Hollywood's Romantic Portrait of Soldiers a Disservice

In 1957, French author Roland Barthes published his book Mythologies. In it, he described what he saw as modern myths- everything from wrestling to how Romans are depicted in films. To Barthes, a modern myth was the way an idea was presented in order to get you to believe it. “However paradoxical it may seem, myth hides nothing,” he writes, “its function is to distort, not to make disappear.” (Barthes, Mythologies p. 120) Although he does not write of it, one of the most prevalent modern myths is the myth of the hero.
Although many modern hero myths exist, the one I will focus on is the American soldier. I do not aim to belittle or lessen the sacrifice made by those who serve; rather, I seek to explore how imagery of our soldiers influence our views of them.
The way American soldiers are shown to the public is odd. There are countless movies and stories about them, but most are either fictional or glamorized. These accounts often focus on both the heroism of these individuals and the pain and horror they experience, in order to make us sympathize with them. Take, for example, perhaps the most universally acclaimed war movies of all time, Saving Private Ryan.
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