Hollywood, the Pentagon and Washington: The Movies and National Security from World War II to the Present Day (review)

Political Issues

Editions Autrement first published Hollywood, The Pentagon and Washington in France in 2003. The author is a researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Peace and Strategic Studies in France and writes on American military and political issues.

Valantin's book comprises ten main chapters, an introduction, a conclusion, a postscript, plus notes (not very extensive), a general index and index of films, a filmography, and a bibliography. (Having both a filmography and an index of films seem redundant, and the two could have probably been combined into one section.) As the title implies, Valantin's book deals with the interrelationship of "Washington and Hollywood, which constantly transforms the application of American strategic practices into cinematic accounts" (xi).

The chapters are titled "National Security Cinema and American Strategic Identity: Structural Links," "Experiencing and Dreaming-Up History, 1951-1982," "Justifying the New Strategic Power, 1982-1990," "New Threats, 1990-1994," "The Need to Fight Terrorism, 1994-2000," "Pearl Harbor Syndrome and the Fables of Technology, 1986-2000," "Saving Ground Combat, 1987-2000," "Around September 11," "The State and Defense: Questions of Legitimacy," and "Empire, War and Revolution." As the chapter titles indicate, Valantin's approach is largely chronological.

Overall, Valantin deals with a large number of films and gives numerous plot summaries and analyses. He treats not only traditional war movies (e.g., Saving Private Ryan [1998]), but also science fiction films (e.g., The Day the Earth Stood Still and Armageddon [1998]). He also treats movies that deal with events other than those that occurred in American history—whether historical (e.g., Alexander [2004]) or pseudo-historical (e.g., Gladiator [2000]). However, he demonstrates how even these movies are comments on how America views the world.

Nevertheless, there is a small factual error in Valantin's book. In the Civil War film Glory, the 1990 movie about the prejudice that an African-American regiment faced and the bravery which they showed in battle, the position which they assaulted was a Confederate stronghold, not a Union ("Yankee") one, as the author (p. 74) states. This mistake notwithstanding, the book seems to be free of that type of error.

Readers may disagree with some of Valantin's opinions and analyses, but his study is a solid work on the interrelationship in the past half century of movies and American military and national security issues. Scholars of filmography will find it of value.