{"product_id":"demographic-angst-cultural-narratives-and-american-films-of-the-1950s-hardback-9780813565507","title":"Demographic Angst; Cultural Narratives and American Films of the 1950s (Hardback) 9780813565507","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eDemographic Angst\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eCultural Narratives and American Films of the 1950s\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eAlan Nadel (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780813565507\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 26 December 2017\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e268 pages, 86 black and white photographs\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.513 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eDemographic Angst \u003c\/i\u003econvincingly places movies at the center of complex cultural tensions and shifts within post-World War II America. Nadel's discussion of this topic is unprecedented.\"\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e - Timothy Corrigan (co-author of The Film Experience: An Introduction) \u003cdiv\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eDemographic Angst\u003c\/i\u003e offers an encyclopedic account of questions central to modern American culture and society. There is no doubt that the lessons of this book are now more urgent than ever before.\"\u003c\/div\u003e - Kate Baldwin (author of Beyond the Color Line and the Iron Curtain: Reading Encounters between Black and Red) \u003cdiv\u003e\"The fun and interest of this book, despite its account of a grim post WWII American angst, comes in the unusual combination of films at play: from \u003ci\u003eSingin in the Rain\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eThe Invasion of the Body Snatchers\u003c\/i\u003e, from Lina Lamont to Norma Desmond to Margo Channing, Nadel’s insightful study reveals the bizarre disquiet of an age in which men could only preserve their innocence by putting women in their place.\" \u003c\/div\u003e - Linda Williams (author of On The Wire) \u003cdiv\u003e\"Revisiting the early Cold War period, \u003ci\u003eDemographic Angst \u003c\/i\u003eoffers illuminating historical perspectives on a dozen classic films. Well researched and always engaging, this is a perfect meeting of American studies and film studies.\"\u003c\/div\u003e - Steven Cohan (author of The Sound of Musicals) \u003cdiv\u003e\"Explores newly emergent cultural anxieties as worked through in such films as \u003ci\u003eSingin' in the Rain, On the Waterfront,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSunset Boulevard.\u003c\/i\u003e\"\u003c\/div\u003e (Chronicle) \u003cdiv\u003e\"Engaging and thought-provoking.\"\u003c\/div\u003e (Philadelphia Inquirer) \u003cdiv\u003e\"Nadel’s meticulously worked out argument puts Maher’s casual polemic on a solid foundation. As much as the book promises to enjoy longevity as an intelligent, well-informed, and insightful study of America in the Fifties, taking its place among landmarks studies like May’s \u003ci\u003eHomeward Bound\u003c\/i\u003e, critical understanding of Fifties-style identity politics as Nadel presents it in \u003ci\u003eDemographic Angst\u003c\/i\u003e might also inform the debate of contemporary politics-a politics which, incidentally, is similarly rife with “demographic angst” as that in the Fifties.\"\u003c\/div\u003e (Cercles)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eProlific literature, both popular and scholarly, depicts America  in the period of the High Cold War as being obsessed with normality, implicitly figuring the postwar period as a return to the way of life that had been put on hold, first by the Great Depression and then by Pearl Harbor. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Demographic Angst argues that mandated normativity-as a political agenda and a social ethic-precluded explicit expression of the anxiety produced by America’s radically reconfigured postwar population.  Alan Nadel explores influential non-fiction books, magazine articles, and public documents in conjunction with films such as \u003ci\u003eSingin’ in the Rain, On the Waterfront, Sunset Boulevard, and Sayonara\u003c\/i\u003e, to examine how these films worked through fresh anxieties that emerged during the 1950s.  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e Preface\u003cbr\u003e 1. The Character of Post–\u003cbr\u003eWorld War II America\u003cbr\u003e 2. Singin’\u003cbr\u003e in the (HUAC) Rain: Job Security, Stardom, and the Abjection of Lena Lamont\u003cbr\u003e 3. It’\u003cbr\u003es All about Eve\u003cbr\u003e 4. “\u003cbr\u003eWhat Starts Like a Scary Tale . . .”\u003cbr\u003e: The Right to Work On the Waterfront\u003cbr\u003e 5. “\u003cbr\u003eLife Could Not Better Be”\u003cbr\u003e: Disorganized Labor, the Little Man, and The Court Jester\u003cbr\u003e 6. Citizens of the Free World Unite: International Tourism and Postwar Identity in Roman Holiday, The Teahouse of the August Moon, and Sayonara\u003cbr\u003e 7. Expedient Exaggeration and the Scale of Cold War Farce in North by Northwest\u003cbr\u003e 8. Defiant Desegregation with No (Liberal) Way Out\u003cbr\u003e 9. “\u003cbr\u003eI Want to Be in America”\u003cbr\u003e: Urban Integration, Pan-American Friendship, and West Side Story\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e Filmography\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Works Cited\u003cbr\u003e Index \u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Rutgers University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52559343354136,"sku":"9780813565507","price":90.19,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/demographic-angst-cultural-narratives-and-american-films-of-the-1950s-hardback-9780813565507","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}