3 Review(s)

Will Smith in I Am Legend . Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic . Charlton Heston in just about everything. Viewers of Hollywood action films are no doubt familiar with the sacrificial victim-hero, the male protagonist who nobly gives up his life so that others may be saved. Washed in Blood argues that such sacrificial films are especially prominent in eras when the nationaEURO"and American manhoodaEURO"is thought to be in crisis. The sacrificial victim-hero, continually imperiled and frequently exhibiting classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, thus bears the trauma of the nation. Claire Sisco King offers an in-depth study of three prominent cycles of Hollywood films that follow the sacrificial narrative: the earlyaEURO"toaEURO"mid 1970s, the midaEURO"toaEURO"late 1990s, and the midaEURO"toaEURO"late 2000s. From Vietnam-era disaster movies to post-9/11 apocalyptic thrillers, she examines how each film represents traumatized American masculinity and national identity. What she uncovers is a cinematic tendency to position straight white men as Americai?1/2s most valuable citizensaEURO"and its noblest victims.