Projecting 9/11: Race, Gender, and Citizenship in Recent Hollywood Films [Hardcover]

Projecting 9/11 examines sensibilities and ideologies that arose after September 11, 2001, and how these intersect with issues of race, gender, sexuality, and citizenship in contemporary mainstream films. The authors argue that the social and political project that is 9/11 can be found in most cultural artifacts produced after the date, including film. In essence, Hollywood films project the 9/11 project.

The book analyzes the specific ways in which recent Hollywood films have become both powerful forces of significance and also forceful representations of reality about post-9/11 life. From films that explicitly treat subjects related to 9/11, such as United 93 and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, to films that show post-9/11 themes in less-expected ways, such as Eat, Pray, Love and World War Z, the authors explore tensions around race, gender, and sexuality. The book examines our perceptions of reality after the events of September 11, 2001, as shown by one of the more influential means of cultural representationHollywood films.

Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo is professor of critical culture, gender, and race studies at Washington State University.

Carmen R. Lugo-Lugo is associate professor of critical culture, gender, and race studies at Washington State University. Together they are the authors of Animating Difference, with C. Richard King.

Here is a sharp, smart, easy-to-read book by authors who have done their homework. A volume on the lasting effect of 9/11 on American cinema has been necessary for some time, and Bloodsworth-Lugo and Lugo-Lugo go a long way toward filling that gap. They offer penetrating discussions of such films as Neil Jordan's The Brave One (a 21st-century version of Michael Winner's Death Wish, 1974), Alfonso Cuar?n's dystopian fantasy Children of Men, Stephen Daldry's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War film The Hurt Locker, and other pertinent titles. Projecting 9/11 is remarklÓ.