Dunkirk and the Battlefield Gothic

Authors

  • Robert Burgoyne

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/mae.2019.79

Abstract

The war film has been analyzed extensively as a genre of a particular dramaturgy of affects – from patriotic pride and sense of community, the horror and ecstasy of combat to the melodramatic sacrifice of the individual soldier. This article shows how DUNKIRK (2017) adds another narrative of modern war, that seems to be incommensurable to the first: a vision of war as a permanent state of desolation, loneliness, and waste.

Author Biography

Robert Burgoyne

Robert Burgoyne is professor of Film Studies at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. His work centers on historiography and film, with a special emphasis on American cinema, history and national identity, and the counter narratives of nation that have emerged in many films.
Genre and Affect

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Published

2019-05-25

How to Cite

Burgoyne, R. (2019). Dunkirk and the Battlefield Gothic. Mediaesthetics – Journal of Poetics of Audiovisual Images, (3). https://doi.org/10.17169/mae.2019.79

Issue

No. 3 (2019): Genre & Affect

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2019 Robert Burgoyne

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