / General