War and Cinema

Theatres of Representation Discourses of War and Cinema Daniel Binns SID: 16123117 ! ! ! ! Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 University of Western Sydney Table of Contents Acknowledgements i. Dedication ii. Abstract iii. 1. Introduction – War and Cinema 1 2. Survey of the Field & Analytic Narrative 23 3. For Glory: World Wars I and II 58 4. Fear, Frustration, Paranoia: Vietnam 103 5. Live from the Front Line: Conflict in the Middle East 148 6. Extended Discourses of War: Video Games & Comic Books 192 7. Conclusion: Cycles of Violence, Repeat Performances 225 Sources 238 Appendix: Sample Film Analysis 254 Acknowledgements This thesis has felt, at times, like a battle. Now that the battle is over, I must take some time to thank my comrades-in-arms, without whom none of what you hold would have been possible. To the various people with whom I had personal correspondence or conversation during the course of this research, thank you for your time and expertise. These fine souls include, but are not limited to, Bill Nichols, Bruce Isaacs, Richard Smith, David Burchell, David Axe, Brendan Keogh, Elizabeth Roberts, and Hunter Cordaiy. Thanks to Jonathan Foye, and JT Velikovsky, for casting an objective eye over the piece in its final stages – and for your validation. To the employers who have graciously worked around my research commitments, continuing to further my experience in the film industry and academia, thank you. To my supervisors – Dr. Paul Ryder and Dr. Peter Dallow – your patience, commitment, wisdom, and good humour have been invaluable. It is needless to say that this document would not exist without you both. What a ride. Thank you to my parents – and my extended family – who continue to inspire me to never give up, follow my passions, and to live life to the fullest. Finally, I am greatly indebted to my partner, Jess, without whose kindness, support, generosity, and love, I would not be where or who I am today. We made it. This thesis is dedicated to all the teachers and soldiers I have been blessed to know, in particular – but by no means limited to – Ivan Binns, Lyn Wright, Gregory Moffitt, Bashar Atiyat, and Colin Moon. i. ! Charles ‘Charlie’ William Binns (1897-1974), my great-grandfather, was enlisted as a private in the 6th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force on July 16, 1915. Charlie trained in Egypt before sailing to France, disembarking at Marseilles then travelling by train to the war zone in the north. He saw action in Estanes, Messines Ridge and Aldershot - on one occasion his unit participated in a raid where they took six German prisoners. The unit was then sent to Pozieres, where it saw heavy fighting in one of the key tactical struggles of the First World War. Charlie was wounded on the night of July 25, 1916, taking shrapnel to the right arm, chest, and lungs. Initially listed as missing, he was discovered by the unit chaplain and taken to a field hospital. On recovering sufficiently, he was moved from France to England, where he convalesced for some three months, spending time with relatives. Charlie went to the pictures almost every day while recovering in England. For me, these ticket stubs represent the strongest link between cinema and war. ii. Abstract Considering three periods in history – World Wars I and II and their interim, the Vietnam War, and the wars in the Gulf – Theatres of Representation reflects on changing representations of war and conflict, and maps discourses therein, highlighting the tendencies that emerge. The following key films are examined: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930), PATTON (1970), APOCALYPSE NOW (1969), FULL METAL JACKET (1987), THREE KINGS (1999), JARHEAD (2005), and THE HURT LOCKER (2009). Select scenes are subjected to a multi-modal analysis – adapted from the work of O’Halloran, Iedema, Bateman, and Schmidt – revealing repeated patterns in editing (and pacing), use of camera and sound design. Further formal analysis has taken place in the context of a discussion around key findings. Foucault’s work on knowledge and regimes of truth, Shklovsky’s concept of defamiliarisation and the studium and punctum of Barthes’ ‘photographic message’ inform analyses of the texts. Arguments around similarities and differences in representation consider the ‘character’ of these eras, identifying sets of approaches through which the multifarious horrors of particular conflicts are approximated. A final chapter is devoted to representations of war and conflict in video games and comic books: key texts are the video games CALL OF DUTY 2 (2005), SPEC OPS: THE LINE (2012), and the long-running comic series Captain America (1941-present). iii. Chapter 1 - Introduction – War and Cinema ‘As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.’ Oscar Wilde (1969, p. 405) Conflict has propelled human evolution: while survival of the fittest may be a law of species, mankind’s intra-species battles have shaped the course of history. The nature of warfare – its unpredictability, its heroism, its absurdity – and the willingness of men to do unspeakable evil to one another has inspired the composition of compelling stories: Heart of Darkness, Catch-22 and All Quiet on the Western Front are but three novelistic examples. Niall Ferguson (2006) presents the ‘descent of the West’ as never-ending: ‘As long, it seems, as men plot the destruction of their fellow-men – as long as we dread and yet also somehow yearn to see our great metropolises laid waste – this war will recur, defying the frontiers of chronology’ (p. lxxi.). As the War on Terror becomes the defining conflict of the Twenty-First Century, people are increasingly aware of the effect that war narrative – alongside the history, politics, and machinations of war – can have on their everyday lives. In a world so mediated and remediated, war may seem the only constant. Over the past century, the nature of mass media has undergone several major transformations, from print and radio, through 1 television, to the advent of the Internet and truly global instant communication (Dewdney & Ride, 2006, p. 4-5). Furthermore, there have been seismic shifts in the distribution of creative and economic capital, from an institutional and industrial model to one that is considerably more democratic and collaborative (Herman & Chomsky, 1994, p. 1-2; Schaefer, 2011, p. 41). The importance of mythology in communicating compelling, emotional, personal stories, has changed the way content is shaped, and the way it is received. With greater access to resources, an increasing number of people are taking advantage of the medium of film to tell their story. Furthermore, producers and directors continue to look for stories that engage, inspire and entertain – realising that many such tales may be found in real life, and in histories recent and distant. Such a vast range of material entering the public sphere comes with advantages and drawbacks. As independent filmmakers push the boundaries of what is accessible, what is relevant, and what can be done with the medium, the film world and the creative canon is benefited by an increase in sources and inspiration; the drawback is that there is no longer a clear delineation between fiction and fact. From the earliest newsreels, through feature films about World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam and the continuing conflicts in the Middle East, the ‘war film’ has become a mainstay of modern cinema. With unique tropes and conventions, techniques and story structures that set it apart from other film styles, the war film encompasses history and fiction in a way no other narrative style can. This thesis contends that the history of dramatic feature films about war and conflict can be traced as divergences from, or returns to, a nationalistic narrative that takes a ‘big picture’ view of war and conflict, distracting focus from individual interests: a ‘grand narrative.’ While in part a metanarrative that underpins the representation of war on film, the grand narrative can also be seen as the quintessential war story, with recognisable tropes and conventions that set it apart from many others. In particular, the grand narrative aligns itself with the classic World War II combat film, which has a unique place not only in the history of war cinema, but in cinema as a whole. The study of genre in cinema calls into question concepts of originality, and reinforces a populist view of filmmaking and film-viewing. ‘[T]he idea of genre,’ Grant (2007) writes, ‘informs every aspect of popular cinema from production to consumption’ (p. 1-2). Elsewhere, Grant makes his case much more concertedly: ‘Stated simply, genre movies are those commercial feature films which, 2 through repetition and variation, tell familiar stories with familiar characters in familiar situations’ (Grant, 2003, xv). What this research does, then, is trace the evolution of a genre and its dynamic relationship with visual modalities. Jeanine Basinger (1986) and Kathryn Kane (1982) were among the first to contend that combat films emerging from within the years 1939 to 1945 had their own unique take on conflict, camaraderie, and the national spirit. More recently, Bronfen (2012) and Bender (2013) consider the aesthetic and ideology of these films, as well as their relationship to memory. What this thesis calls the ‘grand narrative’ – like themes or stories revisited or revived in certain periods of painting or literature – is dependent on a formula. One might think that this would change, would alter and shift over time. In fact, as the war film evolved after World War II, and as filmmaking technologies advanced, the narrative formula became increasingly crucial to presenting any story of warfare.

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