Brett Riley: Proposal "Society's Reaction to War Films"

Brett RIley
MW 2-315
Proposal: Society’s reaction to War Films

War movies have always been a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. However it wasn’t until my high school years when they actually started to impact me as a person, and around that time when I began to look further than the blood and guts. I’ve decided to write my final paper on how war movies can impact society as a whole. I’ll never forget an article I read in the paper right after Saving Private Ryan was released to theaters that talked about former service men from that time period getting up and walking out of the movie crying like little boys. Because of such things as this I am going talking about how recent war movies such as Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers and Wind Talkers have had lasting impacts on veterans, society and me as a person and thath they have changed the way we have viewed our country, those wars and then men and women who fought those wars.

Because Saving Private Ryan was the first war movie that actually impacted the way in which I view war I will be citing certain scenes which had a significant impact on me. I will also be using a book titled “Now You Know”
which is a compilation of letters written about Saving Private Ryan from veterans of the war, family members of veterans and ordinary people. I think this is probably my most important source as it has interviews from war veterans, their family members and ordinary viewers like myself who have been changed forever after viewing this film.

Another movie I will be looking at is Black Hawk Down which is probably the movie that is most different from the others as it showed war from more of a political standpoint as opposed to the others that I will be discussing which have more of an emotional impact on the viewer. I will also be looking at a commentary section from the movie which talks about the impact the movie had on the actors.

Windtalkers a movie that was about a small group of men called “code talkers” who are considered by many as contributors to US victories in the Pacific. I will be using a book titled “The Making of the Film about the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II” that has interviews with some of the Navajo Code Talkers and their views of the war and how the movie portrayed them.

I will also be discussing We Were Soldiers which is probably one of the more emotional war movies that I have viewed in recent years. This movie definitely hits home a lot more for the viewer as it gives the background of many of the soldiers and then later on in the movies goes on to show how it deeply affects each of their families as they are killed in action. This movie shows that these soldiers are more than just war machines, but it portrays them as ordinary people with family.

Throughout this paper as mentioned earlier I would like to show how war movies affect everyone from the actors, former war veterans, their families and me as a person. Again my written sources are “The Making of the Film About the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II” by Director John Woo and Senator Jeff Bingaman; “Now You Know” a written compilation of reactions from viewers of the movie Saving Private Ryan. I will also be using commentaries from the movie Black Hawk Down, and We Were Soldiers. Another source I might use is my grandfather a retired Lt. Colonel of the United States Air Force and former Military History professor at both the Air Force Academy and Samford University. He is currently in the middle of writing his second book on World War II and has done interviews with several veterans and politicians from that time and I would like to see if he can get some of their reactions to some of the more recent war movies.

Through my paper I hope I will be able to show that war movies are more than just blood, guts and massive explosions and that they can actually have a lasting impact on how we view veterans and our country.