Is the War Genre dead like Variety Magazine said it is?
It’s been a while since I last posted. Teaching, work, and preparing to retire from the Army have kept me away from the blog for a while. I hope to do better.
Variety Magazine (of which I am a loyal reader and subscriber) ran an article a couple of days ago titled, “Hollywood calls ‘Truce’ on war films.” Basically the article was proclaiming that the war genre is dead…at least for now.
Hollywood calls 'Truce' on war films
After reading the article, I felt compelled to comment on their website…as did several other people. This blog entry is the same as my comments on the Variety site…click here to read the comments of other readers…I would love to hear what you think?
My comments follow:
Full Disclosure: I am Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Bishop, the U.S. Army’s Entertainment Liaison, here in Los Angeles.
I disagree with the premise that the war genre is dead. Rather, the political-war genre is dead.
Americans outside Hollywood are starving for a real war movie. One like the classics where there are good guys (the U.S. Military) and where there are bad guys (the enemy that’s trying to kill us)…CALL OF DUTY (Modern Warfare 2) video game made $550 million in 5 days…we were the good guys.
The American people are ready for a realistic portrayal of our Soldiers, not an amped-up, over-the-top, unprofessional portrayal. They crave one that depicts our troops as they are, patriotic volunteer-professionals with the courage to fight the enemy, and one that depicts the enemy as they are…brutal cave-dwelling religious zealots who want to kill any and all Westerners.
The problem with recent war movies, and their box-office failures, is that they are insulting to our troops, and offensive to many Americans. One was full of ridiculous scenarios, including war crimes, that went beyond “hollywood-ification.” The other is a political movie that happens to take place in a war zone.
In the war genre, American audiences don’t want to be preached to, nor told we’re the bad guys…they want to feel pride and patriotism, because we’re the good guys.
My question for filmmakers is, “What is it about war that isn’t dramatic enough for you?” War, and the war genre, has all the elements of a great story, and inherently has hundreds of mind-blowingly dramatic REAL stories waiting to be told.
Hollywood is alienating millions of potential core audience members. There are 23 million veterans in the U.S., two million active-duty military members, and millions of loyal civilians who either work for the Department of Defense or are somehow connected to the troops (contractors, local communities, etc.).
Hollywood is clearly missing the mark on what your audience wants, and missing an opportunity for box-office success. Honor the troops with accurate or plausible portrayals, and more importantly, leave your politics out of it.
The Bishop Blog 
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