All Quiet On The Western Front: Film Analysis

War has become a natural part of life that every generation will have to deal with. The way people will view war will be dependent upon society. Society during World War I sold young boys a dream about what war was going to be like. They would be able to prove their masculinity, women would love them and that they would be heroes to their country. In reality war was going to be tougher than they ever imagined. With technology being introduced into the war it made it harder for soldiers to become heroes. Technology was single handily taking away the soldiers masculinity. The boys entered the war with a fantasy but left as men who knew the reality of what war was really like. Propaganda has always been used as a tool to get young boys to enlist in the military. Whether it’s through teachers, posters or radios whatever the form is it severs the same purpose to sell young boys a fantasy about what war will be like so they enlist. Propaganda fails to mention the negative effects of war only showcasing the positives. In the movie All Quiet on The Western Front the viewer see the teaching trying to convince his students to enlist. “Today’s heroes will destroy the enemy and …show more content…
The optimistic boys were now returning as harden men. In the movie All Quiet on the Western Front Paul is on leave and returns to his old classroom. In the classroom the teacher is given the new students the same speech as why they should enlist. “Death is stronger than your duty to your country” is what Paul says to the students. By saying this Paul is trying to break the fantasy that students may have about the war. “We live in trenches, fight, try not to kill but sometimes we are” (Delbert Mann 1979). Unlike the students Paul knows what war is really like and how to deal with it. War is not an adventure it requires more sacrifice then the students realize and Paul helps to shed light on that