Description: Analyses the production and reception of recent Iraq war films, asking why they have become known as a 'Toxic Genre'.
Brief description:
Martin Barker was a British scholar of media and cultural studies. He was Emeritus Professor at Aberystwyth University. Over the course of his career he has written or co-edited fifteen books, including A 'Toxic Genre' and From Antz to Titanic. He was known for being one of the pioneers behind the concept of cultural racism, which he termed 'new racism'.
Review Quotes:
'A critical, multidimensional analysis of how film culture deals with war and politics. Clearly written, broadly informed, and engagingly insightful' - Michael Parenti, author of God and His Demons and The Face of Imperialism
'An excellent and original analysis of a range of films related to the war in Iraq that also makes a wider contribution to our understanding of the various pressures. Lucidly argued and a model of level-headed analysis' - Geoff King, Professor of Film and TV Studies, Brunel University, London
'One of the best studies yet of filmmaking in our contemporary age of war. This volume is an indispensable guide both to a challenging cycle of films and to the wider struggle of cinema to be seriously political today' - David Slocum, Professor and Faculty Director of the Executive MBA Program at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, Steinbeis University, editor of Hollywood and War (2006).
'A touchstone: the first to comprehend entirely the wave of war films in the decade following 9/11. As a chronicle, it is encyclopedic. As a work of interpretation, it deftly sketches the complex of narrative contradictions that animate the genre. Baker's book cuts like a laser sight through the fog of contemporary war film' - Roger Stahl, Associate Professor in the Department of Speech Communication at University of Georgia, author of Militainment, Inc(2009).