Cinema between Fable and Political Mythology

Sergio Leone ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 35-100
Author(s):  
Christian Uva
Keyword(s):  
Vietnam War ◽  
American History ◽  
Concentration Camps ◽  
Antonio Gramsci ◽  
Catastrophic Events ◽  
Conceptual Foundation ◽  
Political Spectacle ◽  
The Vietnam War ◽  
Political Film ◽  
Political Mythology

This chapter discusses the theoretical and critical substance of Sergio Leone’s filmography, referencing modern and postmodern thinkers. It argues that the conceptual foundation of Leone’s cinema is a postmodern attempt to deconstruct complexity through the collapse of universal narratives (Enlightenment, Idealism, and Marxism), using irony and allusions to catastrophic events such as concentration camps, war, and revolution. The chapter illustrates Leone’s approach to cinema in relation to his experience between popular and political film, labeling his work “political spectacle.” It then elaborates Leone’s politics in relation to the two major thinkers who most influenced the director: Antonio Gramsci and Ernst Jünger (including Gramsci’s “national-popular” concept). This chapter analyzes Leone’s work—his début, The Colossus of Rhodes (1961), the “Dollars Trilogy,” and the “Once Upon a Time Trilogy”—chronologically, indicating the evolution of his work and its references to Italian and American history, from Fascism to the Vietnam War.

Violence, Non-Violence, and Political Strategy

Worldview ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-9
Author(s):  
Mulford Q. Sibley
Keyword(s):  
Vietnam War ◽  
Violent Crime ◽  
American History ◽  
Political System ◽  
American Culture ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Political Strategy ◽  
History Writing ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Vietnam War

The problem of violence in American culture has been a subject of increasing concern during the past two decades. In the fifties, there was rampant the school of “consensus” history writing, which tended to deny the existence of conflicts about basic issues in American history. More recently, the past has been portrayed in an entirely different light: Conflict, and particularly violent conflict, are seen as having been virtually endemic. Against the background of violent crime and civil disturbance, several presidential commissions have investigated violence, and they usually emerge with the conclusion that Americans are a peculiarly violent people. The atrocities of the Vietnam war, and police and ghetto violence, have led many to wonder at the same time whether the alleged merits of the American political system are as great as its defenders have insisted.

Kirkland Fights Back

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Minchin
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
American History ◽  
Reagan Administration ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Park Service ◽  
The Vietnam War

This chapter focuses on “Solidarity Day,” the largest U.S. labor march ever held, and one of the largest marches in all of American history. Held on September 19, 1981, Solidarity Day was organized by the AFL-CIO as a protest against President Reagan’s budget and tax cuts, as well as his claims to speak for working Americans. According to the National Park Service, 260,000 people attended Solidarity Day, more than the number that had turned out for either the iconic March on Washington in 1963 or the Vietnam War Moratorium in 1969. Many reports, moreover, suggested that around 400,000 people had taken part. Closely monitoring events, the Reagan administration estimated that no fewer than 250 organizations had taken part, including 100 unions and a variety of civil rights, religious, and civic groups. Drawing on new archival records and interviews with participants, this chapter provides the first detailed analysis of Solidarity Day. The march showed that Lane Kirkland could fight back and mobilize the AFL-CIO’s mass membership. Sustaining the march’s momentum in the longer-term, however, would be a challenge, especially given the broader conservative political climate.

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