Hollywood filmmakers have produced memorable stories about World War II and Vietnam in recent years, but the American war film began with portrayals of World War I.
To bring greater awareness of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, the UTC Departments of English and History and the Humanities Program are sponsoring a lecture by Dr. Pearl James. The lecture is one of several events scheduled throughout the academic year to commemorate the anniversary.
James will present “Hollywood’s Great War” on Monday, October 6, at 6:30 p.m. in the Raccoon Mountain Room of the UTC University Center. This event is free and open to the public. James is associate professor of English at the University of Kentucky, where she serves as director of undergraduate studies.
James teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in modern American literature and gender studies. She is the editor of the collection of essays entitled Picture This: World War I Posters and Visual Culture (2010) and of the monograph The New Death: American Modernism and World War I (2013).
“As we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the war’s outbreak, it is valuable to remind ourselves of that war and how it looked to Americans. Hollywood brought glamour to the war but also—occasionally—showed its costs. This talk will focus particularly on King Vidor’s wildly popular film, The Big Parade (1925), and how it both called up and shaped the American memory of World War I,” said James.
For further information on the lecture or other World War I-related events, please call Dr. Aaron Shaheen at 425-5398 or email Aaron-Shaheen@utc.edu.
