Customer Description: Compare the Hollywood view of World War II with its view of the Vietnam conflict using films as primary texts. Start with the history of Hollywood and describe another movies on the subject. Discuss the conflict between individualism and community in the war film.

Paper Body:

First of all I'd like to say that television plays an important role in our life, and it becomes more and more dominant and begins to replace other spheres of cultural life such as music, theatre art, and even literature. Though, of course it is disputable question, and it is not my today's task. My task is to speak about the role of war films in Hollywood, that is more exactly to compare Hollywood view of the Second World War with its view of the Vietnam conflict. 

But before turning to the point, I think it is necessary to say at least a few words about the history of Hollywood, as it is closely connected with the discussed theme. It is important to note that cinema originated in France but developed in the USA. Here, towards the end of the 19th century, Thomas Edison perfected the movie camera. Between 1910 and 1929 a new film city appeared on the scene: Hollywood. By the way, the reason for its appearance was the suitable warm and clear weather and beautiful landscape (mountains, beaches, forests and deserts) for film shooting. It is here that the first film studios originated (Universal Studios, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount. The first stars of the film world, obviously ... silent as there was no sound yet, also began their careers. The public was fascinated by stars like Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin. 

In 1927 there was a grand revolution in the world of cinema: the addition of sound. In 1932 Technicolor arrived and made cinema very popular than ever. So popular, in fact, that the next 20 years are often called Hollywood's "golden age". In the 30s and 40s, millions queued every week to see films, which were produced by the top studios. These included Paramount, RKO, Warner Brothers and - most successful of all - Metro Goldwyn Mayer. MGM's motto was "more stars than there are in heaven". 

Competition was an important part of Hollywood's success. The reason was simple. Each studio wanted to make bigger, better films than its rivals. After 1948, though, movie tycoons began to face another kind of competition. And this time it wasn't from inside the cinema industry - it was from outside. 

America's TV revolution began in the years following World War Two. At first Hollywood didn't worry. After all - what was there to worry about? Only small, black and white pictures were produced at that time. But as more and more people bought sets, cinema queues began to get shorter. By the early 50s, weekly audiences had been cut in half to 50 million. Clearly the movie industry had a serious problem.

Studio bosses tried to solve the problem in several different ways. Basically, then, the Hollywood studios competed with television by making movies bigger, better and more realistic. Some of their ideas succeeded - others failed. But changes appeared. And it's a change that's continued ever since. Now it's high time to return to combat films and compare Hollywood films about Vietnam war and World War Two. 

It is important to note that multitude of movies that described these war events exist in the world of cinema. I think you agree with me that war films these days are evaluated largely on the basis of how realistically they present the experience of warfare. Movies have become increasingly free to train an unflinching gaze on the horrific violence of battle. But a movie can stare the external, physical violence of war in the face, and remain cautious, or even dishonest, when it comes to the mental and psychological violence inflicted on and by every soldier. The truly great, shattering war films are not necessarily those that show what war does to those who are killed or maimed but what it does to those who survive. Among such war films I can name "Action in the North Atlantic" and "The Deer Hunter". Hollywood view on these films is quite interesting. 

For instance, in "The dear Hunter" we can see not only fights in Vietnam but also a very complex and psychological plot as well as interesting characters. The main characters are three young factory workers from Pennsylvania who go to take part in Vietnam war. These friends go through difficult hardships and horror and after some time they appear in the hands of Vietcong. As a result they are brought to a prison camp and there, to their horror, they have to play Russian roulette against each other. Due to Michael they manage to escape but soon they are separated again. 
In my opinion, this film is a good example of strong friendship.

In the second film "Action in the North Atlantic" Hollywood describes characters of various ethnic groups. So and in this case we see emphasis on people in this war film. It was, by the way, very much a product of its time. Of course everything in the film, in my opinion, is quite predictable but nevertheless "Action in the North Atlantic" is worth seeing. Characters here match very much for wartime period. Street-smart lieutenant Bogie, kind father figure Raymond Massey, lovable characters Alan Hale and Sam Levene. And this is not the end of a list ...

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