Race, War, and the Cinematic Myth of America

Eric Trenkamp

School of Art, Film/Video

In the monograph Race, War, and the Cinematic Myth of America: Dust That Never Settles, I explore the evolution of the ever-changing image of White superiority in American cinema, which can be traced from the earliest silent Westerns, through decades of war films, and up to the modern-day comic book genre.

Through an analysis of a wide variety of Hollywood films, I demonstrate the industry’s history of popularizing White supremacy and the ways in which these films can act as propaganda to support various dehumanizing US policies, both abroad and at home.