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Nostalgic Frontiers: Violence Across The Midwest In Popular Film, Adam R. Ochonicky

Theses and Dissertations

In "Nostalgic Frontiers: Violence Across the Midwest in Popular Film," I analyze the temporality and politics of nostalgia while providing a critical history of Midwestern representations in popular culture from the turn of the twentieth century through the first decade of the new millennium. A general line of inquiry informs this project: how do narratives set in the Midwest imagine, reify, and reproduce Midwestern identity, and what are the repercussions of such regional imagery circulating in American culture? Throughout this project, I identify shifting cultural perceptions of the Midwest at particular historical moments. In relation to these regional considerations, I …