Hollywood is often characterised as a stronghold of left-liberal ideals. In "Reel Power," Matthew Alford shows that it is in fact deeply complicit in serving the interests of the most regressive US corporate and political forces.
Films like "Transformers," "Terminator: Salvation" and "Black Hawk Down" are constructed with Defence Department assistance as explicit cheerleaders for the US military, but Matthew Alford also emphasises how so-called 'radical' films like "Three Kings," "Hotel Rwanda" and "Avatar" present watered-down alternative visions of American politics that serve a similar...