Bad History and the Logics of Blockbuster Cinema: Titanic, Gangs of New York, Australia, Inglourious Basterds

In his latest book, Patrick McGee argues for the political and social significance of mass culture through the interpretation of four recent big-budget movies: Titanic, Gangs of New York, Australia, and Inglourious Basterds. Through philosophical and historical contextualization, he reveals the logic of what appears on the screen, a logic that shows how these films both represent and distort the historical record in order to articulate a truth that challenges conventional history as a discipline. Counterdisciplinary in its method, this exciting work asserts that no movie can ever be reduced to the absolutely authentic or the absolutely inauthentic.