War in cinema has been around since 1898 with the film ‘Tearing down the Spanish flag.’ It is a very important Genre to Cinema, Books and mostly gaming.
War genre in Cinema
‘For the most part, the category ‘war film’ is uncontentious: war films are films about the waging war in the twentieth century; scenes of combat are a requisite ingredient and these scenes are dramatically central. The category thus includes films set in the first world war, the second world war, Korea and Vietnam, And it excludes home front dramas and comedies and other films lacking scenes of military combat.’
(Neale 2006:23)
Can you list any of these films or TV shows that may lack the scenes of military combat?
‘However, as with most generic categories, there are a number of ambiguties, some stemming from the generically untidy nature of some of the films, others from changes in their dominant conventions, still others from changes in the way films have been labelled or defined.
(Neale 2006:23)
How does the audience see war? How does the war genre change the way they feel about it?
The War Genre lets the Audience experience war, the excitement of it and mainly the danger it brings. It also structures war for the audience establishing objectives and identifying enemies. The Genre is also used to let the public know what is happening and also what has happened during wars and can get people to fight against it. For example:
‘In the immediate aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks,
Karl Rove, senior advisor to president George Bush Jr, met with several
Top Hollywood executives to discuss how the film industry might contribute
To the ‘War on terror’.’
(Westwell 2006:1)
After the meeting films Black hawk down (2001) and We Were Soldiers (2002), had their release dates brought forward and were focused on to strengthen post September 11th disposition to fight back on terror.
War often has quite depressing settings and gives the audience a feel for how horrible it really is. The opening scene for Saving private Ryan (1998) on the beach is a very shocking way of showing how people suffered in wars and will make the audience feel for the characters. War in cinema does not just focus on the people in the wars fighting, it also shows the lives of the soldiers families.
Scene in Saving Private Ryan, letters to families
Wars and Computer games
Wars in computer games are very popular for young audiences. Any game that is a first person shooter (which is where the audience get to control the character in first person view.) Games such as Medal of honour and Call of duty have objectives in the games to which are very similar and sometimes the same as already released films. Such as this example of the D-day opening on Saving private ryan and the first mission on the computer game Call of duty 2.
Hybrid War Genre
War can very often show up in many other types of Genre. Nearly every type of Genre of film has had a war theme including books and games. Here are some examples on the next page.
Adventure and war:
A good example of a film that uses war and adventure is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The main characters are on an Adventure but during the film it builds up to a war.
Lord of the Rings Trailer
Comedy and War:
Hot shots is a spoof movie based on Top Gun which is from a jet fighters perspective during war.
Hot Shots Trailer
Crime/Gangster/Romance and War:
Films such as The Godfather and the latest Romeo and Juliet have wars between families. A recent film American Gangster is a crime/gangster film. It does not directly show war scenes in the film but it is about smuggling drugs from a leader during the Vietnamese war.
Romeo and Juliet trailer
Horror and War:
Nearly any horror film can be seen as a war film, for example it could be a war between the demons/mutants and the humans. But I am looking for a film that best fits what could be seen as a war/horror genre. People may say that any war film can be seen or felt as if it’s horror. I say a good example or a war/horror film is Deathwatch. The film is set in 1917 during world war 1, a supernatural force scares and takes control of the soldiers.
Deathwatch trailer
Sci-fi and war:
One of the best examples of a film that crosses war and sci-fi is The War Of the worlds, a film based on aliens or beings from another planet coming and taking over the world.
War of the Worlds trailer
Many computer games that combine war and other genres can be played with a lot more than films can. A recent computer game called Fallout 3 is based on the aftermath of war. It a world war 1 style game but set in the future after a nuclear war. It is quite a strange genre but it works very well.
Fallout 3 Trailer
Vietnamese war in films:
There are many war films that are set to Vietnam settings, may famous films such as:
Apocalypse Now
Rambo: Fist Blood Part II
Platoon
Full Metal Jacket
We Were Soldiers
A lot of the scenes in these films are very real and can show the audience how hard the war was on the soldiers. For example, in Full metal Jacket one of the soldiers in the training barracks is getting bullied by others and ends up committing suicide. It can make the audience feel very depressed about war, and see how it drove people mad.
‘Close Analyses of Apocalypse Now, Rambo and Platoon are used to describe how the codes and conventions of the war movie genre were found inadequate to the task of describing the experience of losing a war, and thus constructed Vietnam as a uniquely traumatic historical event registered primarily through the experience of the Vietnam veteran.’
(Westwell 2006:37)
What scenes do you think best show what this quote is trying to say?
Look at one or all of the films listed above.
Vietnam in computer games
A good example of a Vietnam war game is Vietcong it takes ideas from Vietnam films and uses them in objectives in the game. Starting the game you get an army instructor who is very similar to the one in Full Metal Jacket.
Bibliography
Links
(in order of appearance top to bottom)
http://www.yorktownsquare.com/img/032908-sub-Tearing-Down-Market-Sheds.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz29Nw1Sk4s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I0m0pJbG2U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-jY-pkbMoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oTbih9goco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S6IJWilpx4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhv_8DiEqNE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c0Myr_sYsE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrAJVRqZQ04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsKNgZLRVU0
References
Westwell, Guy (2006) War Cinema, Hollywood on the front line: Wallflower Publishing.
Neale, Steve (2006) Hollywood and War, The Film Reader: In Focus Publishing.