AEGiS-BKREV: The Politics of Popular Representation: Reagan, Thatcher, AIDS, and the Movies

The Politics of Popular Representation: Reagan, Thatcher, AIDS, and the Movies

Associated University Presses/Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 440 Forsgate Drive, Cranbury, NJ 08512. 257p., bibliog., index. ISBN 0-8386-3474-5. $38.50.
Kenneth MacKinnon. 1992.

Kenneth MacKinnon has done a remarkable job in presenting his observations that the Reagan/Thatcher years have molded the thinking of Americans and Britains dramatically. During these years AIDS became a health crisis around the world. Gays, drug users, and Haitians were made the responsible culprits and to a wide number of individuals they were dispensable and need not be saved or at least large amounts of money should not be diverted to their saving. To many it was God's punishment and, therefore, there was nothing that the rest of the population could do, including medical science. The influence of the Christian right has been frightening and makes one wonder what the definition of these individuals is of compassion for the mankind and womankind in the world. This interestingly written book documents how, through movies, the power of the Christian right was thrust into the minds of the populations. In the chapter "Movies and the Reagan-Thatcher Epoch," MacKinnon documents this with his discussion of the story lines of the movies of that time, all of which push nationalism, militarism, and familialism as the norm and anything that pertains to gays, blacks, feminism, and the like is not normal and, therefore, should be put down.

The rest of the book further documents these observations by looking at movies and familialism, movies and sexuality, movies and homosexuality, and movies and AIDS. In each of these chapters the author looks at particular movies and points out how they have affected the viewers. He indicates how this religious right attitude has affected the attitudes of those in power in their concept of what should be spent on AIDS research, education, and help to the sufferers. He shows that "the emphasis on individual responsibility for health and material security, not to mention resurgent machismo and a restored belief in the natural and unnatural, help to explain the health disaster" that has hit the world today. He shows that the movies of this time barely mention this health crisis and that militarism, masculinity, and family loyalty were the overriding themes. For those of us who believe and know that AIDS is everyone's concern, this is an eye-opening book that should be in every library. It clearly shows how the general population is influenced negatively by what is produced and shows us how difficult it is to get the proper funding for anything related to AIDS. "The AIDS imagery recoverable from eighties movies helps to make visible the linking of negative thought and phobia that has so singlely helped to produce the health crisis." This is a must read book. (H. Robert Malinowsky)

Keywords: Social Aspects, Movies and Familialism, Sexuality, Movies and Sexuality, Homosexuality, Movies and Homosexuality, Movies and AIDS)

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Copyright © 1993 - The University of Illinois at Chicago. All materials in the journal are subject to copyright by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and may be reprinted or redistributed for the noncommercial purpose of scientific or educational advancement granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. For other reprinting, redistribution, or translation, address requests to H. Robert Malinowsky, University of Illinois at Chicago Library, PO Box 8198, Chicago, IL 60680 or electronically to hrm@uic.edu.

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