Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics

Since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, motion pictures and television productions-some based on historical fact and conjecture, others clearly fanciful-have embraced the idea that conspiracies shape many events, hide others, and generally dictate much of the course of modern life, often to the disadvantage of the average person. As a result, conspiracy theories have developed into a potent undercurrent in American politics. By the 1990s, it was not unusual to find conspiracies used as explanations for a wide range of political events that would otherwise seem to have quite ordinary explanations. Thus, a vast right-wing conspiracy was suggested as the source of Bill Clinton's troubles, just as conspiracy-like machinations of the liberal media were used to explain why the picture of world events did not coincide with conservative views. And this is to say nothing of the bitter arguments that still erupt over varying explanations for the attacks of 9/11.

Regardless of a person's opinion about such claims, what these and many other examples clearly show is that conspiracy-theory explanations have penetrated mainstream American thought. Here, author Gordon Arnold examines the evolution of this cultural climate in the United States. Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics examines the intersection of various film and television productions in the context of unfolding political developments. The chapters follow this story chronologically, showing how screen media have both reflected and shaped the cultural milieu in which traumatic events and political controversies have been interpreted with increasing cynicism. The work also reviews the original contexts in which film, television, and political manifestations of conspiracy ideas first appeared.

Over the past several decades, many movies and television productions with a conspiracy theory theme have appeared, and they now constitute an important part of American popular culture history. Arnold (liberal arts, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, Massachusetts) presents an historical examination of this phenomenon in an effort to understand how and why this has happened, and to explore its significance. Following an introductory overview of the evolution of conspiracy theory in film and television and what it says about American life and politics, subsequent chapters trace the ways that screen media have both reflected and shaped the cultural milieu in which traumatic events and political controversies have been interpreted with increasing cynicism, from the The Red Menace in 1949 through recent treatments of 9/11. Academic but accessible to the general reader. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, motion pictures and television productions-some based on historical fact and conjecture, others clearly fanciful-have embraced the idea that conspiracies shape many events, hide others, and generally dictate much of the course of modern life, often to the disadvantage of the average person. As a result, conspiracy theories have developed into a potent undercurrent in American politics. By the 1990s, it was not unusual to find conspiracies used as explanations for a wide range of political events that would otherwise seem to have quite ordinary explanations. Thus, a "vast right-wing conspiracy" was suggested as the source of Bill Clinton's troubles, just as conspiracy-like machinations of the "liberal media" were used to explain why the picture of world events did not coincide with conservative views. And this is to say nothing of the bitter arguments that still erupt over varying explanations for the attacks of 9/11. Regardless of a person's opinion about such claims, what these and many other examples clearly show is that conspiracy-theory explanations have penetrated mainstream American thought. Here, author Gordon Arnold examines the evolution of this cultural climate in the United States. Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics examines the intersection of various film and television productions in the context of unfolding political developments. The chapters follow this story chronologically, showing how screen media have both reflected and shaped the cultural milieu in which traumatic events and political controversies have been interpreted with increasing cynicism. The work also reviews the original contexts in which film, television, and political manifestations of conspiracy ideas first appeared.

Arnold presents a chronological overview of conspiracy theory in American film, television, and politics.

GORDON B. ARNOLD is Professor of Liberal Arts at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts, where he has taught courses in film, media, and politics for many years. He was previously a reference librarian and library director at public and academic libraries. His publications include the book The Politics of Faculty Unionization (2000), as well as articles in Library Journal, Change, and Labor Studies Journal.

Chapter 1 Conspiracy Theory in the American Imagination

Chapter 2 The Red Menace and Its Discontents

Chapter 3 Conspiracy in the New Frontier

Chapter 4 Shock and Upheaval

Chapter 5 Scandal and Skepticism

Chapter 6 Vision and Re-Vision

Chapter 7 A New Age of Conspiracy

Chapter 8 Belief and Disbelief