FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS and LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
In this paper, I will be exploring the war that took place in the movies Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. The historical context behind the films is that during the Pacific War, the United States attempted to capture the island of Iwo Jima in order to launch assaults on Japanese mainland. Flags of our Fathers presents the war from the Americans’ point of view whereas Letters from Iwo Jima illustrates the war from the Japanese’s perspective. In the following paragraphs, I will be comparing and contrasting the two films with regards to the war and the social attitudes towards it. While Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima differ in their concepts of heroism and motivations
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There is clear evidence of patriotism in both films, but the type of patriotism shown and the manner in which they’re portrayed are different. In Flags of our Fathers, I would argue that there was active patriotism shown. Whether it was troops going off into war or welcoming the heroes of Iwo Jima back home, the public is always cheering loudly for their soldiers. Similarly, when the soldiers at Iwo Jima plant the American flag on top of Mt. Suribachi, applause could be heard all across the beach and the ships. This sense of passion, optimism, and pride exuded by the American people in the film can be clearly felt by viewers watching the film. However, this sentiment in Flags of our Fathers isn’t exactly portrayed in a positive light. Rather, patriotism is illustrated as the result of effective war bond marketing using the flag raisers as the spokespersons. The photograph served as a major morale boosting tool, and its heroes, Ira, Rene, and John, were successfully exploited to stir patriotism and pro-war sentiments in the home front. When people think of patriotism, they think of fervent passion for their country, not exactly this kind of systematic marketing and manipulation of the …show more content…
Many of the admirals under Kuribayashi’s command are staunch Bushido upholders. They believe that one should fight until death and that it is more honourable to die at one’s own hands than be captured. This ideology clashes with Kuribayashi’s unconventional tunnel digging strategy as seen when Admiral Osugi openly protests against Kuribayashi. Bushido practitioners do not believe in surrender or retreating, but Kuribayashi wants to delay the Americans for as long as he can. This causes the internal conflict in the Japanese army. Socioeconomic class once again plays a role in determining war perception. Wars are funded at the expense of the lower class citizens. As Saigo mentions, soldiers from the Kempeitai took everything from his bakery, even including the equipments for metal. The practice of soldiers ransacking villages for resources is not uncommon, but it does leave the vulnerable of the society even more vulnerable. This is why Saigo initially bears a grudge against Shimizu, who he believes is partly responsible for exploiting citizens during the war. What is common about both Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima is this common theme of exploiting the lower class in society. However, there is a much stronger sense of a military ideology among the Japanese than the
This book reflects the author’s wish of not only remembering what has happened to the Japanese families living in the United States of America at the time of war but also to show its effects and how families made through that storm of problems and insecurities. The story takes in the first turn when the father of Jeanne gets arrested in the accusation of supplying fuel to Japanese parties and takes it last turn when after the passage of several years, Jeanne (writer) is living a contented life with her family and ponders over her past (Wakatsuki Houston and D. Houston 3-78). As we read along the pages
Flags of Our Fathers, a book written by James Bradley, is the story capturing the lives of the six men who raised the flag on the island of Iwo Jima as they fought before, during, and after World War II. One of these men was James Bradley’s own father. James found old boxes full of articles and imagery taken from the war. Through these documents, he then discovers that his father was one of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima and goes on a search to find out as much as he possibly can about the other five flag raisers. All in all, the six young men included were John Bradley, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon, and Mike Strank.
In some of the pieces of literature like “I, Too, Sing America,” “America and I,” “The Bill of Rights,” and “Veterans Day: Never Forget Their Duty” the authors have different ideas of what it means to be American. They also express their ideas using different strategies: negation, classification, and function. With these ideas and strategies a more complex definition on what it means to be American was developed. Being an American means being patriotic, having freedoms, and believing in a dream of something amazing. Having patriotism is part of being American.
Mary Matsuda Gruenewald tells her tale of what life was like for her family when they were sent to internment camps in her memoir “Looking like the Enemy.” The book starts when Gruenewald is sixteen years old and her family just got news that Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japan. After the bombing Gruenewald and her family life changed, they were forced to leave their home and go to internment camps meant for Japanese Americans. During the time Gruenewald was in imprisonment she dealt with the struggle for survival both physical and mental. This affected Gruenewald great that she would say to herself “Am I Japanese?
Why We Fight directed by Frank Capra, was one of the well-known films during the war and was watched by many. “Overall, however, the Why We Fight films reflected the strategic priorities of the U.S. government and focused primarily on the struggle in the West.” (Dower 17). Not only were the Americans creating such racist films and other propaganda, but the Japanese were employing the same tactics. By reading the title of Chapter 3, “War Hates and War Crimes,” the reader can conclude
Family #19788 The memoir Looking like the Enemy, was written by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald. Set during World War II after the attack upon Pearl Harbor. The Japanese Americans living in Western part of America had a since of betrayal and fear having to evacuate their homes and enter into internment camps.
Walker does not just take the reader on a tour of the decision-making process of President Truman and shows what made him to order the use of Atomic bombs on Japan, but he also provide an exploration of the historical situation that prompted the decision. He also examines the viewpoint of the Japanese, not only regarding the impact of the bombings on their ultimate decision to surrender, but also how their Allies called for an unconditional surrender. This call could possibly have led to the Japanese Emperor, Hirohito, being tried on counts of war crimes, which may have possibly made the Japanese to be reluctant on surrendering even in light of a crushing defeat (Huczko). Samuel Walker also provides useful insights into contribution made by the decision to use Atomic weapons on Japanese decision to surrender.
Ronald Takaki is a social historian and is a professor at the University of California, Berkley. He is a professor of ethic studies. In addition to being a professor, he is also a fellow of the Society of American Historians. In his book, Double Victory: A Multicultural of America in World War II, Takaki focuses on the minorities during World War II. Most histories of the Second World War, focus on the politics, battles, or generals and leaders, whereas this book is about the experience of the different minorities in America.
Farewell to Manzanar, written by Jeanne Wakatsuki and her husband James D. Houston, brings the aftermath of the bombing of Pearl Harbor to life through the the reimaging of the hardships and discrimination that Jeanne and her family endured while stationed at Manzanar. After the events of Pearl Harbor, seven year-old Jeanne is evacuated with family to an internment camp in which the family will be forced to adapt to a life in containment. Through the writings of Jeanne herself, readers are able to see Jeanne’s world through her words and experience the hardships and sacrifices that the Wakatsuki family had to go through. Farewell to Manzanar takes the reader on a journey through the eyes of a young American-Japanese girl struggling to be accepted by society.
Coming-of- age of Jeanne in Farewell to Manzanar Introduction Farewell to Manzanar, by Jeanne W. Houston and James Houston, published in 1973, is an autobiographical memoir that describes Jeanne 's experiences during World War II when she and her family were imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor because they were Japanese-Americans. Jeanne in the book recounts the indignities she and her family faced in the camp and shows how the conditions at the camp created not only physical discomfort but also emotional suffering leading to the disintegration of the family. After revisiting the site of the camp after several years and on retrospection she realizes that today she is a stronger person because of her difficult experiences. In the book, she argues that her experiences during the war and after the war, the prejudices she had to face before and after the war made her
December 7th, 1941, the Japanese bombed the American naval base, Pearl Harbor. The occurrence of Pearl Harbor had depleted all trust between the two races. America’s response, conducted by President Theodore Roosevelt, lead to the interment of all Japanese-Americans. The first hand account Farewell to Manzanar written by Jeanne Wakatsuki, created a vivid illustration of what life was like being a young interned Japanese-American. In more detail, the struggles they were faced with after Manzanar were far greater ultimatums her and her family begrudgingly had to overcome.
“Mary Tsukamoto once said ‘I knew it would leave a scar that would stay with me forever. At that moment my precious freedom was taken from me’” (Martin 54). The Betrayal. The attack on Pearl Harbor.
I find Ho Chi Minh’s letter far more persuasive than Lyndon B. Johnson’s. Using ethos, pathos, and logos, he forms a solid argument that supports Vietnam’s stance on the war. He appeals to one’s emotions by expressing the injustices faced by his people, writing, “In South Viet-Nam a half-million American soldiers and soldiers from the satellite countries have resorted to the most barbarous methods of warfare, such as napalm, chemicals, and poison gases in order to massacre our fellow countrymen, destroy the crops, and wipe out villages.” Words such as “massacre” and “barbarous” highlight the severity of these crimes, and invoke feelings of guilt and remorse in the reader. Chi Minh uses ethos to support his logos, or logical, views on the
Thesis statement: Though many speculate that the act of dropping the atomic bomb on Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) while not doing so on Europe (Germany and Italy) was racially motivated, racism played little to no role in these bombings. The United States of America and her allies were willing to end World War II at any cost, had the atomic bombs been available they would have been deployed in Europe. In the 1940’s there is no doubt that the United States of America was engulfed by mass anti-Japanese hysteria which inevitably bled over into America’s foreign policy. During this period Japanese people living in both Japan and the United States of America were seen as less that human.
Migrations from different countries led The United States of America to become a melting pot, a pot which contains a variety of people and their cultures all around the globe. Therefore, their cultural development process in terms of art and politics affected the world and us itself. Throughout the history of The United States of American, there were many movies, singers and political events that represented their culture to the world. But in this very paper, in terms of representing the U.S. with its culture, I will point out the significances of the movie Saving Private Ryan, the singer Louis Daniel Armstrong, and political event The Emancipation Proclamation. American patriotism is Americans cultural attachment to the United States as their homeland.