Seriously Spectacular
“Authenticity” and “Art” in the War Epic
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20086406 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Geoff King (0000-0002-1517-6936, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Pages | 287-302 |
| Publication date | 2023-04-26 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Hollywood and War, The Film Reader (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.4324/9781003416661-29 |
| OpenAlex | W4367051794 |
| ISBN | 9781003416661 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
The door of a landing craft opens, exposing the troops inside to a hail of machine-gun bullets. An extremely unsteady hand-held camera puts us in the thick of the mayhem on board, blood spots flecking the lens. Soldiers eventually scramble ashore under unremitting gunfire, cowering behind anti-tank obstacles in a surf that soon runs red with blood. Hollywood action movies are relatively free to indulge in all sorts of death and destruction, often amounting to miniature wars of their own, without any great concern about issues of historical veracity or responsibility. Spectacular films based on real conflicts face a rather different, critical, and often self-imposed, agenda. The beach landing is presented as something like a solid ‘slab’ of recreated reality, seeking to immerse the viewer in the appalling chaos of the events. Private Ryan is eventually found among a band of troops protecting a bridge that has become a key strategic point in the Allied campaign
Art · Art history · EPIC · Literature · Classical Antiquity Studies · History
| Citations per year | 0.17 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2020 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |