Heroism and Gender in War Films

Filmic constructions of war heroism have a profound impact on public perceptions of conflicts. Here, contributors examine the ways motifs of gender and heroism in war films are used to justify ideological positions, shape the understanding of the military conflicts, support political agendas and institutions, and influence collective memory.

Preface; Anna Froula Introduction; Karen A. Ritzenhoff and Jakub Kazecki PART I: HISTORICAL LEADERS AND CELEBRITIES: THEIR ROLE IN MYTHMAKING IN THE CINEMA 1. Mary Pickford's WWI Patriotism: A Feminine Approach to Wartime Mythical Americanness; Clémentine Tholas-Disset 2. The Reluctant Hero: Negotiating War Memory with Modern-Day Myths in Passchendaele (2008); Janis L. Goldie 3. A Hero or a Villain, a Terrorist or a Liberator? The Filmic Representations of Gavrilo Princip since the Late 1960s; Tara Karajica PART II: HOLLYWOOD'S WAR MYTHS IN THE 1940S AND 1950S 4. No Women! Only Brothers: Propaganda, Studio Politics, and The Fighting 69th (1940); Rochelle Sara Miller 5. The Postwar Anxiety of the American Pin-up: William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives (1946); Lesley C. Pleasant PART III: IDEOLOGIES, NATIONALITY, AND WAR MEMORY 6. Germany's Heroic Victims: The Cinematic Redemption of the Wehrmacht Soldier on the Eastern Fronter; Brian E. Crim 7. Balls and Bullets: A People's Humor as an Aesthetic Stratagem in Golpe de Estadio (1998); Claudia Aburto Guzmán 8. From Saviors to Rapists: G.I.s, Women, and Children in Korean War Films; Hye Seung Chung PART IV: MEN, WOMEN, AND TRAUMA: HEROES AND ANTI-HEROES 9. "I Don't Know How She Lives with this Kitchen the Way It Is:" Military Heroism, Gender, and Race in Brothers (2004 and 2009); Debra White-Stanley 10. The Gendered Geometry of War in Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (2008); Janet S. Robinson 11. Rebel Tributes and Tyrannical Regimes: Myth and Spectacle in The Hunger Games (2010); Jessica Wells 12. Mulan (1998) and Hua Mulan (2009): National Myth and Trans-Cultural Intertextuality; Jinhua Li PART V: HISTORICAL REALITY, AUTHENTICITY OF EXPERIENCE, AND CINEMATIC REPRESENTATION 13. 'What Shall the History Books Read?' Quentin Tarantino's Basterdized Histories and Corporeal Inscriptions; Tiel Lundy 14. There's Something About Maya: On Being/Becoming a Heroine andthe 'War on Terror'; Charles-Antoine Courcoux

Brian E. Crim, Lynchburg College, USA Janis L. Goldie, Huntington University, Canada Tara Karajica, University of Barcelona, Spain Jinhua Li, University of North Carolina Ashville, USA Tiel Lundy, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA Rochelle Sara Miller, New York University, USA Lesley C. Pleasant, University of Evansville, USA Janet S. Robinson, Philipps University in Marburg, Germany Clémentine Tholas-Disset, Paris Est Créteil University, France Jessica Wells, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA Debra White-Stanley, Keene State College, USA Hye Seung Chung, Colorado State University, USA Charles-Antoine Courcoux, University of Lausanne, Switzerland Anna Froula, East Carolina University, USA