The combat film : the death and rebirth of an American film tradition

Abstract

Abstract

This thesis analyzes how four popular combat films produced by Hollywood portray and interprets important events in American history. The films exemplify how American cinema has varied in its portrayal of the American army in relation to both the perspectives of the film makers and widely held attitudes toward war and American foreign policy. In regard to social attitudes, militarism has been an instrument to create support for war. The term describes a process where a society is focused on military symbolism and where military ideals are seen encapsulating important social values. The thesis looks at how the engagement with or reaction to militarism has produced conditions that encouraged the production of pro-war and anti-war films. This started with pro-war films in the World War II-era. During the Vietnam War the American government counted on the same kind of support from film makers. Instead the waning and falling support for the war, helped produce a wave of anti-war films in the last half of the 1970s. The New Right’s entry to the White House turned the negative image of the military on its head, which resulted in the rebirth of the pro-war film tradition.