ENGL 1100 003 War Movie Since You Went Away (1944)
A bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. Bibliographies are sometimes called "references" or "works cited" depending on the style format you are using. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).
An annotation is a summary and/or evaluation.
Therefore, an annotated bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources. Depending on your project or the assignment, your annotations may do one or more of the following:
Summarize: Some annotations merely summarize the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is.For more help, see our handout on paraphrasing sources (see below).
Assess: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is it this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?For more help, see our handouts on evaluating resources (see below).
Reflect: Once you've summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?Your annotated bibliography may include some of these, all of these, or even others. If you're doing this for a class, you should get specific guidelines from your instructor.
Auburn University
ENGL -1100 – 003
Katherine Brewer
29 October 2017
War movies
Introduction
The generic definition of war films has always been met with problems, and in most cases, movies that are classified as ‘war films’ are not often set in combat. For instance, Since You Went Away (1944) is a story of the American home front that occurred in 1944 (Film Reference). While this movie is classified as war film, there are no fighting using conventional weapons, but fighting with the everyday battles of morale for individuals whose lives are affected indirectly. War Horse is a war film, but Spielberg, the director claims that there is nothing to do with war in the movie (Heller). A thorough classification of war films is required in order to identify such films and limit access to unsuitable audiences. War films have had significant negative impacts in the society and should be kept inaccessible to vulnerable populations. This paper provides an analysis of the effects of war movies in the society and explains how the perception of such films needs to change in order to encourage the audience to think differently to address the issue of violence and stereotyping.
According to Klassen analysis of American sniper (2014), which was directed by Clint Eastwood, the life of Navy Seal Chris Kyle is dogged by two contradictions. One of them being his heroic deeds of having killed 160 men as a sniper, which made him be credited in the US military history as a patriotic citizen and a selfless hero. On the other hand, this movie had critics who were against the US invasion of Iraq and the portrayal of Iraqis as savages and the US military as heroes. For the movie lovers, the whole idea of controversy is what made the movie successful though the war on Iraq was branded as aggressive patriotism. So much is left to be desired when analyzing war movies especially the moral concerns of why there should be a war. Much is not considered in the war against terrorism, which prompted the decision of the US to invade Iraq. A classic example is that of one the perpetrators of the 7th August, 1998 of embassies in Nairobi Kenya and in Tanzania. The culprits being Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Emir of al-Qaeda based in Iraq. Kyle had to make tough choices between saving more American lives as compared to his family’s well-being.
Being a movie therefore, the American Sniper was meant to be a tribute to one man who fought selflessly and yet he had critics on the side-lines as they enjoyed their safety in irony. Sniper brings out the nature of some men who hailed in Iraq, but were not human based on how they mistreated/killed children to discourage other Iraqis from cooperating with the Americans. Such a man was known to many as “the butcher” who made it sound credible for Kyle to make his scathing attack on the evil men in Iraq. On the contrary, the same people who give Kyle food and shelter are the same people who keep guns and other ammunitions for the militants fighting against America. With this in mind, anybody watching the movie fails to see anything good in that country. The author clearly indicates the kind of life the veterans go through during warfare. The screenwriter of sniper had more to add onto the critics of the movie when he asserts that it was meant to portray the human aspect of war and not to support the invasion of Iraq by the American troops. All the arguments in this movie clearly illustrates what the film makers go through since war movies have loaded messages that require further debate.
Medved, while writing on the topic of warfare discusses the role played by recruiters and counter recruiters. The former talk about the good side of being in the military to serve the nation and the latter talk about the negative side of serving in the army/military for the sake of being patriotic. The author demonstrates the role the American military plays the movie, The Jacket. It is quite clear that the American army is seen committing atrocities in the Persian Gulf War. He further insists that some war movies have not been sincere. In fact, they are eroding the prevailing culture and as such bringing about hatred among nations (Medved, 2005).
In the article Armed Forces: Masculinity and Sexuality in the American War Film, war films have been based on a fight between masculinity and modernity (Eberwein 27). The author argues that modernity was originated on the basis of masculinity hereby signified by men involvement in war. The article starts by analyzing the Spanish-American war period all the way to the World War II where women played a somewhat passive role in relation to the combats. Eberwein uses a number of rhetorical strategies to put forth his argument that “concerns about male softness are surely as old as man himself…” (86) which simply implies that the crisis in masculinity is a persistent feature of modernity.
Cases such as the attack on the US on September, 11 have not had an accurate account of events as they were. Contrary to the modern movies, classic movies had three fundamental advantages. They were liked because of the affection that the Americans had over their troops for defending the country’s interests. Secondly, the viewers could exhibit sympathy because of the American gains. The final credit was that whatever that was being dramatized, displayed some meaning all together to the American people. A perfect example is that one from the movie, Saving Private Ryan when Tom hanks was quoted as saying, “if we can bring Private Ryan back to his mother, then this god-awful war would have meant something”. As for the current movies, American troops are portrayed as demented, warped and sick.
The platoon (1986) an Oscar Award winner for the best picture, envisions the American troops as murderers who went to Vietnam to torture and kill the innocent Vietnamese because they are seen burning down their houses and villages. This clearly indicates how meaningless the war was, based on the author’s main intentions. In Dances with Wolves, which is another Oscar winner, a rogue soldier ru...