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One Introduction: Movies, Genre and 1 Zeitgeist Film noir and the zeitgeist 2 Intellectualism and middlebrow culture 7 Re-thinking zeitgeist 11 Defining the popular 11 "What about the rest of theforties? 16 "What's genre got to do with it 21 Two Re-invigorating the nation: popular 26 films and American national identity Cinderellas of the services 28 The myth of classlessness 33 Land of opportunity 46 Modernizing the American hero 55 American-ness and immigrant identities 57 Three The troubled postwar family: 65 "moms" and absent fathers The absent father 66 The pleasures offatherhood 78 Momism 82 Four Performing postwar masculinities - 95 Soldier to civilian: masculinity and performativity 98 Staging masculinities: performativity and genre 107 Stars and performance 111 Five Military service and male 121 companionship The all-male group 122 Military service and self "improvement" 130 Buddies 133 Male friendship, mature masculinity and patriarchal continuity 139 Six Popular films and "tough" movies 146 Noir and Nation 149 Social status and the veteran experience 149 Class and democracy 152 The noir hero 156 Noir and the melting pot 158 Noir and the family 160 The absentfather ofjfilm noir 161 "Mom" and thefemmefatale 163 Noir masculinities and performance 164 Noir and male companionship 167 The noir male group 168 Noir buddies 170 Noir and patriarchal continuity 172 Seven Genre and History 175 Problems with "the popular" 183