My idea for the topic of the paper is movies based on the Iraq War. These movies are sometimes based on fact and sometimes fiction but are all based on an event that is still currently going on. To a certain extent the movies are for entertainment because they wouldn’t make any money otherwise, but how can we see them as entertainment when the war is so horrible and what the movies are depicting is so sad. I’m going to start by looking into the motivations of the artists who participate in these films from the directors to the writers and actors. I am starting with questions for the artists that I hope interviews will have answered such as: What was your motivation for making the film?, Do you believe the image of the war the film promotes?, Are you trying to take a stand by participating in the movie?, What do you hope the viewer will get out of watching the movie? The question is whether the motivation of the artists is carried through and becomes apparent to the viewer in the customer experience. I want to know the following about the viewer: Why people go to see the movies?, Do they want to know more about the war and what soldiers go through?, Do they see movies as a realistic depiction of the war or do they separate themselves from the war by seeing the movie as strictly entertainment?, Do the movies make them question the purpose of the war or does it make them support and respect soldiers more?, Do the viewers feel for the soldiers and empathize with them? I also want to know why most of these movies flop while Hurt Locker was a huge hit. Are Americans trying to avoid the issue of the war or are they just tired of this almost decade long war?
Several of the movies I am looking into include the award winning Hurt Locker, Green Zone, The Brothers, The Messenger, and Stop-Loss. Most of the movies take a deep dive into very specific aspects of the war. They do not cover the Iraq war as a whole rather dig deeper into very particular teams and lives that are affected in different ways by the war. The various parts of the war like disarming roadside bombs, and looking for WMDs, Post Traumatic Stress, death and the idea of returning to war are extremely different and yet are all a part of one war that the US has engaged in for almost a decade. I find the ways these artists choose to depict the soldiers and the affect of the war very intriguing because Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has always been a fascination of mine both about what it is and does to people as well as the United States’ complete lack of respect or preparedness for such effects of the war. The artists who participate in these movies seem to want to portray the affects on the psyche of the war to show the world what these men and woman go through every day.
After watching the Behind the Scenes clips of The Hurt Locker with Kathryn Bigelow, the director, and Mark Boal, the screenwriter, discussing their motivation behind making the movie as well as their reasoning for filming it in certain ways it has become clear that authenticity is their number one concern. Kathryn said she wanted the viewer to “be the fourth man on the team.” She wanted it to feel that real for everyone involved. Both of them talked about wanting to show what these men who voluntarily do possibly the most dangerous job in the world go through and feel on a day-to-day basis. In an interview with Time Magazine, Mark Boal said that what drew him into writing the film was, “the insanity of the war was not being expressed in the popular media and that it could make a really eye-opening, gut-wrenching movie about the horrors of war to see the war through the eyes of these guys with this gutsy job on the front lines.” He wanted to show a new kind of war that our nation had not yet seen before; one based on bombs and not traditional fighting and a war fought strictly by volunteers and the psychology that was behind that.
Now I need to know more about their motivation as well as other directors, writers and actors to see if most of these films are based on the issue of psychology and the “new” warfare. I also need to find out what the reaction was to these films and whether the motivations panned out. Some say The Hurt Locker was so successful because it did not take a political stance that it just showed the truth with no intentional message behind it. I am wondering if the other movies were not as successful because they were biased and why the biases are so important to the customer experience and reaction. This is a way for me to apply film making to customer experiences and insights. How does a war motivate a movie? How do the potential viewers of the movie affect the movie making? Are the viewers a huge consideration or an afterthought in a statement making movie based on real life? These are all questions I am hoping to answer.
Interview Article: Jones, Radhika “Oscar Week: Hurt Locker Writer Mark Boal” Time Magazine, March 4, 2010 http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1969623,00.html#ixzz121BnUswD
Behind the Scenes videos:
Lauren - Since we talked about this in my office, I don't really have anything else to add at this point. I think your blog post reflects our discussion really well, so I have a good sense of where you are going with it. Let me know if you want to chat along the way.
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