Conflict, Culture, Closure: The interaction between politics and popular culture at the end of wars Cahir O’Doherty A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Geography, Politics and Sociology Newcastle University August 2019 ii Abstract In this thesis I engage with the topic of how popular culture and politics interact at the end of conflict. Using contemporary Hollywood action cinema from 2000 to 2014 and political speeches from the Bush and Obama administrations, I pose the question of how do these seemingly disparate fields forge intense connections between and through each other in order to create conditions of success in the War on Terror. I utilise the end of wars assemblage to argue that through intense and affective encounters between cinema screen and audiences, certain conditions of success emerge from the assemblage. These conditions include American exceptionalism and the values it exemplifies; the use of technology in warfare as co-productive of moral subjectivities; the necessity of sacrifice; and the centrality of the urban landscape and built environment. I then proceed to assess the resilience of the end of wars assemblage and its conditions of success by engaging with cinematic and political artefacts that have the potential to destabilise the assemblage through genre inversion and alternative temporalities. Ultimately, I argue that the assemblage and its conditions of success are strongly resilient to change and critique. The conditions of success that emerge from the assemblage through intense affective encounters can then be politically deployed make a claim that a war has ended or will end. Because audiences have been pre-primed to connect these conditions to victory, such a claim has greater persuasive power. In this thesis I utilise assemblage theory in order to ascertain how movies and political speech combine to create emergent properties that are more than the sum of the constituent parts. This thesis is at the intersection of conflict studies, war termination studies, and critical International Relations. As such, it makes a contribution to our understandings of how contemporary armed conflicts are brought to an end, the interaction between politics and culture, and it advances the ability of critical International Relations to engage with questions of culture, conflict, and closure. iii iv For Jenine, it would not have been possible without you. v vi Acknowledgements All work that is done is the product of more than one person and this thesis is no different. There are many people who have contributed, in one way or another, to this research and supported me while doing it and I want to take this opportunity to thank them from the bottom of my heart. Firstly, my family. My mother, Marnie and sister Rosaleen have supported me in every way imaginable through my whole life. From asking my mum about news images from Palestine when I was a child, asking who you should support and her reply, “Always support the ones throwing stones,” has stuck with me through my life and my work. Rosaleen has always been the protective and supportive older sister and has steadfastly helped me understand the importance of family, of care, and has always looked out for me. These are only small examples of the way that these two women have made me the person I am today and I could not have wished for more. To my uncle Jim who probably first started me thinking about culture and politics, as he explained the stories behind rebel songs while driving to Glenties when I was a kid, I couldn’t be more thankful for all the education that you have given me. To my whole extended family: Fa, Marie, Teresa, Frankie, Harry, Birgit, Rosie and the now departed Biddy and Sheila as well all my cousins, thank you. Professionally, I have benefitted from the enormous support of the whole Politics department at Newcastle University. I want to specifically thank my supervisors, Kyle Grayson and Simon Philpott, for shepherding me through this long drawn out process. I know that I was far from a model PhD student, and I want to thank you not only for the help with my research, but also for sticking by, and putting up with me over the years. The support staff at the school and faculty office have also been supportive, friendly, and unwaveringly professional and helpful over the course of my project. The entire PhD cohort at the Politics department and beyond have been excellent colleagues, mentors but above all, friends. Paul McFadden, Maria Bakola, Gemma Bone, Ben Coulson, Matt Jenkins, and Alex Baker have helped me through this with great friendship, humour, good-nature, and probably more than my fair share of pints at the Five Swans. I don’t think it could have been done without you all. I also want to thank Mike Shapiro at the University of Hawai’i at Manōa for his guidance and advice, especially when I was thinking through assemblages. I want to thank my examiners, Jason Dittmer and Laura Routley for the feedback and comments that they provided. It has helped make my argument better, my theoretical understandings tighter, and my analysis stronger. I also want to extend my thanks to the staff and students at the Department of Political and Cultural Studies at Swansea University where I have worked as I rewrite this thesis. Managing full time teaching, admin, and the rewrite vii has been an education in its own right. To all the other people that have been there for me, helped me through this, given me direction and advice I want to thank you as well. Of course, any and all errors that are within these pages remain the fault of myself alone. Finally, I want to thank my partner Jenine. Words cannot express how much you have helped me, supported me, pushed me, motivated me to continue when I was at my lowest, and given me the drive I need to keep going. Your pep talks have been invaluable sources of motivation for me and the love that you express every day has been incredible. You have been my rock for the past six years, and I dedicate this thesis to you. Swansea, December 2018 viii Contents Introduction: Conflict and Culture 1 War Termination 3 Aesthetics and Popular Culture 10 Chapter Outlines 20 Chapter One: Assemblages and Emergence 28 1.1 Introduction 28 1.2 Examples of Assemblages 30 1.3 Emergent Properties 35 1.4 Affect, Intensity, Encounters 37 1.5 Materialist ontology 44 1.6 Non-linearity and lack of Intention 46 1.7 Differences to Intertextuality 49 1.8 Molar, molecular, and the structure of assemblages 50 1.9 Reflective methodologies 53 1.10 Conclusion 60 Chapter Two: War and Action 62 2.1 Introduction 62 2.2 Historical perspective 64 2.3 Bataan: The genesis of genre 66 2.4 Fixed Bayonets!: Continuity and change 69 2.5 Full Metal Jacket: The inversion of genre 73 2.6 Red Dawn: Visual combat, narrative action 77 2.7 Black Hawk Down: Visual action, narrative combat 81 2.8 Captain America: The First Avenger: Action-combat 85 2.9 Conclusion 88 Chapter Three: Shock and Awe 90 3.1 Introduction 90 3.2 The Films 93 3.3 American Exceptionalism 97 3.3.1 X-Men 100 3.3.2 Training Day 104 3.3.3 Spider-Man 107 3.4 Technology 109 3.4.1 Tears of the Sun 113 3.4.2 Spider-Man 116 ix 3.4.2 X-Men 119 3.5 Conclusion 120 Chapter Four: Surges and Endings 123 4.1 Introduction 123 4.2 The Apocalypse and Sacrifice 125 4.2.1 Apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, dystopian 125 4.2.2 Post-apocalypticism in cinema 131 4.3 The City: destruction, salvation, victory 136 4.4 Conclusion 144 Chapter Five: Hope and Change 147 5.1 Introduction 147 5.2 Changing genres 150 5.3 The mask of critique: undermining conditions of success 152 5.3.1 Inglourious Basterds 153 5.3.2 Hancock 156 5.3.3 RED, The Expendables, and The A-Team 161 5.4 Behind the mask: the reassertion of conditions of success 167 5.4.1 Inglourious Basterds 168 5.4.2 Hancock 171 5.5 Conclusions 174 Chapter Six: Linear, recursive time travelling loops 177 6.1 Introduction 177 6.2 Time and International Relations 179 6.2.1 Temporality in the War on Terror 180 6.2.2 Temporality in the end of wars assemblage 183 6.3 The Films: Montage and Confusion 186 6.3.1 Edge of Tomorrow 186 6.3.2 Source Code 194 6.3.3 Looper 197 6.5 Conclusion 199 Conclusion: Cinema and Closure 202 Bibliography 214 x Introduction: Conflict and Culture “It’s over Johnny, it’s over. Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don’t turn it off…I did what I had to do to win. But somebody wouldn’t let us win.” Rambo: First Blood (1982) “Sir, do we get to win this time? This time it’s up to you” Rambo: First Blood part II (1985) “In Afghanistan, we’ve broken the Taliban’s momentum and will soon begin a transition to Afghan lead” May, 2011.1 “So this is a momentous day in the history of Libya. The dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted” October, 2011.2 “There is something profound about the end of a war that has lasted so long” December, 2011.3 That was Barack Obama speaking, respectively, in Westminster Hall, the White House Rose Garden, and at Fort Bragg announcing the effective end of the conflicts, or at least American involvement in the conflicts, in Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq.