Hollywood Remembrance And American War

Hollywood Remembrance and American War addresses the synergy between Hollywood war films and American forms of war remembrance. This book develops a theoretical understanding of how Hollywood war films, as rhetorical sites of remembering and memory, reflect, replicate and resist American modes of remembrance.

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,3, Free University of Berlin (John-F.-Kennedy-Institut für Nordamerikastudien (JFKI)), language: English, abstract: In the paper I will deconstruct the myth of the “Good War” with regard to its formation and the accuracy of its crucial points. Focus will be laid on both the predominant narrative of the war per se and the Americans who fought in it respectively remained at home. Subsequently, I will turn to the images of the Second World War, Hollywood – via constant repetition – has ingrained into the American cultural mind. At this, the genre of the “combat film” deserves special attention. Not only did the combat film convey powerful ideas about war and those who fight in it, but it also served as foundation for later filmmakers interested in the topic. In a final step, I will juxtapose two recent cinematic projects relating to the Second World War by two of Hollywood's greatest current filmmakers – Steven Spielberg's “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) and Clint Eastwood's companion films “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima” (2006) – and, in search for elements of the “Good War” narrative, discuss their respective treatment of the subject. To most Americans, World War II is the “Good War”. Unlike the nations of Europe and Asia, the United States suffered no invasions of its homeland, no area bombings of its cities, and no mass killing of its civilians. It was a war of high technology, fought by an extraordinary generation of heroic and courageous men who, when the task arose, stepped up to defend their country and to bring human rights, freedom, and democracy to those in need. The enemy was well-defined and the cause a worthy one. World War II lifted the nation out of the Great Depression and created a new world order that left the United States at the pinnacle of its power. An American society in transition gave rise to the middle class while opening up unprecedented opportunities for minorities and women. To this day, people feel that the prosperity and freedom they enjoy is the result of the sacrifices of the Americans that won the war.

Hollywood Remembrance and American War addresses the synergy between Hollywood war films and American forms of war remembrance. Subjecting the notion that war films ought to be considered ʻthe war memorials of today’ to critical scrutiny, the book develops a theoretical understanding of how Hollywood war films, as rhetorical sites of remembering and memory, reflect, replicate and resist American modes of remembrance. The authors first develop the framework for, and elaborate on, the co-evolution of Hollywood war cinema and American war memorialization in the historical, political and ideological terms of remembrance, and the parallel synergic relationship between the aesthetic and industrial status of Hollywood war cinema and the remembering of American war on film. The chapters then move to analysis of Hollywood war films – covering The Great War, World War II, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, The Cold War, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – and critically scrutinize the terms upon which a film could be considered a memorial to the war it represents. Bringing together the fields of film studies and memory studies, this book will be of interest to scholars and students in not just these areas but those in the fields of history, media and cultural studies more broadly, too.

The human experience of war is not only remembered by societies through memorials, but also through the depiction of wars and important battles of respective national histories on screen. Very often, the image presented is related to existent semiotics, and the respective sign systems determine the image of heroic actions and violence on the screen. The present volume provides a deeper insight into the forces at play when war films are presented on the big screen and intends to show why and how violent conflicts often have an afterlife as visual media as well.

Wars have played a momentous role in shaping the course of human history. The ever-present specter of conflict has made it an enduring topic of interest in popular culture, and many movies, from Hollywood blockbusters to independent films, have sought to show the complexities and horrors of war on-screen. In The Philosophy of War Films, David LaRocca compiles a series of essays by prominent scholars that examine the impact of representing war in film and the influence that cinematic images of battle have on human consciousness, belief, and action. The contributors explore a variety of topics, including the aesthetics of war as portrayed on-screen, the effect war has on personal identity, and the ethical problems presented by war. Drawing upon analyses of iconic and critically acclaimed war films such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Thin Red Line (1998), Rescue Dawn (2006), Restrepo (2010), and Zero Dark Thirty (2012), this volume's examination of the genre creates new ways of thinking about the philosophy of war. A fascinating look at the manner in which combat and its aftermath are depicted cinematically, The Philosophy of War Films is a timely and engaging read for any philosopher, filmmaker, reader, or viewer who desires a deeper understanding of war and its representation in popular culture.

Topics include: the influence of Leni Riefenstahl; negro soldiers; depicting Vietnam in films. Films examined include: Sergeant York, Air force, Saving Private Ryan, The thin red line.

Australian Genre Film interrogates key genres at the core of Australia’s so-called new golden age of genre cinema, establishing the foundation on which more sustained research on film genre in Australian cinema can develop. The book examines what characterises Australian cinema and its output in this new golden age, as contributors ask to what extent Australian genre film draws on widely understood (and largely Hollywood-based) conventions, as compared to culturally specific conventions of genre storytelling. As such, this book offers a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of Australian genre film, undertaken through original analyses of 13 significant Australian genres: action, biopics, comedy, crime, horror, musical, road movie, romance, science fiction, teen, thriller, war, and the Western. This book will be a cornerstone work for the burgeoning field of Australian film genre studies and a must-read for academics; researchers; undergraduate students; postgraduate students; and general readers interested in film studies, media studies, cultural studies, Australian studies, and sociology.

This book explores the transformative power of comedy to help connect a wider audience to films that explore environmental concerns and issues. This book offers a space in which to explore the complex ways environmental comedies present their eco-arguments. With an organizational structure that reveals the evolution of both eco-comedy films and theoretical approaches, this book project aims to fill a gap in ecocinema scholarship. It does so by exploring three sections arranged to highlight the breadth of eco-comedy: I. Comic Genres and the Green World: Pastoral, Anti-Pastoral, and Post-Pastoral Visions; II. Laughter, Eco-Heroes, and Evolutionary Narratives of Consumption; and III. Environmental Nostalgia, Fuel, and the Carnivalesque. Examining everything from Hollywood classics, Oscar winners, and animation to independent and international films, Murray and Heumann exemplify how the use of comedy can expose and amplify environmental issues to a wider audience than more traditional ecocinema genres and can help provide a path towards positive action and change. Ideal for students and scholars of film studies, ecocriticism, and environmental studies, especially those with a particular interest in ecocinema and/or ecocritical readings of popular films.