Telling war stories: How the United States military and Hollywood produce a warrior culture

The relationship between the United States military and Hollywood was established in the very early days of the motion picture medium. The military has produced a significant body of training, orientation and propaganda films to attract recruits, enhance retention and maintain a position of institutional importance within the hierarchy of the state.;Louis Althusser's discussion of the Ideological State Apparatus is used as the theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between the military and Hollywood as producers of culture. Propaganda is discussed from an historical perspective---how it serves the military as a weapon of war and as a means to encourage institutional survival. Hollywood's complicity in producing military propaganda is also examined.;The term reinforcement politics was extended from its origins in political science to explain the military's strategy of using its own film and videos to maintain its position of dominance within the hierarchy of the state, as well as a survival tool for the individual branches of the armed forces who compete for recruits and resources.;Historical examples of the military's film and video project are traced through the early days of the cinema and through World War I and World War II. Substantial attention is given to the post-world War II period in which key military-produced documentaries are discussed in detail, including the military's internally-produced news programs.;Hollywood's relationship to the military is examined through its combat and war films, the significant support of the studios to the armed forces during the war years and the contributions of numerous Hollywood personnel in improving the military propaganda film in the U.S. Data from the Department of Defense's Youth Attitude Tracking Study reveals the significant recruiting capability of Hollywood films.;Marginalized, essayistic films and videos produced by combat veterans are studied to understand how the subjectivity of those who experienced war may hope to reveal the "truth" about war.