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The Prettiest Woman: Nostalgia for Late Industrial Capitalism
Paperback
Series: Forerunners: Ideas First
Film StudiesGeneral SociologyPoverty & Social Work
ISBN13: 9781517918323
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Published: Nov 18 2025
Pages: 82
Weight: 0.30
Height: 0.40 Width: 4.97 Depth: 6.94
Language: English
Uncovering Hollywood's perpetual longing for a lost industrial America
We don't make things in America anymore like clockwork, this refrain resurfaces in political discourse, a reflection of yearning for a bygone era of industrial productivity. In his latest work, Grant Farred uses the 1990 film Pretty Woman to expose and critique this lingering nostalgia for late-industrial capitalism.Situating Pretty Woman alongside Reagan-era films including Wall Street, Farred examines the congealment of such a pervasive romanticized view of the United States as a fading industrial powerhouse. Drawing on an eclectic range of thinkers--from Raymond Williams and Slavoj Zizek to Mick Jagger--The Prettiest Woman offers a unique analysis of the ways Hollywood perpetuates the myth of a lost productive America, highlighting the seductive power of this fantasy despite its disconnect from economic and political realities.
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