Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg, 1998) as a Post-Vietnam War Film in Search of Moral Legibility

Saving Private Ryan revived the WW2 combat film and used many of its tropes but is still heavily influenced by the Vietnam War films. This creates structural ambiguity in a film that strives to acknowledge the horrors of warfare while still trying to restore the sense of moral legibility and decency...

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Main Author: Mehdi Achouche
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française d'Etudes Américaines 2022-05-01
Series:Transatlantica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/18645
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author Mehdi Achouche
author_facet Mehdi Achouche
author_sort Mehdi Achouche
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description Saving Private Ryan revived the WW2 combat film and used many of its tropes but is still heavily influenced by the Vietnam War films. This creates structural ambiguity in a film that strives to acknowledge the horrors of warfare while still trying to restore the sense of moral legibility and decency that is specific to WW2 and had been lost in Vietnam War films. War ruins convey the quasi-postapocalyptic setting of the film, with a group of soldiers crossing a moral wasteland where savagery is the only way to survive. Yet the film still attempts to rescue the citizen-soldiers traditionally celebrated by the genre from that wilderness by relying on the codes of melodrama and the central figure of the good leader
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 1765-2766
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publisher Association Française d'Etudes Américaines
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series Transatlantica
spelling doaj-art-c58582ab6adb4a49bbe2b94f85c89c682025-01-30T10:43:16ZengAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesTransatlantica1765-27662022-05-01110.4000/transatlantica.18645Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg, 1998) as a Post-Vietnam War Film in Search of Moral LegibilityMehdi AchoucheSaving Private Ryan revived the WW2 combat film and used many of its tropes but is still heavily influenced by the Vietnam War films. This creates structural ambiguity in a film that strives to acknowledge the horrors of warfare while still trying to restore the sense of moral legibility and decency that is specific to WW2 and had been lost in Vietnam War films. War ruins convey the quasi-postapocalyptic setting of the film, with a group of soldiers crossing a moral wasteland where savagery is the only way to survive. Yet the film still attempts to rescue the citizen-soldiers traditionally celebrated by the genre from that wilderness by relying on the codes of melodrama and the central figure of the good leaderhttps://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/18645Vietnampost-apocalypticWW2D-Daymelodramaruins
spellingShingle Mehdi Achouche
Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg, 1998) as a Post-Vietnam War Film in Search of Moral Legibility
Transatlantica
Vietnam
post-apocalyptic
WW2
D-Day
melodrama
ruins
title Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg, 1998) as a Post-Vietnam War Film in Search of Moral Legibility
title_full Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg, 1998) as a Post-Vietnam War Film in Search of Moral Legibility
title_fullStr Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg, 1998) as a Post-Vietnam War Film in Search of Moral Legibility
title_full_unstemmed Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg, 1998) as a Post-Vietnam War Film in Search of Moral Legibility
title_short Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg, 1998) as a Post-Vietnam War Film in Search of Moral Legibility
title_sort saving private ryan spielberg 1998 as a post vietnam war film in search of moral legibility
topic Vietnam
post-apocalyptic
WW2
D-Day
melodrama
ruins
url https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/18645
work_keys_str_mv AT mehdiachouche savingprivateryanspielberg1998asapostvietnamwarfilminsearchofmorallegibility