Hi. A shower thought on how warriors and war is portrayed in media
Looking back at recent movies of war, the overall message is often one where the protagonist is a reluctant warrior. A movie where war, as a concept to the audience, is (partially) undermined. Can you think of good exceptions?
That's the TLDR, here's the extra fluff:
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For some reason or another, the warrior is forced to fight when he initially avoids the responsibility. It's tricky to create a believable character, who shift from the passive and reluctant type, into an aggressive and vigorous warrior, however. There's nothing wrong with that perspective. It adds tension and drama to a story arch.
The second and last point is how war itself is deemed as a bad thing, doubted or undermined. In part or wholly. Once again, there's nothing unreasonable with that perspective either. Obviously. Any description in the aftermath of a sanguinary conflict will satiated most people's lust for it.
Then there's the small group who want to go to war. Then there's the perspective who see war as a necessary part of life – To preserve what one consider good, war is a good thing. In this perspective, the alternative is slavery, torture, or death.
What I'm curious about is
• What are your thoughts on how war and warriors are portrayed in media at the moment? What does that say about us?
• What does a non-reluctant warrior look like in movies? The paramount example that I can think of now is Leonidas and his "children" in 300. He is 100% in the game. There might be persian diplomats and inbred religious swine who try to shake him off the course, but his role is set from start to finish. Much thanks to Cercei Lannister.
• What does a pro-war movie look like? Once again, a prominent example, where war itself is seen as a good thing, is the movie 300. Despite priests and politicians blocking war, despite the traitor Ephialtes was "created" by the army, despite a tragic death caused a father to go mad with bloodlust. Despite all of those aspects, non of it diminished the sacrifice, "a beautiful death", which lead to a good end. The father (sic.) filled his heart with hate, and this was a good thing. He used this hate to kill more enemies. The message was that war was a good thing. No gray area.
100% tribal propaganda, ironically, told by a one eyed narrator, who was not present at the climactic engagement. It suitable choice.
Can you think of any other movie in the last 2 decades which comes close to 300?
Thank you.
~Wille