To Be Ardent For Desperate Glory

By  KEVIN THANT ‘27

“My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.”

— Wilfred Owen

In every war movie, we end with a major victory where it seems as though the good guys always win. After a long, gritty, hard-fought battle, with motivational music that would surge anybody’s patriotism, we are left with a satisfying conclusion where the main characters get rewarded for their heroics. But is this a true representation of war? Even more important is the question of whether we are glorifying war and misrepresenting the struggles that our heroes had to face.

Time and again, we see that before the start of a war, people are unaware of its horrors. The Civil War was supposed to end in 30 days, and so was World War I. Blinded by patriotism and unaware of the horrors of war, people have been dumbfounded by how truly destructive they can be.

In today’s world, I’ll highlight the formulaic war movie, a main character that has to go through a significant struggle, protected by plot armor and somehow playing a role through a major battle despite a lowly rank. The problem with these types of movies is that most of the time, many soldiers do not make it out of these wars alive, and they do not always end up becoming heroes. By glorifying this, war movies leave out the horrors of war and selectively show the “good” that comes out of a horrible situation.

In the movie “1917,” two soldiers go on a quest to share information on an imminent sneak attack or ambush. It’s entertaining historical fiction with a captivating story and a great cast. Throughout the movie, however, the main character somehow manages to live through minefields and become a hero. 

In glorifying violence in war movies, we begin to forget that war is not a black-and-white situation of victory and loss. We forget that in war, even amidst victory and loss, both sides still suffer. We are blinded by the victories these heroes face and don’t see the sufferings the movies choose to omit. 

Not only that, but by showing that war always has a good ending, we are fueling viewers with the same optimism about war that people had back in the past. Despite what movies may tell us, for many soldiers, war does not end in victory and heroism. War, for many, ends in death, and because of the pervasiveness of such movies, many may seem to believe otherwise.

However, the dilemma extends itself into the realm of business. In order for a movie to be successful, it must, in some direction, follow the conventions of storytelling. By revealing the true horrors of war, we lose the euphoria that good stories have. The only exception to this is, however, true stories of heroism that we find in war.

In these cases, some of the improbabilities I mentioned above do materialize. For example, a lowly foot soldier can rise to stardom and play a decisive role in a major battle. It doesn’t happen often, but even in the cases that do, the movies that tell these stories omit the bigger picture of the horrors. 

Does this mean that movies should not portray war? No, we need to honor those who fought for our freedoms. While we watch these stories, we must remember, even amidst patriotic music and motivational acts, that war is never pretty. No matter how appealing it may seem to fight for your country, the horrors that arise from it have left many scarred.