The Infernal Return: The Recurrence of the Primordial in Films of the Reaction Years, 1977-1983

178 Pages·2001·0.58 MB·English

by  Rodney Farnsworth

THE
INFERNAL RETURN:
The Recurrence of the
Primordial in Films
of the Reaction Years,
1977–1983
RODNEY FARNSWORTH
PRAEGER

THE
INFERNAL RETURN
The Recurrence of the Primordial
in Films of the Reaction Years,
1977–1983
RODNEY FARNSWORTH
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Farnsworth,Rodney,1949–
Theinfernalreturn : therecurrenceoftheprimordialinfilmsofthereactionyears,
1977–1983 / RodneyFarnsworth.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0–275–97481–2(alk.paper)
1. Mythinmotionpictures. 2. Motionpictures—Politicalaspects—UnitedStates. I.
Title.
PN1995.9.M96 F37 2002
791.43'615—dc21 2001036309
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright(cid:1)2002byRodneyFarnsworth
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:2001036309
ISBN:0–275–97481–2
Firstpublishedin2002
PraegerPublishers,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
www.praeger.com
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
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Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984).
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CopyrightAcknowledgment
Theauthorandpublishergratefullyacknowledgepermissiontoreprintarevisedversion
of Rodney Farnsworth, “An Australian Cultural Synthesis: Wayang, The HollywoodRo-
mance,andYearofLivingDangerously.”Literature/FilmQuarterly24.4(1996).
To the memory of my grandmother,
Zella Payton Abrams (1892–1983),
entrepreneur and visionary,
and to Georgia Wralstad Ulmschneider,
great teacher and perfect scholar:
each a challenger of the Patriarchate;
neither a would-be Matriarch.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: On Method and Matter 1
1 The Great Parent 35
2 Lineage, Abode, and Land 75
3 Regeneration and the Generations 97
4 Rituals of Life and Death 121
Conclusion: The Recalcitrant and Deconstructing Archetypes 145
Bibliography 151
Index 163

Acknowledgments
Almost all of the following is now being published for the first time.
Fragments of this book, however, were published in two coffee-house
publications, with small but wide Midwestern circulations. Unfortu-
nately,bothpublicationsarenowdefunct.Oneofthesignificantgrounds
for my critique was laid in “A Prolegomenon to the Rhetorics and Pol-
itics of Film Satire: Le Mal Voltairien in the Films of Eisenstein, Fellini,
and Sembe`ne,” which was published in the 1982 Film Studies for the
Purdue University Conference on Film, also now defunct. In a different
format, The Year of Living Dangerously sections were published in Film/
Literature Quarterly 24 (1996): 348–59.
IPFW gave me a sabbatical to work on this study. Craig Thorne and
Steven Hollander read and commented on parts of this work; Sophie
Glazer and Georgia Wralstad Ulmschneider, on all of it. Eliott Bartky
wasaninvaluableresourceconcerningpoliticalsciencestudies;librarian
Cheryl Truesdell, concerning government documents. Deborah Kelley,
Virginia Willig, and all the document deliverystaffoftheIPFWHelmke
Library were crucial to the research.