Irish Stereotype in American Cinema

Piotr Szczypa, PhD 2016 (MCSU), is an Assistant Professor at Maria Curie Skłodowska University (MCSU) in Lublin, Poland. He has published on film studies, new media, and convergence culture.

Acknowledgements



Introduction: Violence and the Irish



1 An Irish Colony Across The Atlantic Ocean

 1The Irish in Colonial America

 2The American War of Independence

 3The Great Famine Period

 4Irish Americans in the 20th Century: Divided We Stand

 5Irish Americans and Irish Nationalism

 6The Second World War: The Irish Fall from Grace

 7The Troubles

 8The Irish in American Popular Culture



2 The Irish on The Silver Screen

 1Irish Film Characters of the Silent Film Era

 2The Classical Period since 1930

  2.1Violent Ways: The Irish as Gangsters

  2.2Against Violence: Irish American Catholic Priests

  2.3Irish Police Officers

  2.4Destroyed by Violence: Irish Boxers

  2.5IRA Films

  2.6The Irish and Union Violence

  2.7Irish American Combatants



3 The Irish in New Hollywood

 1Don Siegel’s Dan Madigan and Harry Callahan

 2Ted Post’s Magnum Force and James Fargo’s The Enforcer

 3Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle: The French Connection

 4Union Violence

 5Gangsters and Boxers: Old and Tired

 6Other Representations of the Irish in New Hollywood



4 Contemporary Hollywood: The Irish as Outlaw Heroes

 1Irish Cops: Labeled as Irish

  1.1The Twilight of Dirty Harry

  1.2The Dawn (and Twilight) of John McClane

  1.3The Irish Killing Machine: Robocop

 2Northern Irish Republicanism

 3Irish Gangs: The Great Return

 4Irish American Vigilantism



5 Contemporary Hollywood: The Irish as Official Heroes

 1Irish American Law Enforcement

 2Firefighters in the Irish American Bildungsroman

 3New Boxers in Irish America

 4Other Violent Characters

 5The Irish Ethnotype in Contemporary American Cinema



Conclusion



Filmography

Works Cited

Index