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“I’D Rather Be In Afghanistan”: Antinomies Of Battle: Los Angeles, Gerry Canavan

English Faculty Research and Publications

This article reads Battle: Los Angeles (2011) against the grain to argue that the film possesses an antiwar undertow running unexpectedly counter to its surface-level pro-military politics. The article uses the antinomy structuring Battle: Los Angeles as the opportunity to explore the pro- and anti-war politics of science fiction alien invasion film more generally, as well as consider the role of cooperation with the military in Hollywood blockbusters. The article closes with a Jamesonian reading of “the army”: as a kind of utopia as registered by mainstream cultural texts like Battle: Los Angeles.