Portrayal of the Enemy

As the common saying states, "history is determined by who writes it." The same can be said about all war literature. Because all humans have predispositions and unique experiences, they all will have different opinions regarding specific battles and entire wars even if they are not direct participants in battle. Even the most unbiased sources have inherent bias. Therefore, all literature about war is told from a specific perspective.

What I found interesting over this weekend is the portrayal of the enemy in modern films. Specifically, I examined how different countries with different types of governments portrayed the enemy forces. My findings accorded with my initial conceptions.

I compared how the Japanese in the American film "Pearl Harbor" was portrayed compared with how they were portrayed in the Chinese film "Battle of the Yalu River." In the 2001 Michael Bay film, the Japanese were portrayed with great dignity and honor. Although the film was obviously told from the perspective of the United States and almost the entire film is seen through the Americans eyes, during the scenes that show the Japanese, the audience is allowed to experience what they were feeling. Their military forces are seen as equal and even superior to the American counter parts in the movie and their commanders are portrayed with great courage. In truth, the Japanese won a great victory on December 7, 1941, at the movies showed that without bias. Although the audience is meant to experience patriotism and great sadness at the national tragedy, enough time is given to the Japanese, allowing the audience to also see the event from their point of view.

The same could not be said about the Chinese film. In this film, the Japanese are never shown on screen and it is obvious that not much time and effort was put into accurately portraying the Japanese fleet. The Chinese ships are seen as majestic hulks while the Japanese ships seem very shoddily made in the film. The film makes very feel that it is very ironic that the Chinese lost the battle. In reality, the Japanese ships were much more powerful that its Chinese counterparts. The defeat of the Chinese is not even shown clearly, as the attention is focused on a superior Chinese gunner who scores numerous hits on the Japanese flagship. Completely changing history, the film states that the Chinese ship ran out of ammunition and was sunk, but in reality, it was just outgunned and outmaneuvered. This movie is completely biased toward the Chinese and doesn't even portray the Japanese as a noble enemy.

Upon further reflection, the differences in portrayal of the enemy stems from the two different types of government in the United States and China. The USA has a free society with a government ruled by democracy. Impartiality is essential, so this quality is reflected in culture in films and other media. However, Chinese is ruled by a communist government and much effort is given to shape its people's thoughts. Therefore propaganda is important and films will also reflect such an inclination.