Hollywood war films propaganda : framing Iraq and Afghanistan wars

Abstract

Using framing theory, this study will examine how the United States (U.S.) government uses film as propaganda to justify its successful encroachment of Iraq and Afghanistan. After the U.S.’s failure to achieve its goals in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has been using the film medium to frame the images of the U.S. soldiers and represent them as patriotic and sacrificial, while distorting the image of both Iraqis and Afghanis. The propaganda film has always been used as a tool for mass manipulation by many nations, among them the U.S.. The films American Sniper, The Hurt Locker and Lone Survivor portray the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and justify in an indirect way the reasons behind the U.S.’s invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan by creating sympathy among the audience with the American soldiers and generating hatred against the Iraqis and Afghanis. This research utilized framing theory to examine how the movies American Sniper, The Hurt Locker and Lone Survivor have been used to glorify the U.S. soldiers and demonize the Iraqis and Afghanis. Quantitative content analysis was conducted on the three war films produced by the U.S. after the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. The results of the study revealed that American soldiers, Iraqis, and Afghanis are framed in their representation. Americans soldiers are portrayed as powerful, patriotic, sacrificial through cinematic techniques frame, humanitarian frame, duration frame, words frame, and sacrificial frame, while Iraqis and Afghanis are depicted as terrorists and villains through the same frames.