For No Reason at All: The Changing Narrative of the First World War in American Film

Summary

The years following the signing of the Armistice saw a transformation of attitudes regarding military conflict as America attempted to digest the First World War. During these years popular film culture in the US created new ways of addressing the impact of the war on individuals and society. Filmmakers created works that promoted their own ideas about the depiction of wartime service—ideas that frequently conflicted with established, heroic tropes for the portrayal of warfare on film.

Filmmakers spent years modifying existing standards and working through storytelling options before achieving a consensus regarding the fitting method for rendering war on screen. This process reached its peak during the Pre-Code Era of the early 1930s when the initially prevailing narrative would be briefly supplanted by an entirely new approach that questioned the premises of wartime service. The rhetoric of these films argued for an antiwar stance that questioned the wartime experience.

For No Reason at All: The Changing Narrative of the First World War in American Film discusses a variety of Great War–themed films made from 1915 to the present, tracing the changing approaches to the conflict over time.