Bake a Cake!

Throughout the history of war movies, women have played unique and interesting roles. You might think though that it would be odd for a women to play a major role in a war movie and films like Black Hawk Down (2001) and Saving Private Ryan (1998) heed little or no attention to them. Interestingly the movies that do concentrate on women's roles in war films treat them solely as hurdles that need to be overcome in order to obtain absolute masculinity, or a threat to victory. I should add though that not all war films with women take this perspective, but many do (many films have also portrayed them as healers also).

When the main character in Jarhead (2005) thinks about his girlfriend and the time he can spend with her after his tour of duty is over, it motivates him to finish his tour of duty. But when disaster strikes and she hooks up with another man back at home, he feels as if life itself has abandoned his own body. His girlfriend is symbolic of everything he mises at home (friends, family, and security), without her he has now completely ascended his training and is no longer a slave to his desires back at home. In the film Pearl Harbor (2001) a completely different occurrence happens when two best friends find that they love the same girl. This builds animosity and distrust between the two. In a circle of aggression and hatred one character eventually dies and its not the girl. One of the two friends dies so that the others can live happily ever after, a morbid ending but symbolic of whether the things we fight for are really worth it.

Throughout many war films, women sadly seem to get a bad rap. This is primarily because of the anti-feministic mentality that military service takes. When you go into the army you don't bake cakes and read Shakespeare. You go in too fight for your country and learn to give it your all. Leaving behind things such as desires for love shows a strong sense of dedication for ones patriotism also. Love is not a bad thing, it just become complicated when war is involved.

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