Irish Stereotype in American Cinema

Stories of Violence
Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-90-04-46796-5
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 29, 278 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 607 g

Reihe: Studia Imagologica

Discussing the role of violence in the Irish stereotype, this book is a fascinating story of the changing perception of the Irish in America as told by American cinema. From Levi and Cohen, Irish Comedians (1903) to The Irishman (2019), some of the productions analyzed here are timeless classics; others have almost been forgotten. What they have in common is the presence of violence as the key ingredient in the construction of Irish characters. In his insightful study, Piotr Szczypa employs imagological perspective to investigate the evolution of their portrayal in American films, showing not only how the Irish have adjusted to America but also how America has embraced Irishness.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Szczypa, Piotr

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmtheorie, Filmanalyse

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Violence and the Irish

1 An Irish Colony Across The Atlantic Ocean

1 The Irish in Colonial America

2 The American War of Independence

3 The Great Famine Period

4 Irish Americans in the 20th Century: Divided We Stand

5 Irish Americans and Irish Nationalism

6 The Second World War: The Irish Fall from Grace

7 The Troubles

8 The Irish in American Popular Culture

2 The Irish on The Silver Screen

1 Irish Film Characters of the Silent Film Era

2 The Classical Period since 1930

2.1 Violent Ways: The Irish as Gangsters

2.2 Against Violence: Irish American Catholic Priests

2.3 Irish Police Officers

2.4 Destroyed by Violence: Irish Boxers

2.5 IRA Films

2.6 The Irish and Union Violence

2.7 Irish American Combatants

3 The Irish in New Hollywood

1 Don Siegel’s Dan Madigan and Harry Callahan

2 Ted Post’s Magnum Force and James Fargo’s The Enforcer

3 Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle: The French Connection

4 Union Violence

5 Gangsters and Boxers: Old and Tired

6 Other Representations of the Irish in New Hollywood

4 Contemporary Hollywood: The Irish as Outlaw Heroes

1 Irish Cops: Labeled as Irish

1.1 The Twilight of Dirty Harry

1.2 The Dawn (and Twilight) of John McClane

1.3 The Irish Killing Machine: Robocop

2 Northern Irish Republicanism

3 Irish Gangs: The Great Return

4 Irish American Vigilantism

5 Contemporary Hollywood: The Irish as Official Heroes

1 Irish American Law Enforcement

2 Firefighters in the Irish American Bildungsroman

3 New Boxers in Irish America

4 Other Violent Characters

5 The Irish Ethnotype in Contemporary American Cinema

Conclusion

Filmography

Works Cited

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Piotr Szczypa, PhD 2016 (MCSU), is an Assistant Professor at Maria Curie Sklodowska University (MCSU) in Lublin, Poland. He has published on film studies, new media, and convergence culture.