During World War II, Hollywood films strongly influenced the roles American women played, both while men were away and directly after they returned. These films often sent the message that while their men were away, women must be romantically loyal and keep a secure home for the men to return to. The films also often encouraged women to do their patriotic duty and their part in the war effort by doing war work.
In the film “Since You Went Away” the main character Ann is an example of these ideals. She is faithful to her husband, even when tempted by another, and struggles to keep her home in order while patiently waiting her husband’s return. She and her older daughter are also shown doing their part for the country by doing war work, Ann in a factory and her daughter as a nurse’s aid.
The films also gave women the message that when their husbands and boyfriends returned from the war, they must be totally understanding and accepting of them. Many men returned from the war with both physical and emotional disabilities, and Hollywood films told women that they must accept these disabilities and be sensitive to the needs of the men, even if that meant sacrificing their own needs and desires. As Emily Rosenberg states in her article “Foreign Affairs After World War II”, “American men who served overseas will find it difficult to reintegrate themselves into postwar family and civilian life. Adjustment depends on the degree to which American women grant them understanding and become submissive to their needs” (Rosenberg, 64).
The Essay on The article “The Mountain Man and American Anguish”
In the article, “The Mountain Man and American Anguish” in the Journal of Popular Film & Television, Patrick McCarthy reflects on movie production and the image of mountain men. Contrary to how mountain men are shown in contemporary American pop culture media, McCarthy claims that there is a greater connection between that period of time and the different cultural challenges we ...
Women were told that they should be maternal towards their men and take care of them, while at the same time being sexually available. Sonya Michel states in her article “Danger on the Home Front”, “The films showed that the veterans needed both sexual and maternal attention. While depicting the dangers of excesses of either, they simultaneously tried to mitigate the contradiction between the two female roles. Resolution frequently took the form of ministrations by wives and sweethearts who knew how to balance loyalty, deference, and support with a discreet sensuality” (Michel, 114).
The film “The Best Years of our Lives” depicts female characters that are understanding and accepting of their men upon their return home. One of the characters is shown as nurturing and loving towards her husband who returns from the war with a drinking problem, because she understands that it is a result of the hardships of war, and therefore accepts it. Another character is shown welcoming home her boyfriend who lost both his hands at war, and soothing his fears of rejection. These model characters encouraged women to possess their qualities in order to be good wives and girlfriends.
One of the reasons Hollywood took this approach and represented women so idealistically was essentially because of the government. In 1942 President Franklin Roosevelt established the Office of War Information (OWI), which focused on promoting the war to the public and portraying it positively. It was similar to the Committee on Public Information that Wilson established during World War I which controlled the news that got across to the public. One of the jobs of the OWI was to monitor film content and “suggest” that it move in certain directions, such as portraying the war positively. The OWI wanted women to be shown as essentially good hearted and faithful, as well as understanding and accepting of their returning husbands, and all the baggage they may return with. Women who were romantically faithful were portrayed positively, while women who betrayed their husbands and sweethearts were portrayed negatively. As Susan Gubar states in her article “This is my Rifle, This is my Gun”, “Men dichotomized women, distinguishing – in the words of the narrator of Battle Cry – between the ones who waited and the ones who didn’t” (Gubar, 246).
The Term Paper on Elements of Horror in the Film American Beauty
Horror is a self-conscious genre. We take pleasure in horror in part because it is reflexive which in turns makes us, as spectators, self aware. “Beyond horror“, then, are films that deal with horror's propensity to cause uncertainty. Take for example Andrew Tudor's description of the three part narrative pattern in the horror genre. First introduce instability in a stable situation. Then resist ...
Hollywood devoted so much attention to women in these films because they felt women were the key to preserving the stability of home life and family, as well as patriarchy, which were cornerstones of traditional American society. Film was a huge influence in people’s lives at the time, and on the home front it was a major way people, especially women, were learning about the war. Movie-going was at an all time high, and they felt that women would model the ideal qualities the female characters displayed in these films, and therefore preserve the ideals of American culture.
There were many aspects of war not shown in Hollywood films, specifically infidelity and violence. Graphic violence was hardly seen and the brutality and atrocities that occurred never were, at least on the part of Americans. The OWI did not want American soldiers portrayed as violent, and they did not want the public to think that Americans could be just as brutal as the enemy. Men were also hardly ever shown being romantically or sexually unfaithful to their wives back home, because the OWI wanted the women at home watching movies to trust their husbands, and in turn be trustworthy. They wanted the American soldier depicted as inherently good and loyal, and eager to return to their committed relationships. They wanted him depicted as a fair fighter, who killed only in defense of democracy and American ideals, and never unnecessarily or because he enjoyed it.
These darker aspects of war were expressed through other venues, such as postwar fiction. Norman Mailer and Kurt Vonnegut both wrote accounts of soldiers who were violent, brutal, and even evil. They were not interested in “American ideals” or committed relationships, and were not eager to get home. They enjoyed the excitement of being at war, and even enjoyed the killing. They had sex with prostitutes and were violent towards women.
Some may say that Hollywood films generally took a more sentimental approach to the war while fiction took a more realistic one. Although we see some negative aspects of war in films, such as the physical and psychological damage war did to soldiers in “The Best Years of our Lives”, and the devastation war created on other countries in “A Foreign Affair”, these issues are usually resolved or forgotten by the end of the film. In fiction however, we see a more grim and haunting portrayal of the effects of war.
The Term Paper on The Accidental Crusade The Spanish American War part 1
The accidental crusade: The Spanish American War The Spanish-American War was brief, but it became the beginning of the American overseas empire, formal and informal. For Several centuries Spain remained the World's empire and its colonies were spread worldwide. But by the end of the nineteenth century only few Spanish possessions remained in the Pacific, Africa and West India. Most part of the ...
Hollywood films had a strong influence on the roles of women during and after the war. The OWI had a major part in shaping these films, and hoped that by displaying Americans as good and loyal, Americans would be good and loyal and preserve the traditional moral values they felt were keeping the nation stable. I personally feel the films heavily influenced the public, although some people may have realized the films were more sentimental that realistic.
