[On July 27th, 1953 an armistice signed by President Eisenhower ended the Korean War. So this week I’ll AmericanStudy that endpoint and other Korean conflict contexts!]
On three
films from just a three-year period that nonetheless reflect three stages of
Korean War cultural representation.
1)
Retreat, Hell! (1952): World
War II was unquestionably the first American military conflict which featured propaganda
films made and released while the war was ongoing. But it seems to me that
the Korean War, shorter as it was, saw the release of even more Hollywood feature
films, with more
than 20 released between 1951 and 1953. Every one is its own text and worth
individual analysis of course, but overall they clearly served as cultural
propaganda for the war effort, as illustrated with particular clarity by Retreat, Hell! U.S. forces had by the
time of this film’s February 1952 release indeed retreated back
to the 38th Parallel after their initial invasion of North Korea—but
from its title on, the film made the case for resisting or at least reversing
that retreat and continuing the offensive. Douglas MacArthur was no doubt a
fan!
2)
Cease Fire (1953): As
this week’s series illustrates, the U.S. offensives did not continue and the
war did indeed end in July 1953 (or at least was permanently paused, as I noted
on Monday). Released just a few months later, Cease Fire thus portrays the war’s final events and conflicts,
reflecting quite strikingly how these cultural representations evolved in
real-time alongside the histories. But Cease
Fire also features another, even more striking and pretty fraught innovation:
it featured extensive footage of real soldiers and ammunition filmed on
location in Korea, not stock or newsreel footage but new footage filmed for the
movie itself. Long before the Gulf War’s evolution of the controversial concept
of “embedded
reporters,” here we have nothing short of an embedded film production,
which I’d call an even more controversial concept!
3)
The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954): Illustrative
as those two films are of different stages and innovations of Korean War
filmmaking, neither they nor any other of those 20-plus films released during
the conflict have occupied much of a place in the cultural zeitgeist over the
70 years since. The first Korean War film that has really endured is 1954’s Bridges—and while that’s unquestionably
due to its impressive pedigree (it was based on a
novel by James Michener and stars William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric
March, and Mickey Rooney among others!), I would argue that it also reflects
how even a year of distance can allow films to serve as thoughtful historical
fiction, rather than immersive propaganda. Bridges
has been described as a subtle
anti-war film, and I’d say that’s exactly right—its portrayal of the
destructive effects of war on individual soldiers and their loves makes for an
excellent pairing with the even more famous WWII film The
Best Years of Our Lives (1946). All these films are worth remembering,
but Bridges stands out for good
reason to be sure.
Next post
tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Any other Korean War contexts you’d highlight?
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