American Politics & Pop Culture

Bodnar argues that the narrative of heroism, patriotism, and democracy that permeated wartime America began to decompose immediately in the aftermath of World War II.
Bodnar discusses many different war films from the 1940’s in the OWI era all the way to Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. He takes an in depth look at the meaning behind all of the different films. Some of the films, such as Crossfire, depict soldiers as being brutal and bringing their brutal ways back from war with them where they engage in illegal activity and even murder. In the film Battleground, soldiers are seen as beaten and bruised. They are ready to endure some kind of flesh wound so that they may be able to get shelter at a field hospital or maybe even go back home. Bodnar also looked at the film Champion in which a man throws away his relationships with his family and friends for a chance to become a boxing king. Bodnar looks at this film because of the hidden metaphor for the pursuit of fame and wealth. This metaphor is also seen in the film All My Sons where an industrialist puts profit before patriotism and country. This eventually results in faulty parts for planes that were used during war. American soldiers lost their lives because of his greed and he eventually takes his own life because of the guilt felt by his actions and consequences. Bodnar argues that films are becoming more about individual struggles and heroism rather than looking at the whole war itself. Saving Private Ryan is a good, modern example of this idea. Tom Hank’s character devotes his war effort to finding Ryan and bringing him home to his family.
I enjoyed reading this article because it shed new light on the many different themes and idea of war and how it is interpreted and remembered. Bodnar takes many different films from many different eras and looks at each one and the messages that are being displayed to society. I agree that war films need to be centered more on factual events and the individuals who really made a difference during these trying times. The truths about war are usually not told. The OWI did a tremendous job of covering up what war was really like and censoring the information that society was and heard. Sahara was one of the films of its time that made the U.S. look kind and powerful. The time frame that it was set in was somewhat interesting however. There would have never been a Black man fighting with the U.S., no matter which country he was from. The film also depicted the powerful, six or so, American soldiers fighting off hundreds of Nazi soldiers. The public has a right to know what their loved ones are fighting for and what is actually going on in other countries that their country is involved in. Films need to take the harsh reality and portray it to the public more effectively rather than jazzing it up to make the United States always look like the ‘good guys’. Our country needs to admit, especially to our own people, that we have done some very inhuman and terrible things, but that it happened and we need to own up to it. Our country is not proud of what we did, but it was something that did happen and society has a right to know the truth. Vietnam is a great example of a war that should never have happened. It is also a war that most Americans do not know that we lost.