War is Like This’
Jirga , History and Genre Tropes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12914847 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emma Hamilton (0000-0002-8176-6360, University of Newcastle Australia, corresponding author), Paul Chojenta (University of Newcastle Australia) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 228-246 |
| Publication date | 2024-03-05 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of War and Culture Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1752-6272 • E-ISSN: 1752-6280 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17526272.2024.2323762 |
| OpenAlex | W4392757356 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
The critically acclaimed 2018 Australian film Jirga follows an ex-Australian soldier, Mike Wheeler, who returns to Afghanistan three years after a firefight during which he kills a civilian. Wheeler returns at risk of his death to confess his guilt to the man's community and the film examines themes of forgiveness and revenge, guilt, trauma, justice, and, as one Afghani tells Wheeler when he explains what he is doing back in Afghanistan, whether 'war is like this'. ) This article will explore the ways Jirga uses the generic forms of the war film to convey meaning; it interrogates the usefulness of positioning films as either adhering to or subverting generic tropes, and instead points to the historically contingent evolution of generic tropes across time and place. With this understanding we can see genre tropes as complex, ambiguous, and sometimes even contradictory, attempts to develop meaning out of wartime experience
Art · Literature · Cinema and Media Studies · History · Japanese History and Culture · Soviet and Russian History
| Highly cited | No |
|---|