Utopia and Torture in the Hollywood War Film

I want to show how an unpleasant element – the torture scene in the Hollywood war film – may be read as a site of Utopia. Viewed in a larger perspective, I claim that Hollywood can envision a better society and that popular film can address political ideas of progress and freedom. This approach is, of course, naive and Utopian in the derogatory sense of the word. The talk is divided into three parts: first, a discussion of Utopia; second, a look at the torture scene in the Hollywood war film; and, third, popular culture as a site of naive political discourse.