Hollywood War Films
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Geopolitical, cultural, and economic factors are all responsible for the shift in Hollywood “war” films with respect to those featuring WWII and those concerning the Gulf War and modern day geopolitical realities. If we look at one of the greatest war romances and propaganda ever fashioned by Hollywood filmmakers, we see the story of an embittered American living abroad who in the geopolitical realities of the WWII era decides to involve himself in the war effort, even though it means losing the love of his life. In the Hollywood classic Casablanca (1942) Rick explains to Ilsa his decision she asks him to make for “both” of them about their course of action: “Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world” (Curtiz). Such films put out by the Hollywood cinema machinery during the 1940s were as much propaganda as entertainment. Films like Casablanca were meant to reaffirm American values (patriotism, sacrifice, compassion, strength, etc.) while helping form a consensus among the American people. While many war films continue to be used in such a manner to this day, their perspective is typically jaded and acts more like social criticism of geopolitical policies and goals than films meant to build support for the sacrifice, patriotism, and strength needed to endure them. For instance, of the few films avai
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played by George Clooney, argues: Bush told the people to rise up against Saddam. They thought they’d have our support. They didn’t. Now they’re being slaughtered” (Russell).
Other films in the 1980s and 1990s were used as propaganda in much the same way as WWII films of the 1940s with respect to certain aspects of war. For example, both The Fighting Sullivan’s and Steven Spielberg’s remake of the film in Saving Private Ryan, both capture the fact that patriotic sacrifices during war come with an enormous cost on the people who are most often viewed as a cog in the political machinery as it carries out it geopolitical policies. A conversation among a private, a captain, and a medic show the sacrifices made for government geopolitical concerns when it comes to soldiers and their families back home. The following exchange between Private Reiben, Capitan John Miller, and the medic Wade illustrates this perspective of war that often pierce through the dusty veil of patriotism and sacrifice that are portrayed as noble for the good of government policy:
Private Reiben: You want to explain the math of this to me? I mean, where’s the sense in risking the lives of the eight of us to save one guy?
Captain John Miller: Anyone wanna
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3029
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
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