Movies, Myth, and the National Security State

While analysts may agree that Hollywood movies have always both mirrored and helped to shape the tenor of their times, the question remains: Just how do they do it? And how do we identify the underlying political/ideological content of a film?

Movies, Myth, and the National Security State answers these questions, exploring how Hollywood movies have served to propagate, or to debate, or sometimes to challenge the evolving US national security state since 1945. Drawing on more than a thousand films—and focusing in detail on 48 films that address key issues confronting the US and its sense of self and role in the world—the authors provide insights into US political life as it has developed across some seven decades.