| This project uses the rhetorical concept of strategic ambiguity to analyze how U.S. war films from 2006 through 2011 framed the politics of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. I argue that, rather than presenting partisan propaganda or apolitical drama, these films purposefully ambiguated their political positions in order to please both supporters and opponents of the wars. I begin by examining how industrial constraints on depicting the politics the wars led to ambiguity as a representational tactic. Using the 2007 drama Grace Is Gone as a case study, I then conduct a qualitative and quantitative audience survey suggesting how viewers' can interpret the film's political positions. I conclude by arguing that, rather than criticizing Hollywood for a left- or rightwing bias in matters of war, we must instead understand how discourses of apoliticality serve the industry's military-industrial interests. |
