War of ideas: a critical study on the romanticized depiction of US interests in mainstream war films and their psycho-ideological effects on their audience

Abstract

The American film industry (AFI) is known for the multitude of pictures that it produces as well as its wide range of the content that it chooses to portray to the general public. As of late, a popular theme being shown in the silver screen is war. These wars on film are either based on historical events or entirely fictional ones that are purely for entertainment. The number of this kind of films has been growing since the AFI's become enamored with WW2 stories. This dissertation seeks to expose the propagandist nature of these films by analyzing current and popular mainstream war films for elements that can be categorized as forms of propaganda. The objective here is to distinguish the pattern of propaganda techniques that these films employ and to determine the effects that they might have on their audiences' ideologies. According to the analyses of multiple war films, as well as the research on the historical background of America's use of propaganda films, there really seems to be prominent evidence to suggest that the U.S. film industry continues to produce movies with content similar to what was being produced during the years of WW2 where the majority, if not all, movies produced by the fledgling film industry were made with the purpose of rousing the masses sympathize with the war effort. These films were meant to cater to every man, woman, and child since it would be very productive to include as much of the population as possible when it comes to supporting government policies. With this in mind, it is recommended that psychological experts and families learn more about what the media is portraying to children and adolescents since it could mostly just be propaganda with a story. All forms of media, including films, are what define this era and all the information and content that flow from them can have harmful effects on those who are still not capable of thinking critically and are too dependent on what they are shown or taught by movies and television.