3.2. A study of Native American troops in war movies.
Windtalkers (2002) by Chinese film director John Woo is an excellent example of a clichéd war movie with its authentic looking war scenes, non-stop action and heroic American soldiers. Marine Stg. Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage), during the mission on Soloman Islands, loses all his troops. He receives the medal but still suffers from emotional problems and he feels guilty. There are two Native American characters: Private Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) and Private Charles Whitehorse (Roger Willie). They are sent with others Navajo tribesmen directly from Indian reservations to military academy in order to become code talkers. Navajo language is so unique that it was used during WW II to send encrypted …show more content…
I described these techniques in the introduction. He uses the above scene with the medal to achieve it. Firstly, Woo constructs the hero with the difficult past. Enders has difficult childhood, he is dropped out of high school, steals someone’s motorbike. He chooses a military career to start fresh, to pay his debt to the society. What is more, under his command, his squad dies, he could obey the order to hold a piece of swamp and run with his troops for their lives. Now, he regrets it. He is looking for an occasion to prove himself as a war hero. Here we come to the crux of Woo's system. If our hero had not had difficult past and had been happy with his trophy, the audience would probably have felt sorry for the coloured character (Yahzee), because despite of his help, he would have not received any recommendation. However, if the white hero does not want to be highlighted, both of them are left with nothing. This is the cinematic way to cover the institutional racism. The US government very reluctantly was given recommendations for non-whites troops. Although, this system is used in many war movies ex. Saving Private Ryan (2002). Let me focus how those techniques are used in this particular movie: White hero receives a recommendation/a medal or trophy, which because of his past, he does not want, but after all he is highlighted whether he likes it or not (white supremacy) ->He …show more content…
After the War, the other two privates cope well in their lives; they start families and become upstanding citizens. We can say that despite the fact that they are famous for the moment, they use well their once in a lifetime opportunity. Only the Indian-born character faces various obstacles in his life. In the movie, he is portrayed as a hard drinker and a loser who dies in unexplained circumstances. The movie duplicates the widely known in the U.S. American Indian stereotype: Hayes is unable to assimilate to Anglo-American culture; in addition, he cannot utilize the opportunity that is given to him by the white
Windtalkers (2002) by Chinese film director John Woo is an excellent example of a clichéd war movie with its authentic looking war scenes, non-stop action and heroic American soldiers. Marine Stg. Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage), during the mission on Soloman Islands, loses all his troops. He receives the medal but still suffers from emotional problems and he feels guilty. There are two Native American characters: Private Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) and Private Charles Whitehorse (Roger Willie). They are sent with others Navajo tribesmen directly from Indian reservations to military academy in order to become code talkers. Navajo language is so unique that it was used during WW II to send encrypted …show more content…
I described these techniques in the introduction. He uses the above scene with the medal to achieve it. Firstly, Woo constructs the hero with the difficult past. Enders has difficult childhood, he is dropped out of high school, steals someone’s motorbike. He chooses a military career to start fresh, to pay his debt to the society. What is more, under his command, his squad dies, he could obey the order to hold a piece of swamp and run with his troops for their lives. Now, he regrets it. He is looking for an occasion to prove himself as a war hero. Here we come to the crux of Woo's system. If our hero had not had difficult past and had been happy with his trophy, the audience would probably have felt sorry for the coloured character (Yahzee), because despite of his help, he would have not received any recommendation. However, if the white hero does not want to be highlighted, both of them are left with nothing. This is the cinematic way to cover the institutional racism. The US government very reluctantly was given recommendations for non-whites troops. Although, this system is used in many war movies ex. Saving Private Ryan (2002). Let me focus how those techniques are used in this particular movie: White hero receives a recommendation/a medal or trophy, which because of his past, he does not want, but after all he is highlighted whether he likes it or not (white supremacy) ->He …show more content…
After the War, the other two privates cope well in their lives; they start families and become upstanding citizens. We can say that despite the fact that they are famous for the moment, they use well their once in a lifetime opportunity. Only the Indian-born character faces various obstacles in his life. In the movie, he is portrayed as a hard drinker and a loser who dies in unexplained circumstances. The movie duplicates the widely known in the U.S. American Indian stereotype: Hayes is unable to assimilate to Anglo-American culture; in addition, he cannot utilize the opportunity that is given to him by the white