Authenticity and war junkies: Making the Iraq War real in films and TV series

Abstract

This article examines some of the important changes in the films (and TV series) about the Iraq War. Focus will be on the combat films: Brian De Palma's Redacted (2007), Nick Broomfield's Battle for Haditha (2007), HBO's mini-series Generation Kill (Simon 2008), Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (2008) and Paul Greengrass's Green Zone (2010). The films break from tradition by dismissing both the mythic heroism that pervades World War II films and the disillusionment of many Vietnam War films. A shared trait in the films and TV series is a striving for authenticity and a tendency associated with this: the depiction of American soldiers as war junkies. What has become of the noble intentions, the ideas of freedom and democracy, once linked with the US military? Without judging, the films depict the new generation of American soldiers, raised in a historical vacuum, as young men who see war as just another extreme sport.