Peace Cinema: Religious Pacifism and Anti-War Sensibility in Friendly Persuasion (1956)

Abstract

Through close examination of William Wyler’s 1956 film Friendly Persuasion, this article describes the complex ways in which this western melodrama seeks to foster an anti-war sensibility via engagement with the experience and commitments of religious pacifism. The example of Friendly Persuasion is used to illustrate how US society acknowledges religious pacifist beliefs and argues that the Quaker (Society of Friends) ‘peace testimony’ is shown in the film in an intelligent and respectful way and as a proxy for a broader democratic anti-war perspective. Friendly Persuasion was produced during the Cold War at a time of military escalation and patriotic nationalism, and when Hollywood was accused of communist subversion and subject to the scrutiny of the HUAC; this fact makes it all the more remarkable that the film is largely successful in its advocacy for peace. This article concludes that Friendly Persuasion constitutes a rare mainstream example of what might provisionally be called ‘peace cinema’, that is, a film that is sympathetic to pacifist ideals and seeks to challenge in fundamental ways the widely held belief that war is inevitable and necessary.