Conspiracy Films: A Tour of Dark Places in the American Conscious

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McFarland, Jan 10, 2014 - Social Science - 282 pages

For many years, conspiracy theories have been among the most popular story elements in Hollywood films. According to the "conspiracy culture," Government, Big Business, the Church, even aliens--all of which, bundled together, comprise the ubiquitous "Them"--are concealing some of the biggest secrets in American and world history. From The Manchurian Candidate (1962) to JFK (1991), The Matrix (1999) to The Da Vinci Code (2006), this decade-by-decade history explores our fascination with paranoia. The work paints a vivid picture of several of the more prevalent conspiracy theories and the entertainment they have inspired, not only in theatrical films but also in such television series as The X-Files, Lost and V.

 

Contents

Preface
1
Introduction
3
1 The Art of Conspiracy
13
2 Enemies Within
23
3 From Nuclear Apocalypse to Conspiracy
63
4 Everything Is Connected
101
5 Aliens Rugged Individualists and Incompetent Conspirators
121
6 Millennial Fears
144
7 Extreme Possibilities
160
8 Retro and FalseFlag Conspiracies
184
9 Conspiracies Never Die
211
10 Conclusions
245
Chapter Notes
251
Bibliography
259
Index
265
Copyright

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About the author (2014)

Barna William Donovan is a professor of communications and media studies at Saint Peter’s, the Jesuit College of New Jersey. His articles, columns, and reviews on film and popular culture have been published in academic journals such as Communication Annual and Men and Masculinities as well as various newspapers.

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