Death in Classical Hollywood Cinema

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. The Meaning of Death in Classical Hollywood

   • Boaz Hagin

   Pages 1-10

3. Two Platos: Death, Truth, and Knowledge

   • Boaz Hagin

   Pages 11-25

4. Embodying the Past

   • Boaz Hagin

   Pages 26-44

5. Melodrama and the Shaping of Desires to Come

   • Boaz Hagin

   Pages 45-64

6. Cults of the Dead and Powers of the False

   • Boaz Hagin

   Pages 66-85

7. A Perpetual Present: Death and the War Film

   • Boaz Hagin

   Pages 86-106

8. Conclusions: The Ends of Classical Death

   • Boaz Hagin

   Pages 107-150

9. Back Matter

   Pages 151-201

   PDF

Boaz Hagin carries out a philosophical examination of the issue of death as it is represented and problematized in Hollywood cinema of the classical era (1920s-1950s) and in later mainstream films, looking at four major genres: the Western, the gangster film, melodrama and the war film.

• cinema
• film
• Hollywood
• philosophy
• Plato

'This highly original study is a rigorous, provocative and entertaining account of the different meanings associated with death in classical Hollywood cinema. Analyzing an impressive range of films with flair and theoretical sophistication, it shows how death becomes meaningful in art. This is an important work on Hollywood film which also helps us to understand how we incorporate the death of others into the narrative of our lives.' - Colin Davis, Professor of French, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

BOAZ HAGIN teaches at the Department of Film and Television at Tel Aviv University, Israel. His articles have appeared in Cinema Journal and Camera Obscura, among other publications. He is currently co-writing a book with Thomas Elsaesser on trauma, memory and fantasy in contemporary American cinema.

Policies and ethics