How has the Hollywood portrayal of war changed between World War 1... World War 2... and Vietnam?

Answer 1

To answer your question, I will say this. In and around the time of World War One, the war movies were usually about the Civil War or the American Revolution, example being the 1915 film,Birth of a Nation. Then in and around World War 2, all the movies were about World War One, such as Sargeant York (1941) with Gary Cooper. Then around Vietnam, all the movies were about World War Two, or even some about Vietnam. Movies made during WW1 were indeed about past wars, but one American director still got ten years in prison for violating the Alien & Sedition Act (an early version of today's Patriot Act) by presenting the British as bad guys in the American Revolution. In the years following the war, it was portrayed in a somewhat romantic way by Hollywood, but with an exception. Lew Ayres was deeply affected by his role in All Quiet on the Western Front which was anything but romantic. In WWII Ayres applied for and received conscientious objector status. WWII saw heavy use of movies as a propaganda tool, and in this respect the above answer is wrong. Hollywood made several movies about WWII while it was ongoing (Casablanca, Bataan, The Purple Heart, Wake Island, et al) They portrayed war as an ugly business but one which had to be done by someone. During Vietnam, the movie The Green Berets tried to affirm this belief, but critics and audiences did not buy it anymore. Another film about the Korean War, a dark comedy called M*A*S*H was directed by Robert Altman. It was a big hit, and it was Vietnam in disguise, with the deliberate inaccuracy of Koreans wearing Vietnamese hats to suggest Vietnam subconsciously. Two other films of that same year (1970) were Kelly's Heroes and Catch-22 which took place in WWII but hinted at Vietnam. These movies lack the bloody realism of later war movies, but they convey the spirit of less-than-eager warriors thrown into war. I would say that it depends on when the movie is made, and the political climate. When the war is ongoing, the movie is flag-waver and good vs. evil conflict unless it can be disguised as a previous war. After the war, it becomes a more real and human story. [The recent movie 300 would seem to be a propaganda movie representing the West against the Middle East. In actuality, we have much more in common with the Persian Empire than with the underdog Greeks. We are all slaves, and everything we do is done out of fear.] The movie Sergeant York with Gary Cooper is a very good example of a past war used to inspire patriotism. In the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin wanted Sergei Eisenstein to direct an inspiring movie of this type, and he responded with a movie about the Russian hero Alexander Nevsky. Film has been used many times and in many countries to promote war and anti-war ideas.