Trendsetter or follower? Hollywood has made over 5,000 war films in the past 100 years. Today’s episode probes whether Hollywood has been complicit in building a culture of warmongering and nationalism, whether inadvertently or by design. With a little help from our friend Krin - who has authored three books on Hollywood - and a handful of other resources, we look back over a few different eras in Hollywood and try to figure out whether the industry is holding up a mirror or influencing our feelings toward war. One thing the episode destroys is the myth that Hollywood is the cultural mouthpiece for the left.

Chapters

Intro: 00:01:49

Chapter One: Hollywood Doesn’t Fit Neatly in Any Box: 00:04:25

Chapter Two: A Deep History of Influence: 00:10:04

Chapter Three: Hollywood Goes to War: 00:19:05

Chapter Four: Influencer or Mirror: 00:28:06

Chapter Five: The Persistent Liberal Hollywood Myth: 00:38:54

Post Show Musings: 00:54:52

Outro: 01:16:58

Resources

The Atlantic: What's Wrong With 'The Hurt Locker'

NPR: Remembering Hollywood's Hays Code, 40 Years On

IMDb: War (Sorted by US Box Office Descending)

The Guardian: Conflict of interest: why Hollywood failed to honestly address the ‘war on terror’

Military.com: Why John Wayne Was Labeled a ‘Draft Dodger’ During World War II

Book Love

Jack G. Shaheen: Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People 

Ernest Giglio: Here's Looking at You: Hollywood, Film and Politics, Fourth Edition

Michael Ryan and Douglas Kellner: Camera Politica: The Politics of Contemporary Hollywood Film

Krin’s Books:

Psychiatry and the Cinema

Black Magic: White Hollywood and African American Culture

Jammin' at the Margins: Jazz and the American Cinema

--

If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com.

Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com.

Subscribe to Unf*cking The Republic on Substack at unftr.substack.com to get the essays these episode are framed around sent to your inbox every week.

Check out the UNFTR Pod Love playlist on Spotify: spoti.fi/3yzIlUP.

Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations.

Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility.

Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). Original music is by Tom McGovern (tommcgovern.com). The show is written and hosted by Forrest Gump and distributed by Jenny.

Podcast art description: Image of the US Constitution ripped in the middle revealing white text on a blue background that says, ‘Unf*cking the Republic.’