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2007-09-30 Home Front: Culture Wars

What accounts for Hollywoods failure to capture the reality of war?

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Posted by Mike 2007-09-30 10:12|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 Hoolywood doesnt get it because Hollywood is run by liberal elites, and staffed by liberal effetes.

Unlike the Lee Marvin generation, few if any even know anyone who has served, and even fewer have served in the military, much less in combat. Not to mention that its all about look and feel, not about reality.

So its no surprise that Hollywwod doesn't "get it", mainly because they do no "go there" and do not have the character and couage to do so..

Posted by OldSpook 2007-09-30 11:06|| 2007-09-30 11:06|| Front Page Top

#2 Would that they were liberals.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2007-09-30 11:34|| 2007-09-30 11:34|| Front Page Top

#3 Hollywood because there are no more patriots like John Ford or Raoul Walsh nor former soldiers like Samuel Fuller (who was in D-Day) only rich white kids like Hanoi Fonda.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2007-09-30 13:41|| 2007-09-30 13:41|| Front Page Top

#4 We Were Soldiers was an excellent flick, but I think Mel Gibson financed most of it himself, probably with his Braveheart $. Tears of the Sun with Bruce Willis was another good flick, with honorable US military represented

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2007-09-30 13:55|| 2007-09-30 13:55|| Front Page Top

#5 What accounts for Hollywoods failure to capture the reality of war?

It's icky. What's more, understanding why wars are fought and how they're won requires something more than the demagnetized moral compass that passes for today's Hollywood mentality.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-09-30 14:21|| 2007-09-30 14:21|| Front Page Top

#6 You mean they do manage to campure the realities of other phenomena?

Posted by gromgoru 2007-09-30 14:44|| 2007-09-30 14:44|| Front Page Top

#7 > You mean they do manage to campure the realities of other phenomena?

They seem to do gay cowboy sex well.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2007-09-30 14:51|| 2007-09-30 14:51|| Front Page Top

#8 The problem for Hollywood is that modern warfare requires teamwork and the epic dramas of fiction rely on heros and villains. Preferably there should be one of each. Reality rarely co-operates with the writer.

For example Spielberg, in "Schindler's List", consolidated several people who helped Schindler into one character to help simplify the plot.

Another problem is that drama requires that the story be structured a certain way, with specific twists and turns leading to a climax. Once again real battles rarely follow Hollywood's needs.

The best war movies were made in the twenty years after WWII. Most of the writers, directors etc had served during the war, and so had alot of the audience. Once the WWII generation had retired from film-making, the new generation of film-makers was left with epic stories that they'd learned in school.

To this was added the usual crap from Viet Nam (which is really just an update of the anti-war stories told after WWI). The net effect is an attempt to stuff war stories into a structure the stopped being realistic once Knights in armor left the battlefield.

Al

Posted by Frozen Al 2007-09-30 14:52|| 2007-09-30 14:52|| Front Page Top

#9 Another problem is that drama requires that the story be structured a certain way, with specific twists and turns leading to a climax. Once again real battles rarely follow Hollywood's needs.

Great analysis, Frozen Al. Anyone who doubts this need only read T.E. Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" and then compare it to David Lean's admittedly spectacular movie, "Lawrence of Arabia". It would be a kindness to say that the movie's timeline has no bearing in reality. Yet, "Lawrence of Arabia" remains one of the finest films ever made. Three Academy Award nominations and SEVEN Oscars amply attest to that.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-09-30 16:06|| 2007-09-30 16:06|| Front Page Top

#10 Hollywood is about make-believe. They are not good at reality.

Posted by JohnQC 2007-09-30 16:56|| 2007-09-30 16:56|| Front Page Top

#11 "What accounts for ~~Hollywoods~~ Hollyweird's failure to capture the reality of war?"

They're on the other side. >:-(

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2007-09-30 17:17|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/] 2007-09-30 17:17|| Front Page Top

#12 "The War," a documentary that for all its shortcomings..

Largely made due to the political environment of our times. Call me a nit picker. However, Mr. Burns needs to recheck the record. Morocco and Algeria were not occupied by Germans. Neither was southern France. Vichy France was neutral. American maintained diplomatic relations with Vichy. Without any Congressional authorization or declaration of war, Mr. Roosevelt invaded the territory of a neutral country. We invaded without real warning. We killed Frenchmen defending their territory, long before we could drive across North Africa to reach the Jerries. If you want to bring out the dirty/real side of the war, why cover that fact up? Oh, because it would indeed have play today.

Oh, and we don't want to address the new information gleaned from the recently declassified Japanese diplomatic traffic which indicated that the consulates were reporting they were making contacts in the Japanese communities along the west coast, home of around 90% of the American military aircraft production based in Seattle and LA at the start of the war. No, no. No need to introduce such drivel, right?

Posted by Procopius2k 2007-09-30 17:46|| 2007-09-30 17:46|| Front Page Top

#13 The only reason that Hollywood made good war movies during WWII is that the US was allied with the Soviet Union against the Nazis. Hollywood was filled with Communists who did their utmost to rally the American people to save Uncle Joe. When the Communists became the enemy, their hearts just weren't in it any more. Their loyalties were with the other side. When Communism collapsed, all that was left for the denizens of Hollywood was a lingering anti-Americanism. You can't make a good war movie when you despise the US, despise the troops, and despise the American way of life.

My contempt for the Hollywood crowd was formed during the VietNam years and will probably last as long as I live. The drugged-out, narcissistic, self-righteous, effete, anti-American, and basically ignorant scum that populate Hollywood don't realize that if the US were to fall to her enemies, they would be among the first to lose their heads.

Posted by RWV 2007-09-30 18:33|| 2007-09-30 18:33|| Front Page Top

#14 Oh, and we don't want to address the new information gleaned from the recently declassified Japanese diplomatic traffic which indicated that the consulates were reporting they were making contacts in the Japanese communities along the west coast, home of around 90% of the American military aircraft production based in Seattle and LA at the start of the war.

P2k, do you have a link to that information? It sure would provide some historical context for considering the internment of America's Muslim population.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-09-30 19:48|| 2007-09-30 19:48|| Front Page Top

#15 FYI Zen, you just pegged my one of my 5 favorite movies of all time.

Posted by OldSpook 2007-09-30 23:32|| 2007-09-30 23:32|| Front Page Top

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