American Cinema of the 2000s: Themes and Variations

The Decade From 2000 To 2009 Is Framed, At One End, By The Traumatic Catastrophe Of The 9/11 Attacks On The World Trade Center And, At The Other, By The Election Of The First African American President Of The United States. In Between, The United States And The World Witnessed The Rapid Expansion Of New Media And The Internet, Such Natural Disasters As Hurricane Katrina, Political Uprisings Around The World, And A Massive Meltdown Of World Economies. Amid These Crises And Revolutions, American Films Responded In Multiple Ways, Sometimes Directly Reflecting These Turbulent Times, And Sometimes Indirectly Couching History In Traditional Genres And Stories. In American Cinema Of The 2000s, Essays From Ten Top Film Scholars Examine Such Popular Series As The Groundbreaking Matrix Films And The Gripping Adventures Of Former Cia Covert Operative Jason Bourne; New, Offbeat Films Like Juno; And The Resurgence Of Documentaries Like Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Each Essay Demonstrates The Complex Ways In Which American Culture And American Cinema Are Bound Together In Subtle And Challenging Ways. Introduction: Movies And The 2000s / Timothy Corrigan -- 2000 Movies, Anti-climaxes, And Disenchantments / Nora Alter -- 2001 Movies, Smart Films, And Dumb Stories / Linda Ruth Williams -- 2002 Movies And Melancholy / Sharon Willis -- 2003 Movies, Shock And Awe, And The Troubled Blockbuster / Bob Rehak -- 2004 Movies And Spectacle In A Political Year / Anna Everett -- 2005 Movies, Terror, And The American Family / Karen Beckman -- 2006 Movies And Crisis / Nigel Morris -- 2007 Movies And The Art Of Living Dangerously / Dina Smith -- 2008 Movies And A Hollywood Too Big To Fail / Thomas Schatz -- 2009 Movies, A Nation, And New Identities / Dana Polan -- Select Academy Awards, 2000-2009. Edited By Timothy Corrigan. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.