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Film and War

Along with television, film is the medium through which most Americans learn about and vicariously experience war. What movies say about war and about the nation's armed forces profoundly shapes the attitudes of the people who watch them. Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic explained that seeing John Wayne war films as a youth inspired him to join the Marines later in life, an experience shared by many Vietnam-era veterans. Soldiers deploying to the Middle East during the Persian Gulf War reported that their notions of war also came from viewing motion pictures. Americans learn something about the nature and meaning of war and the men and women who fight in those wars from motion pictures, and those interpretations are influenced by the time in which films are made.

Genre

Films about war predate World War II; however, the familiar genre of the “war film” evolved during that war. As a genre, war films collectively share similar conventions and symbols that audiences learn to recognize. Those elements typically include a military unit composed of a democratic mix of ethnicities and geographies (such as an Irishman, a Midwesterner, a New Yorker), a conflict within the group, a hero who reluctantly takes command, an objective that the group must achieve, and death. Filmmakers employ recognizable conventions that tell the audience what is going to happen next. Audiences know that when a fresh, young soldier sent to the front line for the first time shows his buddy a picture of his girl back home, he is not going to survive. Actors, such as John Wayne, repeat similar performances so often that they project a particular image regardless of setting. Audiences watching a war film starring John Wayne come into the theater with expectations about the kind of character the actor will play and the general plot of the film.

War films come in countless variations and subgenres, including movies about the infantry, submarines, the Air Force, and the Navy surface fleet as well as films about veterans, training, the home front, prisoners of war, and war as a backdrop for romance. Other films subvert the genre by doing the opposite of what the audience expects from the already familiar characterizations, conventions, and plot arcs. Films that do not depict combat can also be considered part of the war film genre, for example, Casablanca (1942), which depicts the effects of war on noncombatants. War films may also contain elements of other genres such as comedies, Westerns, and women's films.

Film Industry and Culture

Films are the product of an entertainment industry whose goal is to make a profit. Because motion pictures that appeal to audiences are the ones that will succeed, filmmakers attempt to predict and exploit audience preferences. At the same time, films are part of a creative process that originates with an individual or small group of creative people; thus a movie reflects the thoughts of a particular director or production team. Films are also made at a specific time and within a specific culture, both of which influence subject matter as well as the manner in which its audience will interpret the movie. Films that attempt to be historical and re-create a moment in time with some detachment and objectivity actually reconstruct and reinterpret those events for modern audiences. Even if a filmmaker makes a fictional movie for entertainment, the film says something about American ideals and values, as well as the meaning of that particular war for Americans. Some films are made intentionally to present a specific political statement or propaganda message. Audiences also respond to motion pictures based on their own experiences, beliefs, and politics, which may or may not correspond to the director's intentions.

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