Ridgway 1

Mia Ridgway

Lindsey Slanker

ENG 1201

27 October 2019

Annotated Bibliography

Through my research, I want to determine how accurate Hollywood is when it comes to the

portrayal of war. Films often dramatize certain aspects of stories in order to make a more

interesting plot. Even true stories have altered details when they hit the big screen. I want to see

how far Hollywood is willing to go in order to better their films.

Basinger, Jeanine. “Translating War: The Combat Film Genre and Saving Private Ryan”

Perspectives on History, American Historical Association, 1 Oct. 1998,

https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/october-1

998/translating-war-the-combat-film-genre-and-saving-private-ryan. Accessed 12

October 2019.

The article by Jeanine Basinger, “Translating War: The Combat Film Genre and Saving

Private Ryan” compares Saving Private Ryan to other World War II films that have not been

accurate in their portrayal of war. Saving Private Ryan is praised for its realism among critics,

historians, and veteran and it establishes a new standard for any future war films. The film

discards the aspect of glorifying war in place for the real conditions.

Basinger’s purpose is to show that the outline for war films in Hollywood are changing.

The audience for this article consists of historians and filmmakers. Jeanine Basinger is the

Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies and American Studies at Wesleyan University. She has

written several articles and books. Basinger is also a trustee of the American Film Institute and
 Ridgway 2

she is a widely recognized expert on certain parts of American Film. I want to use this article to

talk about the accuracy in the gruesomeness in Saving Private Ryan.

Beevor, Antony. “Antony Beevor: the Greatest War Movie Ever – and the Ones I Can't Bear.”

The Guardian, 29 May 2018,

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/may/29/antony-beevor-the-greatest-war-movie-e

ver-and-the-ones-i-cant-bear.

In “Antony Beevor: the Greatest War Movie Ever – and the Ones I Can't Bear”, Beevor

examines how Hollywood changes details in war films in order to have a more interesting or

suspenseful movie. He discusses how history and Hollywood are not a good mix because of the

creative liberties taken while filming. Beevor also discusses the American perspective and how

often the British or Soviets are not included in the films.

The purpose of this article is to highlight the many things that Hollywood gets wrong

about war. The audience for this article is historians and fans of war films. Antony Beevor has

written several books and is a military historian. He served in the British Army. I want to use

this article as a source from the perspective of a historian on the inaccuracies in Hollywood.

Flux, Elizabeth. “Horror and Gore, Honour and Glory: Hacksaw Ridge and the War Film.”

Metro, no. 193, Aug. 2017, p. 32. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=124616958&site=eds-live.

Accessed 19 Oct 2019.

“Horror and Gore, Honour and Glory: Hacksaw Ridge and the War Film” by Elizabeth

Flux focuses on the morality of war and Desmond Doss’s actions. He is considered a hero, but

there are questions as to why he fought in the first place. Hacksaw Ridge is one of the few war
 Ridgway 3

films with a heavy presence of political commentary. The film also highlights the effects of

post-traumatic stress disorder.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the story of Desmond Doss and how his story was

portrayed in the theater. The audience for this article consists of those who like war films.

Elizabeth Flux is a freelance editor and writer. She has received awards for her fiction and non-

fiction works. I want to use this article to refer to the portrayal of a true story in film.

Full Metal Jacket. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, performances by Matthew Modine, Adam

Baldwin, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lee Ermey, Dorian Harewood, Arliss Howard, Kevyn M.

Howard, Ed O'Ross, Abigail Mead, Martin Hunter, and Gustav Hasford, Warner Home

Video, 2001.

Full Metal Jacket directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1987 gives a glimpse into the conditions

of not only the Vietnam War, but also the training before entering the battlefield. The movie

follows the character “Joker” through his basic training and being involved in the Battle of Hué.

It also shows the extreme effects of the war on those around him, specifically “Gomer Pyle”.

Full Metal Jacket brings into question the morality of war and the different sides of mankind.

The purpose of the film is to show the unappealing aspects of war that many people like

to ignore. Although the film is not a true story, it is accurate in its representation of the tragedy

of war. Kubrick does not shy away from the effect of the war on mental health. The intended

audience was mostly young adults and those older. The film was not meant to glorify war, like

some other films do. Full Metal Jacket is based on the semi-autobiographical novel, The Short-

Timers by Gustav Hasford, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. He based his novel partly on his

experience fighting in the Vietnam War. I intend to use this film as an example of fiction that

gives an accurate perspective on the brutality of war.

Luhrssen, David. The Vietnam War on Film. ABC-CLIO, 2019.

The Vietnam War on Film released by David Luhrssen in 2019, inspects the portrayal of

popular Vietnam War based films. The book looks at several movies, which are not

documentaries, and how much was altered from the real events that took place. It also reflects

on the public perspective of the war and how the mentioned films helped shape that image.

Luhrssen intends to investigate the accuracy behind some of the most popular Vietnam

War films in history. The book is intended for those who enjoy history and cinema. David

Luhrssen has been a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Institute of

Art and Design, and Milwaukee Area Technical College. He is also the author of several other

books. I want to use what Luhrssen writes to look at the altered facts in war movies, which lead

to altered public perception of war in general.

Summerfield, Penny. “War, Film, Memory: Some Reflections on War Films and the Social

Configuration of Memory in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s.” Journal of War & Culture

Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, Mar. 2008, pp. 15–23. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1386/jwcs.1.1.15/0.

Accessed 19 Oct 2019.

“War, Film, Memory: Some Reflections on War Films and the Social Configuration of

Memory in Britain in the 1940s and 1950s” by Penny Summerfield focuses on the perception of

World War II. The films based on World War II have created false ideas about the actuality of

the war.

Its purpose is to make the public aware of the incorrect aspects of war. The author

explains the reasoning behind the misinterpretation of the second world war in Britain. The

audience of this article is anyone who has seen movies based on World War II. Penny

Summerfield is the Professor of Modern History at the University of Manchester. She was
 Ridgway 5

previously a professor at Lancaster University and she has written several historical based

articles. I want to use this article to focus on the public’s overall view of war, specifically World

War II.

Waxman, Olivia B. “What’s the Most Accurate D-Day Movie? Here’s What 3 Movies Got

Right—and Wrong.” Time, 5 June 2019, https://time.com/5600203/d-day-movies/.

Accessed 16 Oct 2019.

Olivia B. Waxman’s article, “What’s the Most Accurate D-Day Movie? Here’s What 3

Movies Got Right—and Wrong” examines what a few D-Day were right about in their portrayal

and what they were not accurate about. The article points out the various things the films were

wrong about, like the lack of diversity, inaccurate details in weaponry, and the overly

exaggerated plot points. However, the films are accurate in their gruesomeness, smaller

historical facts, and what German officials were doing at the time of the attack.

The purpose of this article is to highlight the accuracies and inaccuracies that are often

found in war films, specifically D-Day films. The intended audience is people who enjoy the

history of D-Day and people who enjoy war films. Olivia B. Waxman is a writer for Time

magazine and she has written several works for them. She is an honors graduate of Columbia

Journalism School and Hamilton College. I want to use this article to show examples of things

that films commonly misrepresent about war.