The War that Ended in Nothing: the Korean Conflict in American Feature Films

Abstract

Introduction. Today, interdisciplinary approaches blur the boundary between verbal and visual narratives, newsreels, photo and audio documents are actively used in historical research, theoretical and methodological issues of source analysis of audiovisual resources are discussed in historiography. Unlike documentaries, feature films capture and broadcast not so much historical realities as people’s attitudes towards them. Cinema is an actor of social processes: it not only reflects, but also creates historical ideas about a specific event, time, era, etc. The purpose of the work is to identify and demonstrate the relationship between the attitude of society to a local war and its image in feature cinema. Due to the specifics of the source in this study, the methods of historical analysis are supplemented by methods of visual research (structural-functional and semiotic analysis of films, analysis of reviews, film festivals, etc.). Results. Films about the Korean conflict, created in Hollywood from 1950 to 1981, served as the material. Their comparative analysis was carried out, the ideological background was determined, the main plots, themes, the system of characters, visual means were identified. All these aspects represent the attitude of American society towards the war in Korea. Discussion and Conclusion. Since cinema is not only an art, but also a media industry, it is associated with many social processes and has the ability to effectively influence people. It is a communication channel for the transmission, perception and active formation of value orientations, norms and public sentiments.