The Imperial Warrior in Hollywood: Rambo and Beyond

Abstract

The Bush years have witnessed the elevated militarization of American society, marked by expansion of the war economy and security state, an aggressive foreign policy, increasing incidents of civic violence, and a media culture saturated more than ever with images and narratives of violence. The trends we identified in our book, The Hollywood War Machine, have only deepened and show no signs of receding. The most successful and widely-viewed films of 2007–2008, including several Oscar candidates, embrace dark images of savage, often relentless violence, graphic depictions of killing, and celebrations of social chaos. We argue that these trends, reflected in the ongoing interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, have dramatically influenced the national psyche. Here we devote special attention to two recent films that embellish strong patriotic and pro-military themes while reaching mass audiences with messages that champion US imperial power: Rambo IV, a particularly bloody recycling of the familiar 1980s Rambo episodes, and Charlie Wilson's War, a cinematic tale about well-intentioned US global designs in Afghanistan during the 1980s. Looking at the four Rambo films as an ensemble, it would be difficult to find a warrior hero better exemplifying the virtues of American military action than Sylvester Stallone, superseding even the legendary John Wayne. This motif converges with yet another—transforming Vietnam into another “good war”—that has shaped an entire cycle of Hollywood films, up to the present, dealing with the Vietnam War.