War films display how cultures conceive war and how perceptions of war are shaped. Essentially, wars are fought on two fronts, both on the battlefield and as propaganda for national cultures. This study examines Hollywood's depictions of militarism and gender in post-9/11 war films about U.S. military conflicts in the Middle East. The purpose is to examine cinematic representations of masculinity and militarism and decode how these representations shape ideologies of American nationalism. Included are discussions of films representing the Persian Gulf War, U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, war films addressing the use of torture, and "global corporate war films." This study is organized both chronologically and thematically. Chapter One serves as an overview of the study and explains some of the theoretical concepts and terminology utilized throughout. Chapter Two discusses some of the major themes in war films and their relation to American nationalism up to 9/11. Chapter Three focuses on representations of masculinity in one of the most well-known films about the Gulf War, Sam Mendes' Jarhead (2005). Chapter Four explores concerns regarding how military and governmental practices affect soldiers and their families on the home front. Chapter Five discusses the "War on Terror" and the issue of torture as represented in the films Five Fingers (2006), Rendition (2007) and Unthinkable (2010). Chapter Six turns away from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to cinematic depictions of corporate war and militarism and looks mainly at Stuart Townsend's Battle in Seattle (2007). Chapter Seven concludes the study of post-9/11 war films and provides possibilities where further research might be done. Hollywood's geo-political post-modern war films are moving away from simple binary distinctions, (us/them, west/east, linear/non-linear) into more fluid and complex conceptions of geo-political war. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2012. / March 16, 2012. / 9/11, Hollywood, Masculinity, Torture, War Film, War Films, Men's Studies / Includes bibliographical references. / Daniel Vitkus, Professor Directing Dissertation; Neil Jumonville, University Representative; Kathleen Erndl, Committee Member; David Johnson, Committee Member; Terence C. Coonan, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_253424 |
| Contributors | Bengford, Timothy J. (authoraut), Vitkus, Daniel (professor directing dissertation), Jumonville, Neil (university representative), Erndl, Kathleen (committee member), Johnson, David (committee member), Coonan, Terence C. (committee member), Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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