Date of Award
Spring 5-3-2019
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
War and Society
First Advisor
Robert Slayton
Second Advisor
Charissa Threat
Third Advisor
Paul Gulino
Abstract
Both the Second World War and the Korean War presented Hollywood with the opportunity to produce combat films that roused patriotic spirit amongst the American people. The obvious choice was to continue making the popular squad films that portrayed a group of soldiers working together to overcome a common challenge posed by the war. However, in the wake of various racial and ethnic tensions consistently unfolding in the United States from 1940 to 1960, it became apparent to Hollywood that the nation needed pictures of unity more than ever, especially if America was going to win its wars. Using combat as the backdrop, squad films consisting of men from all different backgrounds were created in order to demonstrate to its audiences how vital group cohesion was for the survival of the nation, both at home and abroad. This thesis explores how Hollywood’s war films incorporated racial and ethnic minorities into their classic American squads while also instilling the country’s inherent values of democracy.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Jacobson, Lara K. Diversity and Democracy at War: Analyzing Race and Ethnicity in Squad Films from 1940-1960. 2019. Chapman University, MA Thesis. Chapman University Digital Commons, https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000068
Included in
American Film Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, United States History Commons