Film Assignment

I think American war films have grown as a genre because of the patriotism that is held throughout America. America has been involved in many conflicts over the years and mainy people like to see interibitations of these conflicts, some accurate and some very biast. America alone is a rather large audience, it appeal to them i think because of the patriotism. But it also has the UK audience because these films are sometimes well made, the UK audience is then attracted to the ‘Blockbuster’ aspect. The conventions and forms are common in American war films, they tend to be very biast and the enemy doesn’t normally have names or a personality as such. We are never allowed as as audience to feel sympathy for the enemey, we never see the family or loved ones of the enemy that might be effected. This Genre tends to follow the common film theories and stuctures, the films have the characters that we associate with. You will have the hero, normally an every day person. The Villian, in war films it tends to be a group of people. then you get the less primary roles such as the helper, the donor, the fake hero (commonly an ‘Arrogant’ male, who will eventualy need saving). These conventions follow in most war films, the film structure is also quite common. It always returns back to the equilibruim but the mental state has normaly changed. Empire of the son is a perfect example of this structure, the main character is returned back to his parents to live with his family, but we can see from the facail expression that the child is not mentally the same person and is not who he was. This whole image is symbolized by the suitcase floating away, everything he owned a knew was gone all thats left now is him. Representation i think is reflected in the characters, as i mentioned the ‘Villian’ is not normaly one person. Unlike british action film like the ‘007′ films, the villian is one person and we are shown this person. American war films have a group of people as the enemy, they are established and really never much more. We are told and shown they are bad, but we never get a back story. A man will be shown in a Scarf covering his face and a gun through representation and what we know through films we will know that he is bad, and probably a terrorist, this is the representation that American war film and the actiong films create. The hero will be probably be a male and a character that is very ‘Idilic’ males will want to be him and females will want him. We will normaly see the backgorund and family story of this character, Jarhead is a good example, we know he has a girl friend and that he cares for her we as an audience are allows to see his emotions and share them with him. The one main thing that is always representated next to victory or ‘applause’ is the american flag, in Jarhead the troops return home to a screaming crowd and applause. This genre always shows America to be victoriuos and the characters to be patriotic. A film that goes again this convention is ‘Empire of the son’ the american prisioners are shown as poeple who are only in it for them selves. They are shown as arrogant and selfish, i personaly think this part is very unpatriotic and doesn’t show america in a good way. Although they do help the boy the character Basie (John Malkovic) is very reluctant towards doing so, and insaults the boy. The audience as i mentioned is always going to be a big part of these film, Americans always want to see they’re country winning and doing good. The UK audience will want to see these films because of the blockbuster factor, they will most likely be holly wood prduced and funded so they will be visualy entertaining even if the story lacks. In terms of other audiences i shall research to see where these films sell, because in my opinion i don’t think certain countrys that may have been envolded or part of these events would want to see the patriotic ways of america. I think the institutions will most likely be companies like Warner Brothers, American based companies. the productiong and distribution will concentrate on American audiences. In conclusion i think Amercian war film as a genre will always be a succesful Genre and will continue to grow. These films are aimed at americans made by amercians. Saving Private Ryan is another good example its an america film made by Americans so orcourse it focuses on their exprience. The american flag is something that features a few times in this film, creating the patriotism thats most common in this genre. These are the resons that this genre is succesful and will grow.