Military has been predominant in our society: a statistic showed that world military spending in 2012 went over 1.7 trillion dollars. Its present everywhere: in the news, on TV, in videogames and in movie. A movie example could be Brothers, where we can relate situations to certain themes. Within this analysis, I will relate the movie to three major themes: men’s relationship to war, war and patriarchy and women’s relationship to war.
Resume:
In overall, the movie is about a marine Captain (Sam) who leaves on his mission to Afghanistan, leaving his wife (Grace) and his two daughters behind. He’s also leaving his brother (Tommy), a criminal who just got out of jail for robbing a bank. While Sam being on mission and being captured as prisoners (presumed dead), Tommy looks after Grace and his two nieces, creating a strong bond between them, and helping the family go through its grief. When Sam comes home, he’s totally changed: he becomes a cold man suffering of PTSD and paranoia, and suspects his wife and his brother have had sex together. In the end, he attempts suicide, after having a rage breakout because of his daughter (she said that Grace and Tommy had slept together), and is sent off to a psychiatric clinic. He also tells his wife about what really happened while he was in his mission, how he killed Private Joe.
Men’s relationship to war
The film somehow suggests that the war experience confirms a young man’s manhood. We can see how Sam, successful captain in the US marines, is praised by his father in comparison with Tommy, who has spent most of his life getting into trouble. Hank, Tommy and Sam’s father, at one point states that Tommy should grow up, be a hero, just like his brother. In a way, war is reflected as a competit...
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...ould. Women are practically put as victims, but also supporters of war. As we see, the wife of Private Joe, Cassie Willis, grieves her husband’s death, but still honors him, saying that he died with dignity for a good cause. As said before, Grace goes to a community center where a lot of wives and kids of the military men hang out, which describes the role that Grace has in the military. Also, after her loss, Cassie goes to talk to Grace to relieve her pain and to talk about the nightmare she had which included Sam. Although Grace wished that Sam didn’t go to his mission, she still accepted it, which demonstrates how she encourages against her will her man to do his masculine duty. She understands that she may lose him, but still lets him go, because it is his duty. On the battlefield, no women are present: the military unit where Sam was did not contain any woman.
In conclusion, while books, photos, movies and other historical documentation can portray information or a message about wartime events, they will never be able to produce the feelings of those that were personally involved in wars have experienced. Yet, it is incorrect to criticize these writers. The information they reveal is still very important historical information. Even if a reader or viewer of this media cannot feel exactly the same emotions as those involved, they still often experience an emotional connection to the events being depicted. This is important, not only for the historical knowledge gained about wars, but also to understand the nature and futility of their occurrence.
The presentation and use of military personnel in the “Forever War” by Joe Haldeman and “Halo: The Fall of Reach” by Eric Nylund illustrate how science fiction depicts these individuals as disposable and replaceable. The negative treatment of soldiers can result in various mental problems and unnatural relationships if conditions remain the same. Although the characters in these stories are fictional, the mistreatment of military personnel can lead to future problems when the time comes for them to return to civilian life.
Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (1998) is a film that examines the Guadalcanal Battle of World War II, looking past the physical results of the violence, in order to uncover the deeper truths and ramifications of war. The film conveys themes and ideologies that are somewhat uncommon to war films, especially WW II films. In this dark, surreal, journey, Malick takes us inside the minds of soldiers experiencing this battle to capture a remote pacific island from the Japanese. We do not hear or see gruff, hardened soldiers, anxious to die for their country. In fact, there are no heroes in The Thin Red Line. There are only regular men, scared of fighting and scared of dying, who have been thrown into a situation that will forever change their lives. The fighting is not suspenseful or glorious just brutal. Using an ideological approach to the study of film, this paper will examine The Thin Red Line’s messages about the truths of war, and how it challenges our society’s stereotypical view of war as a valiant undertaking where brave men fighting for good battle the evil of the enemy. Consequently, the ideologies that are uncovered will then be used to look at The Thin Red Line as a war film, and how it fits and does not fit into the genre.
The physical effects of war overwhelm the naïve causing pain and suffering. Initially, war entangles the lives of youth, destroying the innocence that they experience as an aspect of their life. The girl “glid[ing] gracefully down the path” (1) and the boy “rid[ing] eagerly down the road” (9) have their enjoyable realities striped by the harshness of war. Likewise, war enters women’s lives creating turmoil. The woman who works “deftly in the fields” ( ) no longer is able to experience the offerings of life. The “wire cuts,” ( ) pushing her away from the normal flow of life. In addition, man undergoes tragic obstacles as a result of war. “A man walks nobly and alone” ( ) before the horrible effects of war set in on his life causing disruptions. War enters the life of man destroying the bond man shares with his beloved environment ( ).
As can be seen, Paul Boyer, Tim O’Brien, and Kenneth W. Bagby, convey the notion that war affects the one’s self the most. Through the use of literary devices: tone, mood, pathos, and imagery, these 3 authors portray that war affects a person’s self most of all. War is not only a battle between two opposing sides, but it can also be a mental conflict created within a person. Although war is able to have an effect on physical relationships between family, friends, or even society, conflict within oneself is the most inevitable battle one must face during war times.
When the war was over, the survivors went home and the world tried to return to normalcy. Unfortunately, settling down in peacetime proved more difficult than expected. During the war, the boys had fought against both the enemy and death in far away lands; the girls had bought into the patriotic fervor and aggressively entered the workforce. During the war, both the boys and the girls of this generation had broken out of society's structure; they found it very difficult to return.
Goldstein, Joshua (2001) War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa. Cambridge University Press.
“One man’s dream is another man’s nightmare”, and perhaps one nation’s war is a potential Hollywood movie. While many Hollywood filmmakers have deemed it their true calling to present the war topic to the public in creating pictures which, according to McCrisken and Pepper, allow them to “critically engage with complicated questions about what constitutes ‘America’ domestically and internationally in the post-Cold War world.” A subject which leaves room for little to no debate is the perception that Hollywood directors, along with their pedagogical and informative topics, usually resort to films in order to convey messages and inform their viewers of the “bigger picture” they might seem to have glanced so quickly at. Such is the case with the two high-profile war movies, which are the subject of debate in this thesis, Oliver Stone’s Platoon (1986) and David Russell’s Three Kings (1999). Upon their release, with the emphasis on the former, they have both created quite a buzz which attracted the attention of many historians and created controversy which would be put under the microscope and thus promoting historical inquiry which the Americans would soon want to unravel (McCrisken & Pepper, 2005). In order to better understand the topic at hand, it is of extreme importance to tackle the perceived motive behind the advancements of the American army in the Vietnam War, and their involvement in the Gulf War. (thesis statement here?)
Since the beginning of history, human society has centered around war. People throughout the ages have attempted to understand why wars occur, and the effect of war on the people who fight in them. Authors have utilized the power of language to attempt to grasp the struggle and the horror of war, and make it accessible to the public. For example, Hemingway’s “In Another Country” and Bierce’s “Coup de Grace” both provide a glimpse into different aspects of war. Although they both pertain to the idea of war, “In Another Country” focuses on the psychological trauma of war while “Coup de Grace” showcases the horror of war. This is visible in the theme, setting, and characters of both stories.
The difficult association between the occurrence of war and storytelling is told through the eyes of Tim O’Brien; he explains that a true war story has a supreme adherence to offensiveness that provides a sense of pride and courage commonly found in storytelling. “The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and im...
Burke, Colleen. "Women and Militarism." Women and Militarism. Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Web. 05 May 2012. .
...as Mary Ann in the novel show that women can do so much more than sew and cook. Without women, all wars would have been a lot harder. Although men tend to keep a macho facade in order to calm others (such as the women in their lives), inside they may be like glass, easy to break. A society set on the ideal stoic, fearless warrior who acts ruthlessly and saves the damsel in distress (also showing that women are weak) obviously is one where doomed to sexism. Without the comfort and inspiration, men would have deteriorated in the face of death. All and all, women provided the needed comfort, nursing, “manpower”, and love that the soldiers of Vietnam need, something that helped them endure the havoc of war. O’Brien’s expert use of the feminist lens allows the reader to know that women indeed were a powerhouse in the Vietnam war, without whom, men would have perished.
In the movie Brothers, I saw relational turbulence between the wife and husband. Relational turbulence is when people react to an interpersonal situation that ordinarily would not be significant; due to difficult times in the relationship, changes in behavior are more noticeable (Katz, 2015). One of the main components in relational uncertainty. One of the scenes where this is seen was during dinner, the husband got up and left the dinner table when the kids mentioned the uncle. When the wife went to check on him, she wanted to know about what happened to him while he was away, but the only thing he could focus on was if she slept with his brother. Even though he had asked his brother if he slept with the wife and he answered, the husband was
The male-dominated institution that is the U.S. military, through daily practice, has shown its implementing of hegemonic masculinity among ranks. As this institution relies on rigid masculine qualities, it feeds from the history of hyper-masculinity. Warfare and hegemonic masculinity go hand in hand, “for ages throughout countless societies the final initiation rite from boyhood to manhood has been an inclusion in the practice of war” (Morgan 125). Through this idea, “boys who aspire to manhood, and men seeking to express theirs, follow masculine scripts generated in and for particular milieus, but they must also negotiate their course in relation to the hegemonic forms of contemporary masculinity and femininity” (Nye 1940). This ideal of a strong and aggressive leader is emphasized through American war politics as well “where our major response to the indirect tactics of guerrilla warfare has been to rely upon more and bigger ‘strikes’ and ‘assaults’, despite all the evidence of their long-run ineffectiveness” (Mansfield 351). Essentially this idea that to prove oneself through the strength and refusal to retreat, regardless of the effectiveness of the strategy “seems to reflect a psychological reality” within the military: “to lose will be to unman us all” (Mansfield
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a constant battle between death and love.