Exploring Enemy Perception: A Study on 'The Purple Heart' and Keen's Archetypes

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The movie The Purple Heart, was based on a real-life situation in Japan when some US soldiers were captured and tortured by the Japanese. In the movie, the way the American soldiers are treated is inhumane. The article by Keen describes how countries perceive their enemies. The aim of this paper is to discuss the movie The Purple Heart, linking the events to the related Keen archetypes.
The first Archetype by Keen explains that enemies are perceived to be foreigners who are inhuman (Keen, 12). The Japanese enemy in the movie are the Americans who had landed on their land. The Americans are perceived to be enemies since they are strangers from America, and it is assumed that they are inhuman. This is why the Japanese army mistreats these people and even …show more content…

A culture of torture in various countries was also adapted and is viewed to be a rational method of collecting information from the enemies. One of the archetypes of Keen was that the enemy is a torturer. In the movie, the Americans were tortured and some of them died. The culture of capturing prisoners of war has since been on the rise. It can be observed that to an extent, the film influenced the culture in the armed forces of capturing and torturing prisoners of war. The culture of supporting the US citizens was also enhanced by the film. In the movie, the other prisoners of war help their injured friend who could not speak. In the modern world, the Americans always seek to support their citizens whenever they are run into problems outside the borders of the US.
In conclusion, Keen archetypes are depicted in the film The Purple Heart. The movie in a way was propaganda directed to the US population to justify the attack on Japan. It has had a great impact on the society as well to the culture in the military service of various

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