HOLLYWOOD’S WAR ON TERROR: THE REPRESENTATION OF THE POST 9/11 US INTERVENTIONIST FOREIGN POLICY BY

AMERICAN POPULAR CINEMATIC INDUSTRY

BY

MS. JARUKAN POTHISIT

AN INDEPENDENT STUDY SUBMITTED IN PARTIALFULFILLMENT OFTHE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OFPOLITICAL SCIENCE IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2016 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ HOLLYWOOD’S WAR ON TERROR: THE REPRESENTATION OF THE POST 9/11 US INTERVENTIONIST FOREIGN POLICY BY

AMERICAN POPULAR CINEMATIC INDUSTRY

BY

MS.JARUKANPOTHISIT

ANINDEPENDENT STUDYSUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OFPOLITICAL SCIENCE IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2016 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ

(1)

Independent Study Title HOLLYWOOD‟S WAR ON TERROR: THE REPRESENTATION OF THE POST 9/11 US INTERVENTIONIST FOREIGN POLICY BY AMERICAN POPULAR CINEMATIC INDUSTRY Author Ms.JarukanPothisit Degree Master of Political Science Major Field/Faculty/University International Relations Faculty of Political Science Thammasat University Thesis Advisor Professor JaranMaluleem, Ph. D. Academic Years 2016

ABSTRACT

As being world‟s leading cinematic industry, the Hollywood has an ability to influence and shape its worldwide audience in terms of their perceptions through its representational techniques. Throughout history, politics and entertainment industry have been intertwined since the former have always been inspirational to the content of the latter or the process can also be vice versa. Hollywood too, has long been responded to the subject of politics especially when it comes to American politics. The event of September 11, 2001 has opened the new era of American foreign policy towards the states that believed to be in some way involved with the terrorist attacks. This research was done from researcher‟s speculation about how the American foreign policy of the use of force to intervene other states is being presented through narrative of US filming industry with the selective criteria of mainstream films projecting American statesmen stationing in several operation camps to complete the task of War on Terror. Moreover, this research also provided how the image of unfamiliar places and its locals such as Iraq and Afghanistan are being created wholly from the American perspective. Most importantly, it is interesting to observe on Hollywood‟s stance on

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ (2) the presumably controversial interventions of Iraq and Afghanistan that lately, more and more media or American news agency or society in general do regret these moves started by the Bush administration as a consequence of 9/11 attacks. In spite of public opinions that heavily criticize the two interventions, it is interesting to see if the industry, as world‟s dominant filming industry, whether it goes along the trend or not since the subject of plot and storyline can always be inspired by political factors. Nevertheless, the dominant theme of films carried this particular storyline does very little in terms of questioning the interventions since most of them chose to be quiet about the policy behind those actions.

Keywords: War on Terror, Hollywood, US, Hegemony, Representation, Depiction, Other, Extraterritorial Power, State Officers, WMDs, National Interests

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ (3)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The MIR program has widened my perspective about the world and international politics which words cannot describe well enough how much I feel grateful for joining this program and have opportunity to meet every instructor and staff. I sincerely offer my appreciations to my adviser, Professor Dr. Jaran Maluleem, for allowing me to write on the topic that I am truly interested. He would always boost my enthusiasm despite how much I felt discouraged during my research journey. All of his kind suggestions, encouragement, and patience were the great contributions to complete this Independent Study. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Chairman, Assistant Professor Dr. Wasan Luangprapat, for the beneficial guidance that is so valuable for the comprehensiveness of this paper. In addition, I am genuinely very thankful of Dr. Srawut Aree for his advice that helped shaped this research into a proper direction. I would like to pass the word to my MIR 17 classmates that always cheered up and helped each other during the classes. I am fortunate to have these wonderful friends going through good and bad times throughout the course. Most importantly, I am so blessed to have my loving parents during my rough times in my Master‟s degree journey. Their kind support and understanding are what making me succeed today. Without them by my side, my achievement in MIR would have been impossible.

Ms. JarukanPothisit

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ (4)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page ABSTRACT (1)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (3)

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS (6)

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Significance of the Problem 1 1.2 Research Questions 3 1.3 Research Objectives 3 1.4 Hypothesis 4

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 5

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 8

3.1 Research Methodology 8 3.2 Theoretical Approach 10

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 13

4.1 The Post 9/11 US Foreign Policy 13 4.1.1 The War in Afghanistan 15 4.1.2 The War in Iraq 18 4.2 Films and Its Relations to the Post 9/11 US Foreign Policy 21

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ (5)

4.2.1 The Hurt Locker (2008) 22 4.2.2 Green Zone (2010) 24 4.2.3 Zero Dark Thirty (2012) 26 4.2.4 Lone Survivor (2013) 29 4.2.5 American Sniper (2014) 31 4.3 Hollywood‟s Representation of US Extraterritorial Power and 33 Unfamiliar Locations 4.4 Common Narration Styles Shared in Hollywood‟s WoT Films 38 4.4.1 Ambiguity 39 4.4.2 Evoking the Sense of American Patriotism 40 4.5 Hollywood‟s Criticism on the Justification of the Use of Force 41 4.6 Alternative Productions: Documentary Films 43

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 45

5.1 Conclusion 45 5.2 Recommendation 46

REFERENCES 48

BIOGRAPHY 58

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ (6)

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Symbols/Abbreviations Terms

CIA Central Intelligence Agency DVD Digital Versatile Disk EOD Explosive Ordnance Disposal FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation IR International Relations Lt. Lieutenant NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization NSC The United States‟ National Security Council PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder SEALs The United States Navy‟s Sea, Air and Land Teams SGT. Sergeant UN United Nations US, USA The United States of America WMDs Weapons of Mass Destructions WoT War on Terror 9/11, September 11 Series of terrorist attacks on the USA on Tuesday morning of 11th September, 2001 claiming almost 3,000 lives.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 1

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Significance of the Problem

Undoubtedly, the United States of America (USA) has become one of major powers in the world since after the Second World War until the present day. This country has been very active and influential in the international affairs because it has got all elements of what big players have which are political, economic and cultural powers. According to Nye and Welch (2001, p. 43), the term “power” refers to “the ability to affect others to get the outcome one wants” while the difference between the exercise of power lies in the intention to obtain desired outcome whether through coercion or payment (hard power) and through attraction or persuasion (soft power). In terms of cultural power, Hollywood, the cinema of the USA, has been influencing cinema industry throughout the globe alongside with American prominence in the world. Thus, it can be a representation of soft power in the terms of cultural domination domestically and internationally. Gregg (1998, Chapter 1) stated that the subject of International Relations (IR) and the filming industry are related according to three factors: 1) movie can enhance people‟s knowledge on IR by dramatizing the abstract ideas such as nationalism, hegemony and sovereignty to become more concrete 2) it also allows people to visualize remote situations in different time and place which they cannot personally experience it in real life and 3) it can contribute to a better IR understandings by making people debate about what has film been trying to communicate or decision made by protagonists is justifiable or not. However, film is far from the best instrument in representing or broadening understandings about international affairs. The direct goal of film is merely for entertainment purpose but it has indirect capability to make viewers observe and draw conclusion upon its content. In terms of politics, there is surely a connection between politics and films that Hollywood is no exception. It has been used as a propaganda tool for the viewers

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 2 and often being the means for communication by government to its citizens. During time of the Second World War, Hollywood was one of the instruments to create the nationalistic, unity, and patriotic feelings among American citizens in defeating the Axis powers. These films showed that victory could only be acclaimed by the determination of both soldiers abroad and the home front. Right after the end of war, anti-Communist ideology flourished in Hollywood industry during the Cold War alongside with the actual American political ideology. The dissolvent of the Soviet Union shows victory of American democracy and capitalism making the USA becomes the sole superpower in international affairs. As the process of globalization taking place, the non-traditional security threat such as terrorism and transnational drug trafficking has emerged as a new challenge for states and international society. Hollywood too, transformed itself side by side to the trend. It has changed its enemy from fascism, Nazi and Hitler into the more up-to-date figures such as the Irish Republican Army, drug cartels, dictator leaders in the Middle East or North Africa, and the Communist characters that were always involved in some sort of evilness. Thus, one can say that Hollywood actually mirrors politics of the time. Tragedy of the September 11, 2001, the most fatal terrorist attack of the history claiming just slightly behind 3,000 lives, sent shockwaves throughout the globe. Undoubtedly, the incident is a major turning point of US foreign policy especially in its national security concerns. On September 14, 2001, The US congress response to the tragedy with the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists which permits the use of military force as the right for self- defense and gives power to the President “to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons” (Congress, 2001). President George Walker Bush also coined the decision to intervene other sovereign states as fighting the “War on Terror” (WoT) aiming primarily to defeat al Qaeda and all of terrorist networks throughout the globe. This shows that the foreign policy of the USA committed to exercise its extraterritorial power by the use of force in order to preserve the national interests. In November 2004, Aljazeera published a

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 3

videotape in which bin Laden, the man masterminding the attack, openly claimed responsibility for hijacking and crashing planes on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. He stated that the US was a target for its support on Israel invading Lebanon in 1982 (Al Jazeera, 2004). For the filming industry which its content has always been inspired by politics, culture and society of the time, Hollywood was not ready to tickle the painful memory of 9/11 in the early years as shown in some movies such as “The Sum of All Fears” which was being filmed prior to the attack changed the enemy from Arab terrorists into neo-Nazis for its release in 2002 (CBS News, 2016). As time passed making American society has some recovery from the tragedy, Hollywood began to produce films portraying actual 9/11 events in films such as “United 93” and “World Trade Center” (2006). Also politically alongside with the foreign policy of intervention, action/ thriller films setting in Afghanistan, Iraq or some city located in the Middle East or South Asia regions emerged as Hollywood‟s own version of pursuing the WoT duty.

1.2 Research Questions

1. How does Hollywood cinematic industry visually represent War on Terror in terms of the use of extraterritorial power by the USA and the unfamiliar places where operational bases are located? 2. What are the styles of narrations that these films have in common? 3. Do the popular genre of Hollywood films being critical of the justification to the use of force by the USA?

1.3 Research Objectives

1. To find the relationship between films analyzed in this research and American foreign policy on the use of force in Middle East politics. 2. To see the political messages that films try to communicate or persuade the audience in relation to American values and foreign policy.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 4

3. To explore on how popular American cinematic industry represents the US interventionist foreign policy and the places it has stationed in.

1.4 Hypothesis

1. Hollywood projects the use of extraterritorial power by the US as a savior nation that intervene these countries for security and humanitarian reasons aiming to strengthen both domestic and international stability. In terms of representing the unfamiliar places, the American cinema depicts only on the war-torn aspects where the territories look dangerous and disruptive while locals are either living in fear or joining the militants fighting against the USA. 2. Common narration styles that these films shared are the focus on state‟s servicemen who are so determined in their jobs to protect the country working in a dangerous and unfamiliar territory aiming to provoke the patriotic feelings among audience. 3. There is no harmonized answer among five films in terms of whether Hollywood is being critical of US action or not because the filming industry has a lot more freedom to produce movies comparing to the past. The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, Lone Survivor and American Sniper are not criticizing the duty of WoT in which their focus is on triumph of American victory. On the other hand, Green Zone is against the government‟s decision on sending combat soldiers to Iraq.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 5

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

To contribute to this research, the subjects of International Relations, world politics and popular culture needed to be analyzed adjacently. This has posted a challenge to the researcher because there are limitations of available sources that theoretically define relationship between the political and cultural dimensions. Gregg‟s, International Relations on Film was the only book available in Thammasat library that directly provides the relativity between IR and filming productions. He stated that IR films were dominated with the theme of conflict or war and it could enhance understanding of IR or politics around the world by making abstract concepts or events that were too distant to be visually observable (Gregg, 1998, pp. 4-5). The concept of this research requires the interplay between politics and cultural studies. Thus, the theoretical framework that can best explain the correlation between the two topics is Popular Geopolitics. Since researcher‟s unfamiliarity towards this field of study, several publications surrounding this topic are required. Dodds‟ Global Geopolitics: A Critical Introduction and Geopolitics in a Changing World thoroughly define the concepts of this framework in which the two books pinpoint the media-politic relation and clarify the importance of cultural product in shaping the understandings and shaping agenda of geopolitical knowledge. Likewise, Power and Crampton‟sCinema and Popular Geo-Politics addressed on the role of film as constitutive element in production of political geography (Power and Crampton, 2007). Because this research is also focusing on American foreign policy, there is the need to study the publications about connections between American politics and films. Fortunately, the library possesses two books that connect the two issues which are Politics and Film: the political culture of film in the United States by Franklin and American Politics in Hollywood Film by Scott. These authors point out the relatedness of politics particularly that of the USA and films especially from Hollywood productions. The books pay attention to the close relationship between the White House and Hollywood industry in terms of films‟ reflection of American

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 6

politics, ideologies and values over time. There is also a need for an example of how popular culture that people consume in their everyday lives connects to international politics in which Dittmer‟s Captain America’s Empire: Reflections on Identity, Popular Culture, and Post 9/11 Geopolitics offers the framework that this research can follow its path for finding relativity of culture-politic connection. It explores on the comic book and the very character of Captain America that he symbolizes American nationalism, internal order, and foreign policy (Dittmer, 2005). Since the post September 11 has changed the direction of US foreign policy to be much more involved in the issue of radical terrorism leading to its intervention in the Middle East and South Asia regions, it is required for this research to observe how politics of the time interplay with media, popular culture, and particularly the Hollywood industry. Gardels and Medavoy‟s American Idol After Iraq: competing for hearts and minds in the global media age emphasizes on the importance of American popular culture especially the Hollywood which is so powerful in its imagery projectors during this age of globalization; hence America can use it to redeem its privilege reputation in international society that has lost from the Iraq War (Gardels and Medavoy, 2009, p. 147). However, this book just provide the overall importance of cultural industry as the tool for soft-power domination but it does not provide the in-depth analysis of Hollywood films that have reference to the post 9/11 American foreign policy. Luckily, there are several publications that explore in some of the same aspects to this research. Two articles outline how filmography has been a reflection of politics of the time in which there is no exception for the post 9/11 American missions out there in the Middle East and Southern Asia namely Iraq and Afghanistan. The two are The Rise of Dark Americana: Depicting the “War on Terror” on-screen by Jones and Smith and Riegler‟s“Mirroring Terror”: the Impact of 9/11 on Hollywood Cinema similarly agree upon how majority of American WoT films are not focusing on the system or policy motives but rather shifting its directions towards the men on duty and concordantly affirm that Hollywood does embrace the glorification of imperfect or flawed version of American combat heroes. Meanwhile, Hollywood and the Popular Geopolitics on the War on Terror by Dodds underlines on the importance on the representation of space which is not considered a minor element of films of this

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 7

genre but rather playing a critical role in shaping identities and interpretation of events (Dodds, 2008). Portrayal of “us” and the “other” is crucial to be observed on since all of the films in this research do carry this characteristic in which the three readings provide some ideas that Hollywood has been stereotyped and biased in its representations. Khatib‟sFilming the Modern Middle East mentions that films project Americans as saviors who use violence to rescue the oppressed Iraqis (Khatib, 2006, p. 27). Accordingly, Alford‟s A Propaganda Model for Hollywood also explores on the representation of the good (us) and evil (them) depicted in this type of films. Meanwhile, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People by Shaheen expands on this issue that depictions of Hollywood carries the bad images embedded with Arabs has been dominating the cinema since long before but the post 9/11 also offers the presentation of some heroic Arabic characters (Shaheen, 2008, p. 35).

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 8

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Methodology

This research will be conducted using qualitative methods where the documentary analysis will be both from primary and secondary data. Primary data includes Hollywood films and the US foreign policy of intervention as an aftermath of 9/11 incident by Bush administration through the policy statements, announcements, government's publications or speeches from government officials. Furthermore, interviews from some of the movie directors are being used to observe the intended purposes that are expected to be produced from the films. The secondary data will include the existing historical sources such as documents and analyses about the decision to go to war by the USA. Movie reviews from various sources will also be in the consideration. Academic books and journals, mass media, news articles and newspaper which have contents relating to this study will also be used for this research. The content analysis of various Hollywood production films will also be made in relation to the state intervention by the United States in Middle East or South Asia regions especially the situation in the war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq as a consequence of the 9/11 incidents. The selective criteria of films includes: 1) storyline reference to the US intervention as a result of Bush administration‟s interventionist policy after the 9/11 incident, 2) depiction of state officers on duty following government‟s order in the countries where the US operation bases are located as majority scenes of the entire duration, 3) films being released by major American studio productions, 4) receiving recognitions from the famous American annual awards in the entertainment industry such as the Academy Awards (Oscars), the Golden Globe Awards, People‟s Choice Awards, Critics‟ Choice Movie Awards, and Teen‟s Choice Awards and 5) Featuring some notable Hollywood actors. Furthermore, the researcher needs to narrow down the range of films from Hollywood. Only the mainstream production or popular genre of cinema is being chosen to be fully examined due to the convenient reason that

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 9 these films are more likely to have wider amount of viewers and easier to access. However, some few additional films that contain some elements surrounding similar context of this research are also being briefly reviewed in order to contribute to the comprehensiveness to this study. Movies listed below are chosen to be analyzed in this research: 1. The Hurt Locker (2008): Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Summit Entertainment. 2. Green Zone (2010): Directed by Paul Greengrass, Universal Pictures. 3. Zero Dark Thirty (2012): directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Columbia Pictures. 4. Lone Survivor (2013): directed by Peter Berg, Universal Pictures. 5. American Sniper (2014): directed by Clint Eastwood, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

The prominence of Hollywood‟s post 9/11 foreign policy-related films (with reference to actual events) was just started during the 82nd Academy Awards of the year 2010. The Hurt Locker, a film that performed so poorly in the box office, was surprisingly won six Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. Since its achievements, more movies of this similar theme have been apparent in the popular Hollywood production. Therefore, researcher chose the year 2008 when the Hurt Locker was debuted as the starting point. American Sniper was the latest production which fitted into research agenda, although this independent study is mostly done in 2016. Thus, the timeframe of selected films for this research is between the year 2008 to 2014. However, during the end of 2016, there is another interesting Iraq war- related film called “Billy Lynn‟s Long Halftime Walk” directed by Ang Lee that is worthy to be considered because the essential focus of the film is about the perceptions of the war. Due to time limitations that this research paper was very close to be finished, researcher did not have an opportunity to thoroughly analyze and observe the film and its critical response to make a more fruitful contribution to this independent study. The reason that there are only five films that are being thoroughly review because this theme or category of storyline was difficult to be a hit in terms of

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 10 financial prosperity and popularity in the market. Most of the post 9/11 US foreign policy-related popular films emerged after The Hurt Locker received a surprising recognition in the Oscars. However, from researcher‟s observation, there is still not much movies in this exact theme circulated within the popular Hollywood production. According to Beale (2011), many Iraq War films did not enjoy financial success because audience was not really willing to pay to watch something that too close, too painful and well-covered by the media already. Accordingly, Thomson (cited in D‟Addario, 2013) stated that simply people did not like the wars unlike the Second World War that receive exceptional feelings. It was true that Afghanistan and Iraq wars are not generally favorable among the public. Films have to be careful in its content not to create the impression of endorsing such wars. Thus, risk in market consumption and recognition can make directors or production studios become reluctant in creating this type of movies. As a result, there are little numbers of Hollywood films which are appropriate for the criteria of this research.

3.2 Theoretical Approach

This research is aiming to analyze the social values, ideas, dialogues and knowledge that shows in the outcome of America's interventionist foreign policy as a consequence from the 9/11 tragedy through the narration of Hollywood productions. Popular geopolitics can be seen as an approach that most likely appropriate to the context of this research because it is concerning with the construction of the world, places, populations and certain events through popular cultures. The term “geopolitics” was first coined by its founding father, Rudolph Kjellen, in the 19th century which he described it as “the science, which conceives of the state as a geographical organism or as a phenomenon in space‟ found favour in interwar Germany (Parker 1985, as cited in Dodds 2005, p. 28). Whereas Baylis, Smith and Owens (2014, p. 413), give a simpler explanation of the term which it sees “geographical position is a key determinant of the policies a state pursues, especially in relation to its security and strategy, both at global and regional levels.” Geopolitics stressed on the outcome of foreign policies or international interactions between states are formulated as a result of geographical reasons of those particular places such as

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 11 resources, strategic locations and trading routes. Thus, it explores the role of geography in determining and effecting policy formulation of states. For power relations between states, geopolitics provides insights for the decision-makers of powerful or hegemonic power in determining how to precede its dominance over the weaker states. On the other hand, critical geopolitics provides wider perspectives instead from observing on just states itself by including the concept of interpretation, metaphor, discourse, representation, ambiguity, symbolism and textual analysis in order to observe international affairs. It has moved away from state-centric approach to explore on non-state actors such as social movements and transnational organizations (Mamadouh et al., 2010, p. 320). Thus, for critical geopolitics, geographies of global politics were “constructed culturally and sustained politically by discourses and representational practices of statescraft” (Dalby, 1990; O Tuathail and Agnew 1992; as cited in Dodds and Atkinson, 2000, p. 9). Popular Geopolitics refers to “the construction of scripts that mold common perception of political events” (O Tuathail, 1992; Dalby, 1993; Sharp, 1993; as cited in Dittmer, 2005, p. 626). It is one of the dimensions of critical geopolitics in using media and popular culture as one of the tool to construct political identity and contribute the understandings about international politics. This research focuses on film as one type of media acting as a storyteller in creating imaginary visions of the particular locations, its populations and international events through narration by motion pictures. According to Dodds (2005, p. 73), popular geopolitics focuses on how popular culture contribute to the context in which ideas about the world are framed and interpreted. It observes on how movie as people consume it in everyday practice tries to create an understanding on the unfamiliar territory and policy behind the event through its narrations including plots, storylines, character developments, dialogues, and visual projection of that geography. As an artifact product, films can influence or contribute to audience‟s existing knowledge about unknown places through its presentation of visual representation in which it can produce some impact towards the audience to perceive the unfamiliar that one never personally experienced as reality. It can also contain some certain political agenda which can either persuade viewers to think in accordance or critically of it because

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 12 there can be no absolute consensus ways to observe and interpret the films due to the difference in one‟s perception, opinion and existing knowledge of the world that each person possessed. The researcher analytically explores through five Hollywood movies that based their storylines on the post-9/11 American foreign policy in the Middle East and South Asia regions to see how these films present the images of those particular places, locals, US foreign policy and role of its prominence for interventionism as a consequence of the September 11 attack. All of the films are mainly narrating from quite similar geographical locations in terms of where US operational bases are located as its efforts for WoT. This allows researcher to observe how Hollywood mainstream productions view their own nation‟s foreign policy, state‟s servicemen, and the Other (referring to the representation of unfamiliar people and places) when they are on duty. Thus, audience can visualize the exotic world through Hollywood‟s perspective which the identity formation are both applied for American (us) and the Other that can indicate the difference of the dominator and dominated. Technique of intertextuality between the artifact presentation and information gathered from various academic publications, news agency and numeric statistics is being used in order to critically analyze the visual representations that popular cinema provides. These samples of cinematic productions construct the ideas about geographical concepts, populations, and foreign policies. In terms of foreign policy of counteraction to 9/11, the US foreign policy indicate the US dominance especially in military and security affairs of international society and films in this research tend to reflect this particular hegemonic status. The post September 11 world shows by media imposed the feeling of danger, violence and radical terrorist groups as the images associated with the states of Middle East and South Asia regions especially among American society. Actual footage of the incident in videos and pictures circulated in media are very unique and lingering because terrorist acts similar to this had never been happened before. Hence, there is no exception for Hollywood industry to pinpoint on similar issue.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 13

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 The Post 9/11 US Foreign Policy President George Walker Bush assumed his presidency of the United States of America on January 2001. Unexpectedly, just about eight months in office, the administration was greatly challenged by the most deadly terrorist attacks of the history, the September 11, 2001. The attack of The World Trade Center and the Pentagon symbolized the challenge that al Qaeda had success in tickling on US economic and military hegemon. It showed the Americans that terrorists‟ threat was not beyond their reach. The world was shocked by such a fatal event could be occurred in the state known to be a hegemonic power. This event has shifted the direction of the US foreign policy in its counteraction to the non-traditional security threat namely transnational terrorism (non-state actor) and has shaped the decision- making process among the policy makers towards the states that were believed to host the terrorist networks that continues to the present day. President Bush is not an expert in international politics. Therefore, the style of Bush administration in terms of dealing with foreign affairs was fully packed with loyal specialists with the selective criteria including veterans with experience working in his father‟s, Reagan‟s, Ford‟s and Nixon‟s administrations appointed as his advisors (Mitchell, 2005, p. 177). The notable names who were very crucial in decision-making process during the US counterinsurgency effort involving Richard Cheney (Vice President), Colin Powell (Secretary of State), Condoleezza Rice (National Security Advisor and Secretary of State), Donald Rumsfeld (Secretary of Defense) and Paul Wolfowitz (Deputy Secretary of Defense). Prior to the tragedy, the US intelligence had acknowledged about the threat from al Qaeda. It has officially acknowledged the security threat from Osama bin Laden since he was included in the Federal Bureau of Investigation‟s (FBI) Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the 1990‟s for the crimes of bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. However, Bush and his advisors on the National Security Council (NSC) neglected the priority of this issue that their focus was on Iraq

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 14 as a continuation of the Gulf War which his father was unable to overthrow the Hussein (Ba‟ath party) regime. After the tragic loss hit the nation, the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists passed by the Congress on 14th September, 2001 gave power to the President and the state to do whatever it takes for duty of national security beyond its borders with the initial goals of destroying al Qaeda, terrorist networks and the ones who supported them. The administration‟s concentration was on the hunt for the responsible party to the attack in which the USA has clearly been exercising its dominant military power engaging in the efforts of “War on Terrorism” (WoT). This phrase was first mentioned in the President‟s speech on 21st September, 2001 that he addressed “Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated” (Bush, as cited in CNN, 2001). The speech indicates aggressive moves that the government was willing to take in the post 9/11 foreign policy especially towards its justification of the use of force to other sovereign states claiming to ensure the national security. Furthermore, Bush aggressiveness also expanded to other parties when he stated “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” (Bush, as cited in CNN, 2001). The so called “Bush Doctrine”, in its national security concerns, famously refers to features of post 9/11 foreign policy prioritized on state‟s national interests showing the willingness to pursue unilateral military action and also justifying the preemptive act claiming to prevent further security threats of the USA and international community. Instead of diverting their total focus towards the al Qaeda, the issue of Iraq was still lingered on the meeting tables. Rice also addressed the need to combat security threat beyond Afghanistan (Suskind, as cited in Mitchell, 2005, p. 192). Therefore, the door opens to bring Iraq into the picture. Ultimately, Afghanistan and Iraq were the main destinations for the coercive involvement considering that these are the states that supporting and harboring the enemy of the USA and the world. According to Rice on the post 9/11 foreign policy, it is administration‟s sovereign responsibilities within and beyond US borders to encourage democratic state building which is essential to the lasting stability of both Iraq and Afghanistan (Rice, 2008, p. 3). Ottaway (as cited in Papagianni, 2005, p.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 15

747) indicated the intervention strategy to both states as formally occupying first and then attempting to influence the constitution at early stages. Although in both countries, the US had achieved one of its primary task of removing the Taliban and Hussein (Ba‟ath Party) regimes which were accused of harboring terrorism and oppressing its citizens by Bush and his advisors. However, the situation in those war-torn states are still continuingly miserable with violence from the divided fractions and guerilla troops creating insurgents around the town resulting in number of victims piling up until this day. For the economic costs, the US has already spent more than 3.6 trillion dollars and for its post-9/11 WoT foreign policy concentrated in these two countries (Crawford, 2016). It is apparent that the costs in terms of both human (local civilians and American combatants) and financial in the conflictual areas will continue for years to come.

4.1.1 The War in Afghanistan There had been discussion about the rise of al Qaeda and its danger among US foreign policymakers before the 9/11 tragedy but this issue had been neglected due to the concentration on Iraq. Not long after, the evidence gathered pointed out to a terrorist organization namely al Qaeda with Osama bin Laden, one of the top-rank commanders, was believed to be masterminded the attacks. The operation base of al Qaeda was known to be located in the state of Afghanistan and was supportive of the government in power, the Taliban. During the 20th September, 2001 speech, the President condemned the regime for harboring such a group and openly demand them to extradite al Qaeda leaders to the US, destroying every terrorist training camps, sent all terrorists into justice and gave the US full access of terrorist bases or else they would face a war (Bush, as cited in CNN, 2001). Thus, this dialogue shows that Bush was so ready to be coercively engaged in Afghanistan as a reaction from 9/11. However, the Taliban refused to fully cooperate with Washington claiming the need to obtain more solid evidence of bin Laden-9/11 connections and offer to trial him under Islamic court in Afghanistan and later changed to the will to handling him into third country (The Guardian, 2001). The President rejected this request leading to the US-led coalition forces (cooperated with the Afghan Northern Alliance militant forces) invasion of Afghanistan entitled

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 16

“Operation Enduring Freedom” in October 2001 by using military means such as airstrikes, bombings, and combat soldiers to achieve desired purposes which later agreed to be under The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliances in 2003. The initial goals of occupation include arresting the responsible party of 9/11 attacks, overthrowing the Taliban regime that was known to aid terrorist networks and oppressing its own citizen from freedom and liberty and releasing foreign hostages that were unjustly jailed by the Talibans. After the success achieved in ousting the Taliban and destroying al Qaeda, the need to aid in nation build-up with democratic system were defined as a crucial task for the US and international community. NATO officially withdraws its formal combat mission in December 2014 (Al Jazeera, 2016). The war of Afghanistan was first seen as a more proper counterinsurgency act comparing to the case of Iraq because bin Laden and al Qaeda were proven to be behind the attacks and their main safe haven was located in Afghanistan. War became officially unlawful under Article 2, paragraph 4 of the UN Charter with legal mechanism of international law. It means that all member states do not have rights to make war or use armed force against other sovereign states because it is the act of aggressor state that can be threatening to stability (domestic and international). War can only be lawful if being organized in a joint action on behalf of UN to maintain international peace and security because the organization has legitimate action against the aggressor under Article 42. However, UN also provides the exception to the use of force according to the provisions of the Charter. The Article 51 has granted inherent right for states to defend itself from invasion or attack from other states as individual or collective efforts because the UN recognizes right of self-defense for the victim state but the action must be based on proportionality principle. As a result, the UN Charter Article 51 claimant was used by the US for justifying its military occupation of Afghanistan as an act of self-defense responding to the threat to secure its homeland. Even though the US achieved some early success in kicking off Taliban government, hunting down the al Qaeda, and the new Afghan government was appointed. However, the country has experience never-ending chaos, violence and death from several insurgent groups clashing that continues until today. The new central government alone could not have control outside the city of Kabul (Lopez,

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 17

2007, p. 246). This opened the door to re-emergence of the Taliban as an insurgent group in 2003 with the strongholds originally in Southern and Eastern Afghanistan mainly making fortune through opium production and drug trades. As of late August 2016, Taliban has successfully expanded its control towards the five more districts in the province of Kanduz which is located in Northern Afghanistan (Al Jazeera, 2016). These are the prolonged problems making the country so vulnerable causing inability to be permanently withdraws the foreign troops from Afghanistan. Although this invasion was not heavily condemned comparing to the Iraq War in its justification in the first place but the more time US troops stay, the more controversial it gets due to the failure to provide stability and reconstruction to the country. By far, American commitment in Afghanistan is known as the longest war of the US history since its start in 2001 and counting. The remaining US-led NATO mission of post 2014 phrase aims to train Afghan official agents and support financial needs for them to govern on their own in order to provide long-term stability for nation-building process. However, the recent rise of insurgencies in the country has escalating violence making the foreign forces cannot be fully focusing on their initial aims of sustainable development of Afghanistan. Thus, the duty of reconstructing the nation cannot be thoroughly pursued because of the never-ending chaos. The US occupation by military might is a success in demolishing its enemies but the post- Taliban Afghanistan remains violent from rise of nationalist militias throughout the country including the re-grouping of Talibans as insurgents. The US was clearly failed to ensure state‟s stability and security in a nation that consisted of conflicts from several ethnic diversities divided in fractions. The central government is really dependent on foreign aids. Nevertheless, consequence from war reveals ineffectiveness of the US-led international coalition for nation build-up efforts towards sustainable unity, security and stability of the country. This proves that “military success does not necessarily translate into harmony for Afghanistan or political victory for the Bush Administration” (Veit, 2002, p.7). Criticisms derived from the massive number of civilian‟s death in which as of August 2016, the number of civilian casualties increased to more than 31,000 lives (Crawford, 2016). Moreover, natives disliking towards foreign troops has been more apparent as they stay longer. According to Manfredi (2008, p. 25), There is growing

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 18 distrust among local Afghans towards American forces due to the belief that the US is in their country to secure its source of energy. Also, the speculation of US real intentions among the Afghan citizens is actually be an advantage for the native militants (opposition of the central government and foreign allies) such as the Talibans to gain legitimacy from people by claiming its position as nationalist squad to liberate the country from foreigner‟s control. Adding to the trouble, the failed clearance of Taliban and al Qaeda led to their spill over into the neighboring countries such as Iraq and Northern Pakistan respectively that caused wider range of responsibility for the US and the expansion of violence. Up until this day, sustainable peace and harmony is far to be seen and the US commitment is far from over in the state of Afghanistan.

4.1.2 The War in Iraq Iraq has been a focus of US government since the Gulf War days in 1990s. Ever since Bush Jr. had taken the office, there had been discussions about government‟s determination for eliminating Hussein in which seems to be a continuation from the war. Mitchell (2005, p. 192) refers to Bush‟s advisors namely Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz as advocated figures for regime change in Iraq because they firmly believed in the Hussein-al Qaeda links as a threat to the USA especially Wolfowitz who saw Iraq as a greater threat because of its development of WMDs. The President himself during the 2002 State of the Union Address was also expressed his determination towards Iraq when he aggressively shamed Iraq that it “continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror.” (Bush, as cited in CNN, 2002). The speech also mentioned the term “axis of evil” (referring to Iraq, Iran and North Korea) which are the aggressors that “arming to threaten the peace of the world” (Bush, as cited in CNN, 2002). For the Hussein regime, Bush firmly believed that it is the hostile threat to the USA by supporting terrorism and possessing WMDs. Thus, that Iraq War seems to be inevitable because Bush and majority of advisors surrounding him were very confident in their decision to occupy Iraq. The 9/11 incident gave justification of military invasion because the US National Security Doctrine launched in 2002 has expanded the scope not only to

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 19 destroy terrorist hub but also its supports and the justification for the unilateral actions and the pursue of pre-emptive act against the aggressor beyond the US borders. Bush brought the Iraqi issue into the United Nations General Assembly in September 2002 where he was frequently slammed Iraq during his speech. The Security Council responded to Bush‟s motivation by passing resolution 1441. The resolution demanded arms investigation and requirement for Iraqi officials to send report regarding its nuclear development programme in order to gain evidence sensible enough for authorizing the use of force by multilateral parties. However, in November 2002, the Congress passed the resolution namely “The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq” which justified military invasion showing that the administration was so prepared to go to war. Woodward (as cited in Mitchell, 2005, p. 195) stated that by December 2002, the President became impatient with inspection from the UN and decided that the war must be occurred. Iraq War was officially started on March 2003 with the invasion of coalition forces led by the USA. For the Bush administration, the WoT military campaign to Iraq is a preventive action to protect the national security and for humanitarian means which the goal of invasion that officially stated included overthrowing Hussein regime which proved to be hostile to Iraqi citizens and international stability, liberation of local people from the oppressive governance, implementation of democratic system, abolishing WMDs programme, getting rid of terrorism and its supports. Although the US troops were once dispatched on 2011, they had to return again due to the vulnerable status of the town once the military troops withdrawn leading to the spread of several fractions from different ideological groups and guerrilla insurgents throughout the country. Much controversy prevails in the subject of Iraq War especially concerning the violation of international law. Bush administration decided to go to war based on a loose claim of WMDs possession and the accusation of al Qaeda-Hussein linkage that prevails among the neoconservative policymakers who firmly claimed that there was a risk of nuclear weapons would be in terrorist‟s hands and endangered the security of the USA and the international community. The event of 9/11 seems to be used as an excuse for justification of war because the administration had been eyeing on Iraq since long before the tragedy but still could not have consensus about what to do. It

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 20 can be seen as Bush was trying to finish the task of Gulf War days which became his primary concern since the beginning to successfully overthrow Hussein regime. Once again, the claimant of Article 51 in justifying Iraq War had been used by the USA as a victim state using pre-emptive (strike first) strategy as a self-defense act towards an immediate danger. The intervention was not being authorized on behalf of the UN because not enough evidence had been yet gathered but Bush and his coalitions decided to invade anyway. As time progressed, more speculation concerning the justification of this war continuously emerged. In 2004, the then secretary general, Kofi Annan, explicitly commented about the war that “it was not in conformity with the UN charter. From our point of view and from the charter point of view it was illegal" (Annan, as cited in MacAskill& Borger, 2004). Following by the former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, (as cited in Kellner, 2007, p. 639) argued that “claims concerning ties between al Qaeda and the Iraqi regime are completely unproven, a position affirmed by the official 9/11 reports”. More evidence pointed out that the war was caused by wrong allegations when the US Senate Intelligence Committee found out that there is “little or no evidence to back a raft of claims made by the US intelligence community concerning Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction [WMD]” (BBC, 2009). Moreover, the US congressional investigations also concluded that “Iraq had no involvement in what happened on 9/11, which was the initial excuse to invade that hapless country” (Rajwade, 2006, p. 2). Until this day, there is still no effective probe for the claim of nuclear development and 9/11-Iraq relations. The legitimacy of the use of force and its conformity to international law is in question. Hussein is long gone marking the success in overthrowing the “corrupted” regime but hopelessness remains in Iraq. The city was left vulnerable which opened the door for various fractions to peep in including the al Qaeda from Afghanistan. The most recent and gruesome ideological militant group of this day, The Islamic State (IS), claimed its prominence from the fragile status of Iraq to have control in several provinces becoming a new problem that threatening international security. In terms of civilian casualties, the war has caused massive numbers of death which is estimated to be more than 165,000 (Crawford, 2015). The reconstruction and democracy promotion attempt by the US were all failed in which it couldnt even provide safety

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 21 and stability to a country. One can say that consequences from the 2003 occupation are so great that for more than a decade, the recovery of Iraq is still much obscured.

4.2 Films and its Relations to the Post 9/11 US Foreign Policy

Prior to the most famous plane hijacking attacks, it is evident that the American cinematic industry has long been depicting Arabs and the Middle East region with stereotypical lenses. According to Michalek (1989), negative images of these people in Hollywood films have been transformed since their early appearances in the 1920s with the black humour theme and the 1960s with the escalation of Israeli- Palestinian conflicts marked the start of full violent and terror associated with these characters. Thus, before 9/11, Hollywood has already been prejudiced against Arab and Islam but the concept has been altered over the time reflecting the international politics. There are some popular Hollywood films that researcher have an opportunity to briefly reviewed namely The Wind and the Lion (1975), Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Back to the Future (1985), and The Siege (1999) in which the majority of Arabic characters are shown to be either terrorists or threat to the Americans. The major difference spotted is the dislocation of those Arabic characters. Instead of only showing the Westerners visiting the exotic territory, the more recent films started to display the Arabic terrorist threat within American soil. Hence, despite time changes, Hollywood‟s negative glance to the Middle East is firmly persisted. Entertainment industry and government are closely related through the history especially during war times that propaganda films were made to order from the White House. For 9/11, Bush administration‟s attempt was showed when Karl Rove, government‟s advisor, was sent to hold the summit where the representatives from various sectors of American entertainment industry attended in which the goal of this summit was to consider how the concept of WoT could be contributed within the entertainment industry (Dodds, 2008, p.1621). Surely, Bush wanted to redeem American reputations from its questionable interference in other states‟ affairs causing massive casualties and regional instability in which controversies have been continuously raised domestically and internationally.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 22

According to Duncombe and Bleiker (2013, p. 42), the post September 11 is no exception for Hollywood‟s motion picture production representing American politics and political identity in which it provides the powerful visual dimensions and emotional reactions. Films bring out the visual reality of the WoT in unfamiliar regions (Middle East and Southern Asia) that many of its audience has never experience and the lives of state‟s personnel who represents American identity committing to the assigned duties. All five major films selected in this research are related to the consequence of 9/11 terror on the American foreign policy to show how Hollywood narrates and executes the exercise of extraterritorial power in other sovereign states. However, it is not clear whether the films are direct consequence of this action or not because there are no clear indications that there is cooperation between the directors and government. Furthermore, nowadays, directors have more freedom of creativity in order to produce some works with much help from the globalization phenomena that opens up various ways as means for communication. Hollywood cinematic industry is crucial because it symbolizes US hegemony in terms of soft power domination. It can be reached worldwide and received massive popularity in all over the globe and the mainstream genre is one of the easiest to get access to because of the globalization phenomena. As an American cinema, it can represent how the US sees or depicts the world and itself on topic of the WoT. All films chosen for this research claimed that they are based on real events or at least developed their storylines in accordance to the actual situation. Nonetheless, fiction and reality that the films represent may not be an ultimate truth of what is actually happens.

4.2.1 The Hurt Locker (2008) This film relates to Bush post-9/11 foreign policy by depicting and exploring the lives and struggles of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team in Iraq War. By having a wild personality, a newly appointed unit leader and veteran from Afghanistan, Sergeant First Class William James, is very much criticized by his teammates, Sergeant J.T. Sanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge, of being too reckless and careless about safety in their duty of deactivating several bombs hidden around Baghdad. His stubborn actions nearly makes Eldridge being taken as a hostage by the

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 23

Arabic insurgents resulted in Eldridge being sent home immediately due to injury. Few days before the team is discharged from Iraq, once again James and Sanborn nearly lost their lives when they need to help deactivating bombs attached to an innocent Iraqi man but failed to do so. Sanborn is to be very traumatized by this event leading to his emotional breakdown but James seems to be emotionally unaffected. In Sanborn‟s eye, James seems to be not bothered by war and death because he shows no emotional breakdown and not even exciting to return home. Shortly after being discharged, James is shown to be unhappy staying with his family and he goes back to Iraq once again. Wars and bombs become his addiction. Film‟s main purpose is to address the realisticity of war horror. It is Katheryn Bigelow‟s intention to “put the audience into the soldier‟s shoes, into the Humvee, and almost ask them to be the fourth man on the team, and have the experience, what the soldiers experience” (Bigelow, as cited in Thangapandian, 2016). Techniques (camera shots, soundings, and settings) that are being used are one of the keys for its attempt to create realisticity and intense feelings to the audience as if they were there fighting along with soldiers. The realistic image of war is being shown through the use of documentary-like style of filming such as shaky or sudden moves of camera and unstable shots from Sanburn‟s helmet allowing viewers to experience the situation from soldier‟s point of view. Moreover, the sound effects such as grimming background music and sound of officer‟s heavy-breathings through his bomb suit showing his anxiety invoking audience to be really into the scene. The film also provides audience to watch these American officers in duty from Iraqi‟s eye in their houses. Damaged buildings, destroyed towns and Iraqi locals dressed in shabby clothes peeping through balcony to the soldiers are the primary example of scenes are all showing realistic dreadfulness of wartime. In terms of characters, the three members of bomb disposal squad are shown to have a pole opposite personalities in which they react to jeopardy and death in different ways. As a commander, James seems to be drawn to risky situations while Sanborn is a discipline to procedure. Being the youngest, Eldridge is most traumatized one. By narrating through the characters, audience are invited to see struggles, tensions and dilemmas that these people experience in a dreadful landscape fighting for America.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 24

Right from the start, the “war is a drug” phrase appears referring to the protagonist, Sgt. James, and can even be symbolized American foreign policy of relentlessly going to war in Iraq. Although the film has never explicitly comment on the Iraqi occupation but there are underlying assumptions could be made about the film‟s stance on the American foreign policy. It does not imply whether Bush has made a right or wrong decision, it is just stated about countless efforts for the war. James‟ decision of going back in the end of movie, and he is also a veteran from Afghanistan, even though he had finished his rotation shows his addiction to war can represent policy from Bush administration‟s obsession to Iraq. Thinking that the occupation would be untroubled in long term but the result is the endless instability resulting in more and more US troops being sent in the country. Paul (2008) stated that James‟ death-wish-like approach to war while neglecting his responsibilities at home symbolize US focusing on problems abroad meanwhile there is already its own domestic problems that the government cannot deal with. The Hurt Locker attempts to represents the realistic image of war to the audience while the symbolization of the US military occupation in Iraq parallels with characteristics of Sgt. James. Thus, war is a drug both to James and the post 9/11 Bush‟s foreign policy.

4.2.2 Green Zone (2010) A war film narrated on a mission of finding information about Weapons of Mass Destruction programme by Bush Administration in Iraq. The protagonist, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, is determined to complete what he has been ordered without any hesitation and leads his unit to several searches for the lead but they always get no evidence related to Iraq‟s nuclear possession. After facing many failures, he started to openly criticize his government's accusation of WMDs in Iraq. Miller even makes a straight talk in meeting which include some high ranking officers but his attempt ignored except for a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent and expert in Middle East affairs, Martin Brown. Similar to Miller‟s efforts, Brown‟s standpoint of non-WMDs possession and supporting for the US cooperation with the Iraqi army is often neglected on the meeting tables. He recognizes that the only way to hold the country with so much ethnic diversity together is not through the total control of Iraqi‟s political affairs by the USA but through cooperative efforts with

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 25

Iraqi high-ranking officials who have influence over the military. Back in the suspected site, the US army is encountered by a crippled Iraqi local, Freddy, who tells Miller about his sight on a group elite Ba‟ath Party‟s meeting including a top rank military general namely General Mohammed Al-Rawi. Similar to Brown‟s statement, Al-Rawi thinks that negotiation between Iraqi army and the US is best for this situation and war should be the last resort. Thinking that these people would have a clue about WMDs development, Miller and his commands go out after them but only capture a member, Seyyed, whom is later being taken away by another US force. However, his notebook which contains information about the Ba‟ath elite‟s hidings is still in Miller‟s pocket that he later handed it to Freddy during a fight over Seyyed with another officer. During the chaos, Freddy decides to run away causing mistrust among Miller and his unit in which the soldiers later brutally catch an Iraqi local taking a notebook back. It later reveals that Freddy is a veteran who lost his leg from the Iran-Iraq War and did not meant to steal the notebook. He expresses disappointments on the US soldiers making Miller feels guilty and handling him a reward in which he replies “Reward? You think I do this for money?...You don‟t think I do this for me? For my future, for my country, for all these things? Whatever you want here I want more than you want. I want to help my country.” (Freddy, Green Zone, 2010). Ultimately, the American military finds nothing indicated the relationship between Saddam Hussein and nuclear weapons in which Miller eventually writes a journal informing several media that the war is caused and many lives are lost under false premises of the policymakers. Green Zone is a film aims to convey a political statement of the fabricated intelligence of nuclear development in Iraq by the USA using it as an excuse to justify the use of force to another sovereign state through motion pictures. The director, Paul Greengrass, is an advocated anti-Iraq war figure who carried his attitude towards the war into this film which he stated “it was a film made out of my sense of affront and anger. I wanted to say, 'I know what you did.” (Greengrass, as cited in Rose, 2010). The attempt to make fictionalized story to look realistic lies in the technique of shaky camera which gives the feeling of documentary-like style in some scenes. The representation of anti-war sentiment is being presented through characters of Miller, Brown, and Freddy. Although having same ultimate goal of rebuilding Iraq, the

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 26 division of morally right and wrong are within US state officers which one side lies to criticizing the role of USA and another side that seems to be very affirmative in their WMDs intelligence and adhere to White House‟s order. The film shows that Bush administration had made a mistake in Iraq by the continuing use of exercising power and heavily interfered with Iraqi‟s domestic politics such as the order to dissolve the entire Iraqi army which is not the solution. In this, the so called “bad guys” are shown to be with the US state officers and perhaps the overall foreign policy. Strikingly, this film also offers a point of view from the locals themselves to be openly dissing the American efforts in Iraq as shown in Freddy and Al-Rawi‟s long dialogues. The Iraqis in this film actually have a voice to communicate to audience on their viewpoint about the situation in their country that they face every day. Character of Freddy is supposed to represent the struggles of innocent lives being caught in the war that is not favoring both sides of authorities which are the USA and Hussein regime. This allows the innocent civilians to directly communicate with the viewers and making them think about the tragedy of war. Moreover, audiences are expected to root for Chief Miller‟s determination in proving the accusation of Iraqi‟s nuclear development and questioning his government‟s decision on Iraq occupation based on a flawed accusation.

4.2.3 Zero Dark Thirty (2012) The film plot claimed to be based on first-hand accounts of actual events. The director and screenwriter, Katelyn Bigelow and Mark Boal, insisted that the film is a true-based story from their research. It was revealed that they had access to extensive information from the White House, Pentagon, and CIA (Miller, 2012). It starts by displaying the actual audios of the 9/11 chaos from the victims communicated with rescuers and on the phone to say their last words to the love ones. The plot narrated on the CIA‟s long-term determination to find intelligence associated with Osama bin Laden, the most wanted fugitive of the history. The film follows and explores the life as a CIA agent of the protagonist, Maya, who is a rookie assigned to the US embassy in Pakistan for gathering tips related to bin Laden‟s compound started in 2003. Many of the characters in this film such as Maya and Jessica are claimed to be depicted from a real life agents who are assigned for this particular job. CIA‟s strategy of extreme

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 27 interrogation techniques to its al Qaeda‟s related detainees in the black site has been shown a lot. Several prisoners were being tortured by the CIA officers in Pakistan and Afghanistan for some information that can lead to bin Laden‟s hideout. One of Maya‟s closest friends, a fellow CIA officer and chief of base, Jessica, is killed in the 2009 Camp Chapman Attack in Afghanistan by suicide bombing of an al Qaeda- related supporter, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who was invited to give information about bin Laden for twenty-five million dollars exchange from the state officers. Reinforcing to her anger and devastation, another CIA officer revealed that the lead of Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, a crucial courier to bin Laden, whom she has been tracing since the beginning is failed because he has already been long dead according to the interrogation of another detainee. She becomes even more obsessed and stressed in her works determining to find bin Laden and those who are responsible for her friend‟s death. She is able to prove that Abu Ahmed is still alive in which she is succeed in convincing the CIA to trace his cell phone. From her determination, one big safe house in Abbottabad, Pakistan is suspected to have bin Laden inside. Finally she is successfully convinced her organization and the President‟s advisor to authorize the SEALs intrusion into the house in which bin Laden is executed. After the mission is finished, Maya is quietly sobbing alone on the plane heading to unknown destination. Anger of Americans from the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks are being carried by Maya and her CIA team. It is revealed that Maya has been working for the CIA for more than a decade with the only task of finding bin Laden and nothing else. Maya‟s dedication and obsession to execute the “evil” is the trait that makes the audience, especially the US citizens, expected to root for her because she can be the representation of American‟s vengeance over the people responsible for the 9/11 incidents. Real footages and events of terrorists, possibly by al Qaeda, attacks targeting the Westerners in several places including the 2005 London bombings, the 2008 Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing and the 2009 Camp Chapman Attack has been shown alongside the plot of the film. The mix between fact and fiction is apparent when the fictionalized characters and scenes are actively engaged in or participate to those incidents. Since the beginning of the film, enhanced interrogation techniques by the CIA are used against its al Qaeda-related detainees for information

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 28 gathering at the black sites. The technique includes several ways of torturing that affect physically and psychologically such as starvation, waterboarding, humiliation by pants being stripped off in front of a female officer, sleep deprivation for at least 96 hours, wearing a dog collar, forcing to crawl like a dog and stuffed into a small box. The officers has also emotionally expressed that these techniques are greatly affected them too but these acts are continuingly pursued. They also acknowledged the ban on enhanced interrogation techniques (Executive Order 13491-Ensuring Lawful Interrogations) in 2009 while they are watching President Obama‟s interview saying that “America does not torture and I‟m gonna make sure that we don‟t torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America‟s moral stature in the world” (Obama, Zero Dark Thirty, 2012). Maya seems to be uncomfortable watching these activities and her colleague, Dan, requests to go back to the US headquarters because he cannot continue doing these things anymore. This film raised controversy on its representation of enhanced interrogation techniques. With its claim to be based on real events, it can persuade the audience and public opinion to believe that what the film presents is accurate to the fact. However, many US state administrators and some notable senators such as John McCain criticized the film for its wrong depiction of CIA‟s harsh interrogation process in which he stated that torture did not yield to information relating to bin Laden‟s compound and he was sickened by it (Jennings, 2012). A CIA veteran, Jose A. Rodiguez Jr. (2013), also claimed that depiction of torture linkage to intelligence success is inaccurate. The film sparks debate because it leaves the viewers to have judgment about the officer‟s actions. The movie is explicitly neither justifying this act nor against it but it just shows that the CIA does torture its prisoners to get some results. Even though the film also revealed some other techniques that CIA used such as technological advancement in surveillance or the skillful analyses by the agents, the representation of interrogation process seems to receive much more focus. According to Bigelow, her attempt was just to show what she believed is really happening for hunting bin Laden in which she refers to torturing as “I wish it was not part of our history. But it was.” (Bigelow, cited in Goodwin, 2013) The film itself does not endorse torturing the prisoners. It just shows the action of coercive interrogation is being used against the “enemy” of Americans. It is up to audience‟s

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 29 moral judgment on this particular issue about whether it right or wrong. After all, it is upon the viewers‟ point of view on the justification for the act of violation of human rights by the state officers.

4.2.4 Lone Survivor (2013) Adaptation from the autobiography “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10”, co-written by Marcus Luttrell who is the only survival from this operation and a war veteran. According to his interview, the film aims to be true to the book so that it is close reality as much as possible (Luttrell, as cited in by Blackfive, 2012). It relates to Bush‟s post 9/11 foreign policy in leading coalition campaign of WoT because the film depicts real story of the four United States Navy SEALs officersincluding Lieutenant Micheal P. Murphy as the team leader, Marcus Luttrell, Matthew Axelson and Danny Dietz during the failed Operation Red Wings in 2005. After 9/11, the reaction from US government for Afghanistan intervention was aiming to demolish terrorist networks, particularly al Qaeda, and those who harboured them which believed to be Taliban government. The soldiers are on combat mission to locate a top rank Taliban commander, Ahmad Shah. Their walk on the mountains is troubled by failures for radio contacts with the army base. Adding to their difficulties, the team is encountered by local villagers consisted of an elder and two boys which making this operation being exposed leads to their argument about what to do next. Moral dilemma divides the team on whether to kill these people or not in which Luttrell is firmly insisted on discipline to the rule of not killing unarmed civilians even though these locals are suspected to have connection with the Talibans. Lt. Murphy commands to release these people and the team will hike to the top of mountains to get a communication signal to the base to request some aids. However, this decision is proven to be a bad call of risking their lives because the flee captives quickly inform the insurgents. By being discovered, it inevitably leads to gunfights between the four officers and dozens of Taliban forces on the mountain range. The SEALs team is all badly injured because they face such a disadvantageous situation in every way such as being outnumbered in terms of men, weapons, tactics and familiarity to the location. Struggling to get phone

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 30 signal, Lt. Murphy sacrifice his life by climbing to top of the cliff to successfully make the call for rescuing operations which make him being a clear target and shot to death. As the only survival, Luttrell is badly injured and disappointed because of the unsuccess emergency assistance which is resulted in more Navy SEALs deaths. He is later being founded and rescued by a Pashtun villager, Mohammad Gulab, who takes a soldier back to his home and informs the nearest US military base camp immediately. Gulab‟s decision in helping the US officer leads to gunfight between the villagers and Talibans. Finally, the US army comes to save the Pashtuns and Luttrell. Movie ends by paying tribute to the SEALs team and the Afghan villagers stating that it is their code of honor in having duty to safeguard an individual against his enemy at all costs. The film focuses on narrating the lives of this SEALs team during war in Afghanistan and tries to bring the reality of what these US officers encounter during wartime to the viewers. The bonding between four protagonists and viewers are created as the film offers character development by exploring into their personal lives, personalities, and positive vibes of relations between soldiers in the camp through visual presentations and dialogues. The beginning scenes show real footage of SEALs training to make audience realized how much these people have gone through in order to protect the country. There are techniques that are being used to exaggerate the emotions from brutal gunfight scenes such as allowing viewers to see from soldiers‟ ambushing perspective, the slow motion scenes on their death and the sound effects that pick up all details about their desperation to live such as sound of their breath through collapsed lungs. Despite the difficulties they face, the four men are still carrying sense of humor and optimistic attitude towards the situation. Audience is expected to gain intense emotional feelings of sympathy, heroic, and admiration towards the Navy SEALs because the film heavily dramatizes the sacrifices of the soldiers and their vision of the struggles. Determination addressed by these men is another quality that runs throughout the film as shown in several scenes such as Lt. Murphy‟s says farewell to Luttrell to “Never give up the fight” (Murphy, Lone Survivor 2013). The film aims to honor the SEALs team who are not abandoning their moral grounds even though they have to risk their lives during this operation and the

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 31

Pashtun villagers who aided Luttrell. It does not touch upon the politics or foreign policy that caused this war at all. Soldiers here are neither questioning nor criticizing the decision-making procedures behind the war. They are just so determined in pursuing their duty and struggling to be alive. The sense of American patriotism, the clear division between heroes versus villains, and the admiration towards the officers in duty to protect US national security are the main focus of this film.

4.2.5 American Sniper (2014) Directed from the memoir “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History” co-written by Chris Kyle, a protagonist that the viewers are invited to explore his life since prior to join the Navy SEALs, the four tours (about 1000 days) in Iraq until his death after retirement. The title “American Sniper” refers to Kyle who is being nicknamed “Legend” from his striking performance of over 160 confirmed kills. From the beginning, the film hints Kyle‟s inspiration to join the SEALs from the news footage of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya being bombed which al Qaeda and bin Laden were knew to be behind these events then the scene is being cut abruptly to his enlistment for trainings. Bush post- 9/11 assumption of Hussein-al Qaeda relation that leads to the invasion of Iraq appeared in the film when Kyle, during the time of his training, watches the 9/11 World Trade Center footage on TV then the scene quickly changed into his participation in sniper training right before being sent to Iraq war. It can be implied that the several events showing the security threat to the USA inspire him to be a part of American response to those attacks with the latest duty of hunting for al Qaeda‟s key insurgents residing in Iraq namely Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, “The Butcher”, and his Syrian Olympian medalist sniper “Moustafa”. Kyle‟s first deployment in 2003 parallels to the timeline of the beginning of US military occupation in Iraq. His first kills are revealed as Iraqi mother and a boy who grabs a grenade preparing to throw it into the US marines supposed to display the moral dilemma that soldiers face in war zone in order to protect the Americans. His other tours begins shortly after he came back for family which is against his wife‟s wish and almost lead to their separation. Every time that Kyle comes back home, it looks like he is always in the realm of war such as referring to his wife‟s complaint

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 32 about his high blood pressure in which he replies “There‟s a war going on. There are people dying. No one‟s even talking about that. It‟s like it‟s not even happening...I‟m not supposed to be here” (Kyle, American Sniper 2014). The feeling of guilt from the failure to protect his teammates during war is killing him inside making him unable to adjust to the normal life back home. Kyle eventually decided to end his military career in the fourth tour after he successfully executes Moustafa, a sniper who murdered his friends (referred as brothers) which it is Kyle‟s act of revenge for the loved ones. The mission accomplished for him is about killing a sniper who is responsible for his friends‟ death not about merely ending the war. Back home, he is slowly cured from his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and adjusted to the everyday lives. During his therapy, a psychiatrist asked him about the things he wish could not have done at war (referring to his dozen kills) which he answered “the thing that haunts me are all the guys I couldn‟t save” (Kyle, American Sniper 2014). This suggested that his PTSD is not mainly caused by the war itself and the souls that he killed but it is about the feelings of failure in saving the fellow American combatants. The film concludes by showing the actual footage of Kyle‟s funeral in which he is killed by fellow war-traumatized veteran whom he tries to help. This film is about exploring Chris Kyle‟s patriotism and dedication to the unit in his several tours to Iraq. The clear divide between us (Americans) and them (Iraqis) is apparent in which the combat soldiers are supposed to represent the US as a crusader nation trying to rescue the locals from terrorist control meanwhile the local Iraqis are either under terrorist control, suspicious or uncooperative as shown in Kyle‟s attempt to questioning a local family who are caught in the fog of war about the Butcher‟s whereabouts in which he promised them a safety even though the soldiers were act rudely to them when they first met. Another scene that offers clear distinction between the good and evil is on the costumes which the soldiers are battling with a group of terrorists who dressed in all- black attires. In terms of location, parallel images in Iraq and Texas are presented in the rapid scene shifts between these two places throughout the film. It shows the contrast between the chaotic underdeveloped warzone and the modern clam vibe of American everyday life.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 33

The film itself is neither commenting nor touching the role of Bush‟s Iraq occupation policy, its focus is on experience, effect of war trauma, and glorifying on a soldier‟s life. Kyle himself never questions or has a feeling of not belonging in Iraq.He is just so self-determined to his job and his “brothers”. Heroic image of a true patriot is being represented and cherished through the character of Chris Kyle that is expected to invoke the nationalistic feelings upon American viewers.

4.3 Hollywood’s Representation of US Extraterritorial Power and Unfamiliar Locations

The post 9/11 world has imposed the feeling of insecurity among US citizens from the contemporary threat to the USA in which the attack of the World Trade Center and the Pentagons highlighted the focus of foreign policy, public opinion towards terrorism and political turmoil in some states of the Middle East and South Asia regions and the counteraction efforts from the Western hemisphere leading by the USA. Initial announced goals including destroying terrorist hubs, arresting the responsible parties to the attacks, overthrowing regimes that sponsored these networks and dismantling nuclear developments. After that, the US-led coalition efforts will help rebuild those nations to a true sustainable democracy. The Bush administration declared the use of force in Afghanistan, Iraq, and anywhere else that has potential to harbour terrorism as a responsive method of the September 11. The foreign policy itself especially Iraq reflects the US as a great power in international society because it was openly condemned by many such as France and the UN but there is nothing done to successfully prevent the exercise of power. It is clear that other than the security and humanitarian reasons, the US wanted to expand its influence and secure its energy security over the regions. Popular Hollywood production films of this genre have well responded to these government policies and it can also be a representation of how Americans see the world and its interventionist role through the medium of popular culture. The American cinematic industry represents the extraterritorial power as a hegemonic nation uses its superior status in international arena to interfere in those states for pursuing the national interests abroad when it comes to producing films having

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 34 reference from WoT. Majority of the films presents the US as a helper, hero, and savior coming to rescue local people from devastation even though the violent method is needed to be pursued but it is merely for good intentions. Western supremacists role of the US over the foreign territories and natives is obvious as shown many times that American officers‟ approach to the natives are often rude or violent at some point. The five films are narrated mainly through state agents being deployed to face dangerous situation especially in the Afghanistan and Iraq where the US interference with the domestic affairs is apparent. From the beginning, viewers (despite they are non-Americans) are expected to root for the US and its agents because of the character development that creates connections and bonds between the senders and receivers which films act as channel to send messages. The audience is observing these officers lives, experiences, and personalities in which the feelings of attachment towards these characters are formed. These narrators are made to be very determining in their duty for the sake of American interests and security that the audience are expected to root for them. All of these films present American protagonists with a heroic image who must experience the most difficult situation a man can possibly face. The pro-American stance on characters is obvious when the endings of all films in this research show the appreciation for the US officers. Despite the open criticisms of the US top-rank officials who engaged in commanding Iraqi affairs in the movie Green Zone, the heroic quality is still being expressed in some other pole opposite American officers, such as Chief Miller, as fair and just figures. After all, the quality of goodness is embedded within the US state agents. Their heroism is being heavily expressed and dramatized through the expression of characters who must inevitably confront with extreme stress from their duty in the dreadful and dangerous environment. The WoT version of heroism is not something sleek, elegant or polite like the traditional superheroes in the US popular culture. These state agents are dirty, tired, rude, under extreme stress and struggling from the situations they have experienced psychologically and physically which looks more human-like and relatable in the real life. The harsh environment forces them to pursue the grey morality area that the distinction between a good and bad action seems to be ambivalent. Thus, a more realistic version of statesmen in chaotic circumstances is being presented as imperfect individuals striving to complete their mission for the

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 35 good of Americans. All of the protagonists in the films presented in this research are heroes, harsh, and imperfect ones who sometimes commit seemingly wrong or bad decisions. Their sacrifice, bravery, and patriotism are the reasons that make audience admired them. The films act as a medium to bring out the situation that viewers may not have a chance to experience by themselves into motion pictures. Therefore, the film narratives visualize the role of those who sacrifice for the country to make viewers feel more attached to them. Moreover, by basing the storyline in accordance to the real events or claiming to produce from the actual accounts, it can make viewers especially Americans who all live in post 9/11 world feel related or affiliated to the film‟s agenda. This genre of content carrying politics of the time is not something that looks supernatural or unreachable, it looks real. When it comes to constructing the image of Middle East and South Asia regions in terms of locations, Hollywood is only showing the violent side of the town and neglecting to present other dimensions. Post 9/11 period seems to offer the image of war and danger in these regions. The use of contrast image to show clear differentiation between the domestic, which audience are supposed to favor, and the foreign “other” dominates the WoT films. Even before the 9/11 incident, the association of “other” with the East especially the radical form of Islam has been fashionable since the end of Cold War (Alford, 2008, p. 149). Consistently, Dodds (1993, p. 72) pointed out that the foreign policy of the state itself differentiate the domestic from the other. Thus, this is also dominant in popular culture and media that many representations provide clear distinction of “us”, the good, and “them”, the evil. According to Chomsky (cited in Alford, 2008, p. 149), the “otherness” imposed by the US reflects its dominant ideology over the inferior ones. Films offer a contrast image of the USA and the locations where the US forces are stationed namely Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq through the shift of scenes. The imagery representation of the USA is expressed both in direct and indirect implications. American Sniper offers a direct implication contrasted by relentlessly showing the live of Chris Kyle both in at war and home. In Iraq, the city of Fallujah is being presented as decayed and unstructured. Homes and apartments look ruined and shabby from war. The grimmed town has no Iraqi officers, just the US soldiers and the insurgents in domination always shooting. People who refuse to move out live in

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 36 fear and anxiety mostly hiding in their house. On the other hand, Texas looks so calm and chill. Americans are able to move around the town freely and having outdoor activities. Another style of variation is between the image of US official stations and the city outside. The US operational base camps are seen as calm, arranged, ordered and technological advanced while the town outside looks chaos and uncivilized. When the soldiers are back from the chaotic environment outside, the US base gives feelings of peace and security. The US embassy where CIA office is located in Pakistan is very modern, secured and providing various technological tools for the CIA to locate bin Laden. In contrast, the city of Pakistan looks very hectic and chaotic. In Green Zone, Miller visits the Republican Palace which used to be belong to Hussein but now becomes entertainment site for the US officers meanwhile the Iraqi people in town do not even have water, food, and electricity. This contrast of image can represent the modernity and civilization which belongs to the Western hemisphere leading by the USA. On the contrary, the uncivilized, undeveloped, disturbance and insecurity are the type of qualities imposed within the Middle East and South Asia locations where the only place of civilization, progress, and order is being placed in the US stations. Inevitably, this genre of film that the US has expanded its hegemonic power through the intervention by force must depict or at least included the local people who are caught in between war and insurgency within the frames. However, Hollywood seems to be generalized and simplified the characteristics of these locals. The lifestyles and characters of these natives as either being with the terrorists, being stuck in their houses due to violent situations in the town or making chaos when gathered in large groups. While in reality, there are other sides of people in the society that still do not being represented in American cinema. These kinds of films lack of representation of diversity and variety of citizens. The films also offer the clear divide between the US agents and local people. Although these two groups encounter in daily basis, they seems to be rarely communicate. The interaction between these two groups of people are more likely in violent or hectic ways such as the protest of Iraqi civilians living nearby the US inspection site of nuclear development demand for electricity and water which results in the soldiers forcefully taken them down in Green Zone. They are totally alienated to each other. While officers are on duty on the roads, these locals

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 37 would observe these activities by peeping through the balcony or staring from the rooftops in which they live in a hostile situation where danger and violence force them not leave their residence. Opinion of the locals towards the US intervention is very rarely addressed. Therefore, it is a very few chance that viewers can clearly acknowledged about their point of view about the whole situation in which only Green Zone that allows audience to feel their struggle mainly through Freddy‟s dialogues whereas The Hurt Locker slightly provides audience the eye views from the Iraqis in their house staring at the officers. They take the supporting role and being just a minor element in the scenes since the focus is only upon narration of the US servicemen. On the contrary, the US officers are shown to be not attempted to integrate into the society though they are deployed in this area for quite some time. They rarely stay outside their base on their free time due to safety reasons. Their viewpoints of the local people are often mysterious, unfaithful, curious, unreliable, and uncooperative at least from their first encounter. Suspicion comes from the notion of believing that the locals are involved with the state‟s enemy in some way. The characteristics of mistrust by the state agents towards the locals who are trying to help with a good will are evident in Lone Survivor and Green Zone. Soldiers totally feel doubtful towards these people. Marcus Luttrell even threatened to blow everybody up if the Pashtuns try to harm him without knowing that the film itself has already persuade the viewers to be rooting for these villagers when there is a scene of these people fighting against the Talibans at the beginning. Officers‟ treatment of local civilians is revealed to be harsh and brutal even if these people are the innocent ones. American Sniper is shown to treat an Iraqi family with disrespect manner in their search attempts. The superiority status of Westerners is one of the typical notions that is apparent in the Hollywood popular cinema when representing the US intervention on the subject of the WoT. Moreover, Hollywood tends to classify the good and morally right locals as being sided with the USA. At least, there is one local civilian or state agent who is part of the success of the US officers. Without their presence, none of the goodness that protagonists try to do will not happen and the duty in these unfamiliar locations will not be accomplished. These people play critical role in the statesmen decision-

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 38 making procedures in either being very helpful leading to the triumph of the US officers or being very affiliated that it psychologically affects the protagonists. The films also show that heroic quality lies among the local people as well although it is an effort from minority group of people. The ones who are being depicted with admiration and carrying moral principle are the dedicated Muslim citizens who risk their lives to support the American troops. Patriotism and nationalistic characteristics are embedded with characters that sided with the USA. The clear examples of Lone Survivor and Green Zone reveal the dedication of local citizens who help supporting the Americans. In Lone Survivor, Luttrell is rescued and treated by Pashtun villagers to safety. Even though these people are threatened to be killed by the Talibans if they do not hand over an American soldier, the Pashtuns are adhered to their virtue of the will to protect and safeguard a person against his enemy (Lone Survivor, 2013). The film also pays tribute to the Pashtuns who are still living in the remote Afghan mountain fighting against the insurgents, the same enemy of the US. For Green Zone, though it is a movie that criticizes motives behind Iraq war of the Bush administrations, the character of Freddy is still being very helpful and able to persuade the protagonist, Chief Miller, to realize the wrongful incentives of the Iraqi occupation. Freddy‟s heroism is also being narrated from his point of view in which he defines his actions as the way to help his country. He is an important narrator that speaks for the Iraqis during the fog of war. The Hurt Locker presents the development of relationship between a soldier, Sgt. James, and an Iraqi boy selling DVDs inside the US base camp who called himself as “Beckham”. James‟ discovery of a “human bomb”, a detonator being implanted inside a corpse, which he believes that a body belongs to Beckham making him suffers his way of emotional breakdown as shown in his determination in finding who is behind the action even if he needs to violate the rule. Overall, Hollywood‟s representation of morally right locals is always beside the Americans. They also play vital role for the success of officers in duty and helping these state agents to get through their time in the hostile environment.

4.4 Common Styles of Narration Shared in Hollywood’s War on Terror Films

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 39

In accordance to political phenomena, Hollywood industry has also been responsive to the event of September 11 and explored into the topic of WoT in their own ways. The films chosen for this research, although they are all differs in the messages trying to communicate with its viewers and its political implications, they shared some common narrative styles that could be interpreted as shown below.

4.4.1 Ambiguity Often, these genres of films have expressed some ambiguity either through the characters or leaving some uncertain feelings on the viewers and letting them have judgment upon the issue by themselves. Ambiguity as shown in the protagonist often lies to the moral dilemma that they experienced. State officers living in the dreadful environment of rogue states must encounter the ambiguous situations that challenge their decision-making process in order to protect state‟s national interests and security. For instance, the EOD officers in The Hurt Locker and the Navy SEALs in Lone Survivor are confused about whether to kill the unarmed local civilians or not which all lead to tragic results. In The Hurt Locker, Eldridge‟s suspicion upon an Iraqi man holding a cellphone that he decides not to shoot resulting in explosion which kills his former team leader. He is also emotionally affected by this decision. For the SEALs in Lone Survivor, if they decide to kill the goat herders (an elder and two boys), the story might not result in tragic end. They could have a chance not to be surrounded by Taliban insurgents and able to call their base for rescue. Even Luttrell, who firmly insisted for not executing these locals later admitted that he had made a wrong decision. From this, the audiences are expected to sympathize and praise these officers in their disciplinary to morality and principle. Another element of ambiguous content of the film tends to produce the uncertain feelings among viewers challenging their judgments. Green Zone (2010) allows the Iraqi civilians to have a chance to emotionally express their thought about the unrest. It offers an untypical dimension in terms of presenting that the USA has really done a wrong move in Iraq. Here, the victims are presented to be the local people who are caught in the war. The one who commits the seemingly wrong acts is

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 40 among the US administrators themselves that reason behind the interventionist role is for the WMDs development in which a unit of US soldiers themselves have proven that accusation of Hussein‟s nuclear possession is a hoax. Meanwhile, the Iraqi army that is dissolved by the US authority is also being displayed in violent conflict against the US forces. However, the viewers are expected to be uncertain about deciding what they need to root for because the two sides clashing can be assumed to be both unfavorable. Zero Dark Thirty depicts the enhanced interrogation techniques used by CIA agents. By watching it, the film leaves the uncertainty about what to feel on the issue of human rights abuse by US state agency against the people associated with al Qaeda in order to gain intelligence about bin Laden. Lastly, American Sniper shows moral dilemma of Kyle in shooting a boy who holds a grenade in order to save the whole US unit. It leaves the viewers to think whether it is justified or not if the violation of the righteous virtue is made against the supposed “enemy of the state”.

4.4.2 Sense of American Patriotism Without any doubt, these types of movies try to evoke the sense of American patriotism and nationalism among the audience especially within the domestic market. The 9/11 incidents have traumatized the whole country so much that even the Hollywood industry is not touching upon this subject on its storylines. From 2005 onwards, the cinematic industry is ready to project the post 9/11 reaction by the state which represents the state officers as protagonists who have the mission “out there” in the Middle East region. Audience is able to explore their lives through character development, to see what they see in dangerous situation and to feel the tension that they experience. Dodds (2008, p. 1629) noted that it is significant that Americans were urged by their president, political leaders, and the popular media to support the country and lionised particular types of men such as soldiers and firefighters. As a result, production of popular Hollywood motion pictures refers to the statesmen in duty somewhere in the Middle Eastern and South Asian states induce the American patriotic feelings after watching this kind of films. Even if Green Zone is explicitly criticizing the motives for Iraq War by the Bush administration, the audience is still expected to admire the soldiers like Chief Miller who is so

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 41 determined to stand for the righteous reasons despite that they have to work under the flawed system. True Americanism quality runs through Lone Survivor and American Sniper that clearly aim to honor the soldiers for their sacrifice to protect the US national security through heavy dramatization of the protagonists, the claim for true to the actual event of the plot, the use of background music, a clear division of good versus villain and the revelation of actual footages of these heroic figures in the end of movie. The popular cinema of Hollywood celebrates and promotes bravery, sacrifices and determination of the state officers who are out facing struggles to protect the homeland. These protagonists represent the very definition of true Americans that their actions should invoke the sense of proud, patriotism and nationalism among the viewers especially American citizens.

4.5 Hollywood’s Criticism on the Justification of the Use of Force

Most films selected in this research are neither explicitly criticizing nor commenting on the US foreign policy. Out of five films, only Green Zone shows the disappointment of states servicemen deployed in Iraq upon the system and policy through the expressions of Chief Miller who is so determined to prove that his government has made a mistake in occupying Iraq. His idealistic personality goes so far that he refuses to obey the authority that almost cost him his life by willing to be against to what he thinks a flawed system. The film comments on the policymakers‟ false claim of WMDs possession of Hussein and Ba‟ath Party and the deployment of dozens of soldiers who risk their lives without even obtaining universally acceptable evidence. Moreover, the point of view and hardship of Iraqi civilians are overtly expressed by the characters of Freddy who is not afraid to let Miller and the audience know about what it is like to be caught in between war which is very unusual in this kind of films since no other films in this research allow such a spotlight to the innocent civilians. It embedded the imperialist role to the US foreign policy in Iraq mainly for its oil interests. Thus, Green Zone unjustified the Iraq War by condemning directly on the policy, political motives, state administrators, and manipulation of mass media by high ranking US officials in showing the made-up accusations to persuade public opinion to justify this war. Thus, the war is an unjustified action by

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 42 the US based on a false acclamation by the Bush administration leading to the endless disparity in Iraq. The four remaining films are not explicitly saying anything about the justification of wars or the foreign policy itself. Both of Bigelow‟s films, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, have shown some questionable acts by the US state agents but none of the narrators overtly comment on the decisions that send them there. In the political sense, it can be implied that one film is depicting on the deployment of soldiers to Iraq for countless times while the other shows the enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA. Director‟s intention is to bring reality into the form of motion pictures in presenting what has really been happening out there and showing thing as it is without clear attempt to persuade the viewers into any political agenda because none of the characters in both films openly criticize their authority about the legitimacy of US actions. They are just so dedicated to complete their orders. Therefore, it is up to viewer‟s point of view to make their own political judgment. Lone Survivor and American Sniper are just focusing on glorifying the soldiers and totally do not criticize the policy behind intervention. By claiming reference from real life, officers‟ autobiography and revealing actual photograph of soldiers, it makes viewers to be emotionally engaged into the story. Furthermore, character developments that these films offer through exploration of their lives, personalities and relationships between these servicemen are also the attempts to make audience really drawn to these men. Narrators here are expected to be admired for their bravery without any question from their dedication and discipline to the orders. Storylines like this aim to convince the audience to tribute for soldiers‟ sacrifice for America in fighting against the evil. None of the them are complaining about the authority that sends them there, only fussing about how unfortunate they are when encountered desperate situations but never give up or leave their friends behind. The two movies do not touch upon political implications or agenda. All that can be observed here is the glorification of the true American heroes. Interestingly, out of all films in this research, these two earn the most financial prosperity in terms of domestic income. Up to this day, Lone Survivor has already grossed about 125 million dollars while American Sniper has received enormous success of more than

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 43

350 million dollars (Box Office Mojo, 2016). When it comes to this type of films, these numbers can indicate that domestic viewers tend to favor movies that the majority portion of the films focus on cherishing American bravery. In short, Green Zone clearly makes a statement that it is wrong going into Iraq. The US is there because of oil and political interests that leads to the death of many American soldiers and local peoples. The failed mission of disarming the country of nuclear weapons proves that the decision makers only have conspiracy theory, not solid evidence but the invasion of Iraq continues anyway. However, the four remaining films are very light on touching the political motives behind the foreign policy that send people to danger. The focuses are on American protagonists and the duty they are being assigned.

4.6 Alternative productions: Post 9/11 Documentary Films

Researcher attempted to find some other categories of films that might reveal some new aspects in style and representation. Therefore, the documentary films that have reference to post 9/11 Bush‟s interventionist foreign policy are chosen to be considered because those movies give some wider and different perspectives comparing to the popular Hollywood. Researcher has observed three following films: 1) Korengal (2014), 2) The Kill Team (2013) and 3) Only the Dead (2015). Korengal is an American documentary film that explores the lives of American soldiers in Korengal valley of Afghanistan. It narrates the interviews of actual officers stationed on the mountain range along with showing footages of real events captured on camera. It totally focuses on soldier‟s psychological state of mind of their experience living in Korengal which they had to deal with plenty of situations ranging from confronting with the Talibans, variety of relationships with local people, facing with danger in the base camp, dealing with the loss of fellow teammates and going through diverse emotional difficulties. The Kill Team depicts on a group of American soldiers from the Afghanistan war who were on trial for committing the murders of innocent Afghans for fun. The documentary runs by showing several interviews from some of the members together with exploring the life of Private Winfield while he prepared for going to the court.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 44

Winfield was revealed to be bullied by his peers and never actually joined the killing activities. However, he was convicted for failure of stopping those actions and alerting the authorities. The film presents lots of emotional tensions from feelings of guilt, remorse, and dilemma through the soldiers and Winfield‟s family in revealing the situations they have experienced. Only the Dead is directed by an Australian journalist, Micheal Ware, who expressed his experience in Iraq during the 2003 war. The film shows two sides of the conflict because Ware was chosen by a guerilla group leading by Abu Musab Al- Zarqawi to film them during their preparations and attacks against American‟s control and later, he also joined the US troops in the fight against Zarqawi. Techniques used to narrate the whole length of film are video footages and voice-over described by the journalist himself which the feelings of stress, tension, anxiety, and danger are presented. Disturbing images of war horror are openly expressed throughout the film. Audience is invited to explore on variety of representations of Americans and local people in wars by documentary films. The narration style is mostly associated with real footages and experiences from those who engaged in wars. Documentaries offer much more diversity in displaying characteristics of war. In individual level, the distinction of righteous actions is not clearly divided. The US troops were not only associated with positivity or grey morality. They also committed some crimes or disturbing acts against local citizens. On the other hand, same thing applied to the locals. They can either be very helpful and cooperative or lethal to the Americans. In terms of soldier's‟ viewpoint towards local people, it was not straightly full of hatred or disrespect. American officers were certainly had distrust in the villagers but they also offered some understanding manners towards those people. For locational representations, images ranging from horror of war and gruesome killings to peaceful cooperation and beautiful landscapes are constantly observable throughout the length of movies. Thus, comparing to Hollywood, documentaries provide much more perspectives of wars by not only trying to convey one straightforward agenda but rather mixed feelings. It certainly does have overwhelming emotional effects on its realness that is transferred by actual experiences. However, the lack of drama, special effects and budget, these post 9/11 documentary films cannot capture the heart of the mass unlike those of popular Hollywood productions.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 45

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusions

In conclusion, the Hollywood industry has always been interactive with politics for decades. In the past, especially the time of national crisis, government used mainstream media in order to communicate with its citizens to believe and behave in accordance to its agenda. However, as process of globalization taking place, wider perspective in approaching information has been available for the mass. Therefore, the filming industry also transforms itself to produce more varieties of theme and message embedded within the movie. Nowadays, there are so much diverse contents of political films resulting from freedom of speech of the media. Hollywood has already had stereotypical view towards the Middle East since pre-9/11 era which the Arab people were mostly represented with negative image that continue over the time. When it comes to the storyline of post 9/11 duty especially in Afghanistan and Iraq, the American cinematic industry does have a role in shaping viewer‟s visual knowledge on the unfamiliarity that very few can personally experience. Hollywood brings the scene of distant locations, populations and international events coming to life on screen for its worldwide audience. In representing politics, the American cinema has tendency to narrate its own interventionist foreign policy started by the Bush administration as a hegemon using its extraterritorial power for national interests and humanitarian assistance. These types of movies focus on glorifying and honoring the US servicemen for their bravery and sacrifice for the country in fighting against the terror. They also commit some questionable actions but in the end, the movies would persuade viewers to have admiration for these men. In terms of representing the so called “other” including foreign places and populations where these US officers encounter on everyday duty, Hollywood imposed clear division of “us” and “other” in terms of representing unfamiliar has dominated these productions. Those distant territories are embedded with the feeling of danger, bewildered, disorganized, hectic and violent meanwhile the lack of variety in its presentations on characters of natives are also prominent. These people are

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 46 veryunderrepresented because very limited airtime is provided for them, so viewers are merely visualized the narrow perspectives by Hollywood‟s narration. Surprisingly, despite the controversial foreign policy, popular Hollywood films mostly ignore to address politics and actions by the US government unlike other types of prominent media. Most of the films in this research are the mirror of what the government wants the public to know when it comes to imagining the missions in the desert. Only Green Zone criticizes the motives, politics and policymakers behind the Iraq Warwhile the four remaining films are showing the one-sided representation concentrated on American commitment and individual‟s virtue. On the other hand, documentary films provide some different perspective comparing to the popular cinema‟s by offering much more diversities in depicting war-torn situations. Thus, the overall American popular cinematic industry is being biased in its representation by clearly having prejudice towards the different cultures. The “other” is being very generalized and simplified into few features. The story from their set of eyes have been rarely addressed and recognized in popular cinema and mainstream entertainment industry. In reality, most of these locals are the ones who are devastated by the wars they did not create. Sadly, these people not only have to experience the seem-to-be endless tragedy but also have to suffer from identity reputation constructed by world‟s number one filming industry.

5.2 Recommendations

Certainly, the messages from this research are not aiming to attract filming producers or Hollywood industry. However, the recommendation can be made as a contribution in developing further studies in the same field among fellow researchers or anyone who are interested in expanding their perspectives regarding the relevance between the post 9/11 foreign policy and the entertainment industry. The popular films have certainly been educated the mass about the Middle East and Southern Asia especially after September 11 that many Americans have acknowledged the Eastern world through construction of motion pictures. However, American popular cinematic industry does not offer complexity in characteristic representation of exotic places and locals. The lack of diversity and representation by popular Hollywood films can constrain one‟s visions about the WoT in cultural dimension.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 47

Varieties of genres and sources of films are needed in order to open up one‟s imagination about the concept of post 9/11 American foreign policy and also the picture of exotic places or natives. Aside of American cinematic popular genre, there are such things like documentary films, independent films, and foreign productions that can contain some other elements that Hollywood does not pay an attention to. For example, the researcher has watched only few documentary films but they have plenty of dimensions of wars that most audience might not have acknowledged or underrepresented and are unveiled in a form of motion pictures. Hollywood popular genre is not the only choice of cinematic industry. One should consume various different types of films in order to have a better and wider viewpoint of the situations or to see things in the other way round. Apart from filming industry, other types of media from different sources and origins can all contribute to further understanding of the mass in gaining wider perspectives. Internet and social media become powerful tools of receiving and spreading information for people all over the world. Thus, the oversimplified visions of post 9/11 American foreign policy presented by popular Hollywood industry should not be the only dominating cultural source that one consumes whether for educational or entertainment purposes.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 48

REFERENCES

Books and Book Articles

1. Baylis, J., Smith, S., & Owens, P. (2014). The globalization of world politics: An introduction to International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2. Caso, F., & Hamilton, C. (Ed.). (2015). Popular culture and world politics: Theories, methods, pedagogies. Bristol: E-International Relations Publishing. 3. Dodds, K. J., & Atkinson, D. (Ed.). (2000). Geopolitical traditions: A century of geopolitical thought. London: Routledge. 4. Dodds, K. J. (2005). Global geopolitics: A critical introduction. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. 5. Franklin, D. P. (2006). Politics and film: The political culture of film in the United States. The United States of America: Rowman& Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 6. Gardels, N., &Medavoy, M. (2009). American idol after Iraq: Competing for hearts and minds in the global media age. The United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing. 7. Gregg, R. W. (1998). International Relations on film.The United States of America: Lynne Reinner Publishers, Inc. 8. Khatib, L. (2006). Filming the modern Middle East: Politics in the cinemas of Hollywood and the Arab world.Cornwall: I.B. Tauris. 9. Mitchell, D. (2005). Making foreign policy: Presidential management of the decision-making process. Wiltshire: Ashgate Publishing Limited 10. Nye, J. S., Jr., & Welch, D. A. (2013). Understanding global conflict and cooperation: an introduction to theory and history. United States of America: Pearson Education. 11. Power, M., &Crampton, A. (2007). Cinema and popular geo-politics. New York: Routledge. 12. Scott, I. (2000). American politics in Hollywood film.Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd. 13. Shaheen, J. G. (2008). Reel bad Arabs: How Hollywood vilifies a people. Massachusetts: Olive Branch Press.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 49

14. Wheeler, M. (2006). Hollywood politics and society.London: British Film Institute.

Journal Articles

1. Ahmed, A. (2002). Hello Hollywood: Your images affect Muslims everywhere. New Perspectives Quarterly, 19(2), 73-75. 2. Alford, M. (2009). A propaganda model for Hollywood.Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 6(2), 144-156. 3. Bacevich, A. J. (2007). The War on Terror properly understood. World Policy Journal, 24(1), 59-60. 4. Boyle, M. J. (2008). The War on Terror in American grand strategy.International Affairs, 84(2), 191-209. 5. Dittmer, J. (2005). Captain America‟s Empire: Reflections on identity, popular culture, and post-9/11 geopolitics. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 95(3), 626-643. 6. Dodds, K. J. (1993). Geopolitics, experts and the making of foreign policy.Area, 25(1), 70-74. 7. Dodds, K. J. (2008). Hollywood and the popular geopolitics of the War on Terror.Third World Quarterly, 29(8), 1621-1637. 8. Jones, D. M., & Smith, M. L. R. (2016). The rise of dark Americana: Depicting the “War on Terror” on-screen. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 39(1), 1- 18. 9. Kellner, D. (2007). Bushspeak and the politics of lying: Presidential rhetoric in the "War on Terror". Presidential Studies Quarterly, 37(4), 622-645. 10. Kumar, D., &Kundnani, A. (2014). Imagining national security: The CIA, Hollywood, and the War on Terror. Democratic Communiqu , 26(2), 72-83. 11. Leaman, G. (2004). Iraq, American empire, and the War on Terrorism. Metaphilosophy, 35(3), 234-248. 12. Lopez, A. M. (2007). Engaging or withdrawing, winning or losing? The contradictions of counterinsurgency policy in Afghanistan and Iraq. Third World Quarterly, 28(2), 245-260.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 50

13. Manfredi, F. (2008). Rethinking U.S. policy in Afghanistan.World Policy Journal, 25(4), 23-30. 14. Michalek, L. (1989). The Arab in American Cinema: A century of Otherness. Cineaste, 17(1), 3-9. 15. Papagianni, K. (2005). Transitional politics in Afghanistan and Iraq: Inclusion, consultation, and public participation. Development in Practice, 15(6), 747- 759. 16. Rajwade, A. V. (2006). Bush's War on Terror.Economic and Political Weekly, 41(47), 4863-4865. 17. Rice, C. (2008). Rethinking the national interest: American realism for a new world.Foreign Affairs, 87(4), 2-14, 16-26. 18. Riegler, T. (2014). “Mirroring Terror”: The impact of 9/11 on Hollywood cinema.Imaginations Journal, 5(2), 103-119. 19. Smith, T. (2009). Afghanistan and the War on Terror.AQ: Australian Quarterly, 81(3), 4-10, 40. 20. Mamadouh, V., Tuathail, G. O., Hyndman, J., MacDonald, F., Gilbert, E., Jones, L., Sage, D. (2010). New directions in critical geopolitics: An introduction. GeoJournal, 75(4), 315-325. 21. Veit, R. (2002). Afghanistan: War on Terror / war in error?.AQ: Australian Quarterly, 74(4), 7-11, 40. 22. Wang, N. (2013). The currency of fantasy: Discourses of popular culture in International Relations.International Studies: Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal, 15(1), 21-33. DOI: 10.2478/ipcj‐2013‐0002 23. Zain, O. F. (2006). Afghanistan: From conflict to conflict. Pakistan Horizon, 59(1), 79-86.

Electronic Media

1. Acosta, J., & Diamond, J. (2015, October 15). Obama again delays Afghanistan troop drawdown. CNN.Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/15/politics/afghanistan-troops-obama/

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 51

2. Al Jazeera. (2004, November 1). Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech.Al Jazeera. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html 3. Al Jazeera. (2016, August 21). Taliban seizes Khanabad in Afghanistan's Kunduz. Al Jazeera. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/taliban- seizes-khanabad-afghanistan-kunduz-160820074048659.html 4. BBC. (2009, November 24). How the US has investigated the Iraq war. BBC. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8376977.stm 5. Blackfive. (2012, June 13). Review & interview: Marcus Luttrell‟s “service: a navy SEAL at war [Web blog message]. Retrieved from http://www.blackfive.net/main/2012/06/review-interview-marcus-luttrells-service-a- navy-seal-at-war.html 6. Box Office Mojo. (2016). American Sniper (2014). Retrieved from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=americansniper.htm 7. Box Office Mojo. (2016). Lone Survivor (2013). Retrieved from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=lonesurvivor.htm 8. Bradshaw, P. (2009, August 28). The Hurt Locker review.The Guardian.Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/aug/28/the-hurt- locker-review 9. Calvert, L. S. (2010, June). Green Zone and the struggle for truth in political filmmaking. Off Screen, 14(6). Retrieved from http://offscreen.com/view/green_zone 10. Cbsnews.com. (2016). Terrorism in movies, pre- and post-9/11.CBS News. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/terrorism-in-movies-pre- and-post-9-11/ 11. CNN. (2002, January 29). Bush State of the Union address.CNN. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/01/29/bush.speech.txt/ 12. Congress.gov. (2001, September 14). S.J.Res.23 - Authorization for Use of Military Force. Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/senate- joint-resolution/23/text/enr 13. Collin, R. (2015, February 19). American Sniper: „Clint hits the target‟. The Telegraph.Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/american-sniper/review/

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 52

14. Crawford, N. C. (2015, April). Iraqi civilians.Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.Retrieved from http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/iraqi 15. Crawford, N. C. (2016, August). Afghan civilians.Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.Retrieved from http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/afghan 16. D‟ Addario. (2013, March 20). Ten years of Iraq War films: Why audiences shunned movies about Mideast. Salon. Retrieved from http://www.salon.com/2013/03/19/ten_years_of_iraq_war_films_why_audiences_shu nned_movies_about_mideast/ 17. Ebert, R. (2010, March 10). Green Zone movie review & film summary [Web blog message]. Retrieved from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/green-zone-2010 18. Eig, J. (2015). American Sniper: The danger in always being right. Huffingtonpost. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-eig/american- sniper-the-dange_b_6536182.html 19. Essays, UK. (2013, November).The Hurt Locker Analysis Film Studies Essay. Retrieved From https://www.ukessays.com/essays/film-studies/the-hurt-locker-analysis-film- studies-essay.php?cref=1 20. Falk, R. (2015, January 29). What too many Americans don‟t see when they watch „American Sniper‟.Commondreams.Retrieved from http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/29/what-too-many-americans-dont- see-when-they-watch-american-sniper 21. Foundas, S. (2015, January). Clint Eastwood‟s walking wounded: From „Dirty Harry‟ to „American Sniper‟. Variety. Retrieved from http://variety.com/2015/film/columns/clint-eastwoods-walking-wounded-from-dirty- harry-to-american-sniper-1201392603/ 22. FoxNews. (2010, March 11). Critics decry Matt Damon movie „The Green Zone,‟ calling it „anti-American‟. Fox News. Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/03/11/new-matt-damon-movie-green- zone-called-appallingly-anti-american.html

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 53

23. Goodwin, C. (2013, January 13). Truth in a tangle.The Sunday Times.Retrieved from http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/article1190885.ece 24. Gleeson, B. (2014, January). „Lone Survivor‟ decision-making and the darker side of leadership.Inc. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/brent-gleeson/lone-survivor-decision-making-and-the-darker- side-of-leadership.html 25. Hanna, M. (2011, September 8). The connection between Iraq and 9/11. Al Jazeera. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/the911decade/2011/09/201197155513938 336.html 26. Hornaday, A. (2012, December 13). „Zero Dark Thirty‟ and the new reality of reported filmmaking. The Washington Post.Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/zero-dark-thirty-and-the- new-reality-of-reported-filmmaking/2012/12/13/3630ce2c-4548-11e2-8e70- e1993528222d_story.html?tid=a_inl 27. Jennings, N. (2012, December 19). McCain: „Zero Dark Thirty‟ wrong on torture. The Washington Post.Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2012/12/19/mccain-zero- dark-thirty-wrong-on-torture/ 28. Karizat, N. (2015, May 26). One college student‟s analysis on representation in the film American Sniper.Huffingtonpost.Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nadia-karizat/one-college-students- anal_b_7424352.html 29. Kendall, P. (2015, January 23). Zero Dark Thirty: fact vs fiction. The Telegraph.Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film- news/9869992/Zero-Dark-Thirty-fact-vs-fiction.html 30. Lyman, R. (2001, November 12). A nation challenged: The entertainment industry;Hollywood discusses role in war effort. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/12/us/nation-challenged-entertainment-industry- hollywood-discusses-role-war-effort.html 31. MacAskill, E., & Borger, J. (2004, September 16). Iraq war was illegal and breached UN charter, says Annan. The Guardian.Retrieved from

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 54 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/16/iraq.iraq 32. Macnab, G. (2014, January 30). Lone Survivor, film review: 'A rare American film about Afghanistan to be a success'. The Independent.Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/lone-survivor-film- review-a-rare-american-film-about-afghanistan-to-be-a-success-9095468.html 33. Miller, G. (2012, December 10). In „Zero Dark Thirty,‟ she‟s the hero; in real life, CIA agent‟s career is more complicated. The Washington Post.Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-zero-dark-thirty-shes- the-hero-in-real-life-cia-agents-career-is-more-complicated/2012/12/10/cedc227e- 42dd-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_story.html?tid=a_inl 34. Paul. (2009). Finding deeper meaning in The Hurt Locker‟s carnage. Unrealitymag. Retrieved from http://unrealitymag.com/movies/finding-deeper- meaning-in-the-hurt-lockers-carnage/ 35. Rashid, M. (2016). Schools of geopolitics.Academia.edu. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/6358361/Schools_of_Geopolitics 36. Rice, J. (2013, February). A critical review of „Zero Dark Thirty‟.Variety.Retrieved from http://variety.com/2013/film/news/a-critical-review- of-zero-dark-thirty-1118065937/ 37. Robey, T. (2014, January 29). Lone Survivor: the war film caught in a battle between left and right. The Telegraph.Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10602687/Lone-Survivor-the-war-film- caught-in-a-battle-between-left-and-right.html 38. Rodriguez, J. A., Jr. (2013, January 3). A CIA veteran on what „Zero Dark Thirty‟ gets wrong about the bin Laden manhunt. The Washington Post.Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-cia-veteran-on-what-zero-dark- thirty-gets-wrong-about-the-bin-laden-manhunt/2013/01/03/4a76f1b8-52cc-11e2- a613-ec8d394535c6_story.html?utm_term=.8146822be4da 39. Rose, S. (2010, March 8). Paul Greengrass: the betrayal behind Green Zone. The Guardian.Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/mar/08/paul- greengrass-betrayal-green-zone 40. Rothman, L. (2013, January). Zero Dark Thirty, Declassified: Bigelow dishes on deeper meaning of closing scene. Time. Retrieved from

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 55 http://entertainment.time.com/2013/01/28/zero-dark-thirty-declassified-bigelow- dishes-on-the-deeper-meaning-of-the-closing-scene/ 41. The Guardian. (2001, September 21). Text of George Bush‟s speech.The Guardian.Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/21/september11.usa13 42. The Guardian. (2001, October 14). Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over. The Guardian.Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/14/afghanistan.terrorism5 43. Thangapandian, B. (2016, April 2). Hurt Locker: The film you must watch before you die [Web blog message]. Retrieved from http://filmtheorist.com/hurt-locker-the-film-you-must-watch-before-you-die-2/ 44. Tom. (2015, August 3). Cinematography in The Hurt Locker [Web blog message]. Retrieved from http://timeinpixels.com/2015/08/cinematography-in-the- hurt-locker/ 45. Tunzelmann, A. V. (2011, September 1). Green Zone: a surfeit of sincerity. The Guardian.Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2011/sep/01/green-zone-sincerity-reel- history 46. Walsh, N. P. (2016, February 25). Afghanistan war: Just what was the point?.CNN.Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/25/asia/afghanistan-war- analysis/

Other Materials

1. Berg, P., (Producer), & (Director). (2013). Lone Survivor.United States of America: Universal Pictures. 2. Bevan, T., (Producer), &Greengrass, P. (Director). (2010). Green Zone.United States of America, United Kingdom & France: Universal Pictures. 3. Bigelow, K., (Producer), & (Director). (2008). The Hurt Locker. United States of America: Summit Entertainment. 4. Bigelow, K., (Producer), & (Director). (2012). Zero Dark Thirty.United States of America: Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures.

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 56

5. Eastwood, C. (Producer), & (Director). (2014). American Sniper.United States of America: Warner Bros. Picture

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ 58

BIOGRAPHY

Name Ms.JarukanPothisit Date of Birth July 5, 1992 Educational Attainment 2014: Bachelor of Arts Program in British and American Studies (International Program)

Work Experiences Thinktank Officer Center for ASEAN Studies Thammasat University

Ref. code: 25595703040039RKJ