How Hollywood Sanitises History Using Pearl Harbour as an Example

Good evening and welcome to you all. I have been given the honour of delivering the opening speech for the 2007 Annual Brisbane Film Festival.

When I was asked to make this speech I imagined you would all like to hear about how wonderful the films are you about to see; how technically correct and innovative they are and how great is the acting and the photography you will witness. I am sure this is true of many of them but I feel compelled to take a more serious approach tonight.

In this modern age of technology and information we are often bombarded with slick advertising and attention grabbing images and no where is this more obvious than in the movie making industry. Movie memories of historical events often stick in our minds better than the stories we read in history books and for this reason can distort our view of history.

Hollywood blockbusters are often guilty of sanitizing history for their audience to make a movie more palatable, watchable and therefore more profitable. This was very common in the 1940’s when there were many World War II movies produced and American film producers wished to depict America as the ‘conquering hero’ of that war. It was as if producers were compelled to warp public opinion to ensure that the enemy was always seen as evil and Americans as always good and righteous. This desire to portray history in a flattering light seems to have lasted to today.

A good example of this is the movie Pearl Harbour although I don’t see why it is called that when only about 40 minutes of the entire 3 hours is actually about what happened there. The main story is underpinned by a romantic discourse which focuses on an unbelievable love triangle between Rafe McCormick (Ben Affleck) Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale) and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett). Rafe and Danny are the brave pilots from the US Army Air Corp, one dyslexic, one abused as a child and Evelyn the dedicated military nurse torn between the two, set against the backdrop of war.

The real story of Pearl Harbour, one of spectacular defeat is pushed aside in the interest of profit. It seems obvious that the producers desire to sell seats in movie theatres led them to creating a more personal and uplifting story of human love and heroism in order to connect with the audience.

The promoters of this movie hailed it as a spectacular war adventure. Firstly, not a single person involved in the bombings that day would describe it as an adventure and the idea that brave, heroic individuals can make the difference to the outcome of such devastation is sentimental rubbish. In one part of the movie, dyslexic Ben Affleck declares, "I'm not here to read a manual; I'm here to be a pilot!"

Pearl Harbour was a major defeat for the Americans but you wouldn’t think so after watching this film. The dramatic representation of individual heroism by unbelievable characters creates confusion about the real nature of war. Every scene feels like an advertisement for something, whether it be ‘love’, glorifying the US military or promoting American social values. The American ideology that self sacrifice for the good of ones country and the desire to make a difference is reflected in one scene where a British Squadron Leader asks Rafe, “Are all yanks as anxious to die?”

In an effort to sell this movie worldwide the producers had to be careful of the political and cultural discourse they used and how it represented the Japanese. The producer made sure that the Japanese point of view was expressed portraying the Japanese as being forced to go to war on America. At one point a Japanese commander is shown suffering pangs of guilt while declaring to his men, "we have no choice but war,” and that “Japan's oil supply was at stake.” The idea to attack on Pearl Harbour was depicted coming from a small. elite military group in Tokyo and not what the Japanese people as a whole, wanted. The Japanese are shown as following orders rather than behaving aggressively, acting in self defense against oil embargoes placed on them by America. This deliberate twisting of historical fact means more worldwide appeal and greater profits.

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