In this volume, contributors explore the deep ideological polarization in US society as portrayed in horror narratives and tropes. By navigating this polarized society in their representation of social values, twenty[1]first-century horror films critically frame and engage conflicting and divisive ideological issues. Culture Wars and Horror Movies: Social Fears and Ideology in Post-2010 Horror Cinema analyses the ways in which these “culture wars” make their way into and through contemporary horror films, focusing on the post-2010 US context and its fundamental political divisions.

The New York Times film critic shows why we need criticism now more than ever Few could explain, let alone seek out, a career in criticism. Yet what A.O. Scott shows in Better Living Through Criticism is that we are, in fact, all critics: because critical thinking informs almost every aspect of artistic creation, of civil action, of interpersonal life. With penetrating insight and warm humor, Scott shows that while individual critics--himself included--can make mistakes and find flaws where they shouldn't, criticism as a discipline is one of the noblest, most creative, and urgent activities of modern existence. Using his own film criticism as a starting point--everything from his infamous dismissal of the international blockbuster The Avengers to his intense affection for Pixar's animated Ratatouille--Scott expands outward, easily guiding readers through the complexities of Rilke and Shelley, the origins of Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones, the power of Marina Abramovich and 'Ode on a Grecian Urn.' Drawing on the long tradition of criticism from Aristotle to Susan Sontag, Scott shows that real criticism was and always will be the breath of fresh air that allows true creativity to thrive. "The time for criticism is always now," Scott explains, "because the imperative to think clearly, to insist on the necessary balance of reason and passion, never goes away."

What didn't you like about the 1990s--the peace or the prosperity? Setting aside nostalgia for the end of the 20th century, this book takes a candid look at the decade after the Cold War and before 9/11, when America's culture war began with the election of a media-savvy, Baby Boomer president (and his liberal feminist wife). Bill Clinton's postmodern administration betokened gay equality, an education-based labor force and a race and gender-diverse workplace and government, panicking conservatives and sparking the 1994 Republican Revolution. Meanwhile, with the advent of the 24-hour cable news cycle and the Internet, a media "punditocracy" arose. Parsing every event from the O.J. Simpson trial to the Monica Lewinsky scandal, commentators and talk show hosts spun news, politics and pop culture until they became one thing. Beginning with the "Red and Blue" partitioning of America that would nurture the Tea Party, and ending with the 9/11 attacks, this examination of the 1990s demonstrates how the decade shaped the world we live in today.

The term "culture wars" refers to the political and sociological polarisation that has characterised American society the past several decades. This new edition provides an enlightening and comprehensive A-to-Z ready reference, now with supporting primary documents, on major topics of contemporary importance for students, teachers, and the general reader. It aims to promote understanding and clarification on pertinent topics that too often are not adequately explained or discussed in a balanced context. With approximately 640 entries plus more than 120 primary documents supporting both sides of key issues, this is a unique and defining work, indispensable to informed discussions of the most timely and critical issues facing America today.

In this imaginative new work, Adam Lowenstein explores the ways in which a group of groundbreaking horror films engaged the haunting social conflicts left in the wake of World War II, Hiroshima, and the Vietnam War. Lowenstein centers Shocking Representation around readings of films by Georges Franju, Michael Powell, Shindo Kaneto, Wes Craven, and David Cronenberg. He shows that through allegorical representations these directors' films confronted and challenged comforting historical narratives and notions of national identity intended to soothe public anxieties in the aftermath of national traumas. Borrowing elements from art cinema and the horror genre, these directors disrupted the boundaries between high and low cinema. Lowenstein contrasts their works, often dismissed by contemporary critics, with the films of acclaimed "New Wave" directors in France, England, Japan, and the United States. He argues that these "New Wave" films, which were embraced as both art and national cinema, often upheld conventional ideas of nation, history, gender, and class questioned by the horror films. By fusing film studies with the emerging field of trauma studies, and drawing on the work of Walter Benjamin, Adam Lowenstein offers a bold reassessment of the modern horror film and the idea of national cinema.

Horror films can be profound fables of human nature and important works of art, yet many people dismiss them out of hand. ‘Horror and the Horror Film’ conveys a mature appreciation for horror films along with a comprehensive view of their narrative strategies, their relations to reality and fantasy and their cinematic power. The volume covers the horror film and its subgenres – such as the vampire movie – from 1896 to the present. It covers the entire genre by considering every kind of monster in it, including the human.