The Destruction of Happiness in American Cinema in the 1990s
Altman, Anderson, Solondz
Abstract
This essay focuses on three American films of the 1990s and on the theme of psychological and emotional destruction. In Anderson's Magnolia, Solondz's Happiness and Altman's Short Cuts, American society is shown as deeply disturbed and forlorn. The archetypal pursuit of happiness still holds true, but it takes place in an environment that in all possible ways destroys human happiness. These movies pick up an apocalyptic trend that had characterized disaster blockbusters, and which is thus taken into the heart of everyday life with an apocalyptic effect.
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