WAR GENRE
Vincent Chiu
Matthew Navarro
Eric Ikehara
Arthur Sin
History of War Genre
• One of the first war films was Shoulder Arms,
made by Charlie Chaplin in 1918.
• Films that were made after the WWI showed
the horror and brutality of warfare.
• During the 1930’s sound was implemented
into films and this allowed the audience get a
new feel for warfare and how horrifying it
can be.
History of War Genre Cont.
• During the 1940’s when WWII was occurring,
many war documentaries were made to
show people back home the real dangers and
horror soldiers were facing daily.
• After the U.S. entered WWII Hollywood mass
produced war films to get people back home
to support the Allies and buy Bonds for the
armies.
• Twelve O’ Clock High directed by Henry King
in 1949 was one of the
History of War Genre Cont.
• During the 1950’s war films became less
horrifying and it had incorporated more
drama so the audience can get a feel for the
hardships of not having family around for
long periods of time.
• Reach for the Sky directed by Lewis Gilbert in
1956 would be one of the war films that had
incorporated drama into it so audience can
get a new feel for war films.
History of War Genre Cont.
• During the 1960’s war films became less
popular due to the high nationalistic feeling
dying down in the countries.
• The Longest Days directed by Ken Annakin in
1959 was a war film about the D-Day invasion
on Normandy.
History of War Genre Cont.
• From 1990’s to 2000’s War films have
changed over time. With the war in Iraq
occurring filmmakers began making films
about a modern warfare.
• Although films about modern warfare
became popular, films such as Saving Private
Ryan directed by Steven Spielberg
understand how brutal and horrifying
warfare can really be.
Character
• - Hero is usually the general or captain
leading his men on a mission into the
battlefield to save another and then quickly
get his men out safe and sound
• - Antagonist is usually a war enemy such as
the Nazi's, Japanese, Vietnamese, or terrorist
• - Archetype is the strong tall white soldier
with the skills of bravery and leadership
Character cont.
• -Dress is usually uniform such as green
cameo with a helmet
• - Men's role was usually soldiers, sometimes
civilians such as jews, pow's (prisoners of
war)
• - Women were usually the love interest and
on rare occasions portrayed as the soldier
Plot
• Usual plot is where a squad of soldiers go
into battle, they show some firefights along
the way, learn about the soldiers, watch
some of them die, and in the end succeed in
their mission
• The usual conflicts was the firefights with
enemy such as famous battles or side
missions.
Setting
• The soldiers are treated in a way to make
them ready for war and not to fear death. In
the movie, Full
• . There are lots of trees and brush in the
jungles in Vietnam. This kind of setting gives
the viewer the feel that danger can pop up
anytime and anywhere. Metal Jacket
Setting cont.
• . Nearly all the buildings were damaged in
some way, and some of them nearly fell apart
in Saving Private Ryan
• . Lots of rubble was blown off to the ground.
Iconography
• They used modern weapons in the films that
are still used today. These type of guns had
much more fire power then in wars like
World War I and World War II in Full Metal
Jacket, and Tropic Thunder
Iconography cont.
• In Saving Private Ryan, each of the soldier
also had a death letter that their comrades
would pick up if they were killed in action
that were sent to their loved ones because
they might not have had a chance to say
goodbye because anyone could have died in
war.
Mood
• Many war films are very dark so they
represent how wars were from a soldiers
point of view in the wars that they are in.
• They use the eerie mood in war films to get
the audience ready for a surprise attack or
ambush on the protagonists or on the
opposing forces.
Mood cont.
• Many situations are made more dramatic
with the use of music or no music at all and
putting a silence with just sounds of the what
is going on screen at the time.
• The color of the film looks very grainy to give
it a old feel of the wars since most of the
wars that are shown in the films took place
years ago like World War II.
Cinematic Style
• Typical camera shots in war movies are that
of the soldiers face after they have a neardeath experience.
• Over the shoulder shots are when the camera
is following the soldier into battle.
Cinematic Style cont.
• The lighting is usually dark for the cinematic
style to try and shroud your vision from
enemies that are there but not so much that
you don’t know that they are. Films try to
make it seem like the character cannot see
the other by making it dark but not
completely so the viewers can see them.