"How Hollywood Portrayed the War in Afghanistan" Topic

…With the War in Afghanistan scheduled to end for the United States before Sept. 11, 2021, the conflict will have lasted almost 20 years. And yet, so far fewer than a dozen American movies have been made about the conflict…

From Military: link

WWII was culturally quite different. The last 20 years of war did not involve the whole populace, women did not have to go into factories so the men could to the front, scouts did not have scrap metal drives, and you could buy all of the gas and sugar that you wanted. Life was and is unchanged for the vast majority of Americans. Other than news from media outlets, you couldn't even tell that a war was going on.

It was quite different from a military standpoint as well. There were not huge battles to capture the imagination and hold Americans to the edge of their seat. Soldiers were being killed by the handfuls, not by the thousands. Soldiers were treated better than their Vietnam War brethren, but a lot of the public questioned some of the military actions, and the use of our troop in a perpetual war.

Radio, TV and the internet have made it impossible for any "democratic" nation to engage in war, short of when they are under attack.

The days of gun ship diplomacy, "butcher and bolt" and "native bashing" operations are long gone.

The U.S. could get away with a long "war" in Afghanistan because it has a professional army, not drafted, thus keeping the most of the population not involved by either being a veteran or knowing of anyone who is a veteran (7% today vs 48% in 1970), plus the low level of casualties rarely rose to the level or frequency that most would notice via the news media reporting.

As stated by 79thPA, the "wars" are different. WWI saw a 1 year of active operations, WWII saw a 2-3 years of operations, Korea under 3 years and mostly short term active operations since then with the exception of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan which most likely shows the decline in interest or personal investment by the "average" U.S. civilian.

If you are of the age group that went through the draft, or had members of your family and friends go through combat, you paid attention and still do. Most don't.

Was thinking the actual war movies, haven't heard of a US one yet but seen a few Russian movies of Afghanistan.

US combat deaths:
WWII: 291,557
Afghanistan: 2,312

link

It's not profitable. Why stink up feelings with a movie about a place most have no idea about and a situation that is historically unwinnable when super heroes and animation are easy. I've seen some foreign movies on it and some horror ones. And if a political statement was going to be the goal it's hard to do when your guy/gal becomes the one in office over "them". Don't forget the PRC market which will only allow certain movies.