Film and nation: National identity, censorship, and the politics of genre

In this dissertation, I examine the ways in which the ideas of nation, nationalism, and national identity are depicted and reflected in film and in turn, how those depictions have an influence at the level of the spectator and the larger culture. I seek to prove how the powerful and effective censorship efforts in US film under the Production Code were successful in influencing the types of identities that were allowed to be depicted. In examining identities, I use theories of the performative to support my ideas, especially those of Erving Goffman and Judith Butler. Because films are judged in relation to the nation in which they are produced, I examine the relationship between the ideas of nation and genre and how these attempts at categorization influence and inform one another. I also examine the implications of the transnational elements of film making, not only in the content of the narrative, but in the production, funding, and distribution as well.;Using the films It's a Wonderful Life and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, I theorize about the effects of the deployment of nation, nationalism, and national identity on the cinema spectator's experience of film and the subsequent performance of his or her own national identity. This dissertation also outlines the major theories of nation, nationalism, and national identity and, using close reading of film, explores the ways in which those ideas are deployed within US film, both diegetically and non-diegetically.;I identify and examine intersections between established theories and theorists on nation, film, censorship and cultural studies to open up new ways of understanding these concepts. I make use of genre theory to examine the ways in which using nation as a genre affects the concepts of both nation and genre. In addition, I examine how the films I've chosen to study appear intertextually within the culture at large and what power that diaspora gives their message. Finally, I open up conversations about future paths of study based on the complexity of 21st Century global politics and multinational film production.