How Can Cinema Justify Wars? A Qualitative Study on War Justification in American Cinema

Abstract

Cinema is a powerful media that can shape people’s minds about different issues. Movies can focus on very detailed or hidden matters in society, and critical issues that profoundly affect the lives of large populations are usually at the center of cinema’s attention. Among these issues are wars that can affect tens of millions of people financially, mentally and of course physically.Films can question or justify wars. To answer if they questioned wars or justified them one should choose a specific war, a period and maybe a particular group of films and analyze their content and discourse. However, to do so, it would be helpful and maybe necessary to first better understand how films may question or justify wars.The present research is an effort to analyze a specific number of movies to see in what ways they may have justified the role of the United States in the Second World War. The results include eight issues that the movies raised regarding the legitimacy of the war and America’s role in it.