Mythic Analysis of "Red Dawn"
... Teamsters,“ 2001). This can also be viewed through the lens of manifest destiny. The mindset that progress must go forward regardless of cost is very alive here. In the first scene after the title sequence, the camera zooms in towards a statue of Theodore Roosevelt in front of a school. A low angle shot highlights its important before focusing on a plaque with his quote, “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” The statue is seen multiple times in the film, as the protagonists revisit their captured hometown. The choice of Roosevelt is telling. Roosevelt was an active participant during the Spanish-American War, before his presidency. Even though factually inaccurate, the legend of his charge up San Juan hill has become part of American cultural history as an example of virtuous personal bravery in battle. A little bit below the obvious war hero morals are the elements of foreign intervention. The Spanish-American war moved many island nations from the Spanish sphere of influence into the American sphere. The United States had questionable rationale for going into the war, with sugar industry interests being prominent influences. The Unites States had problems in many of its new territories, because often the guerilla fighters who were fighting for independence from Spain continued fighting for freedom from American influence (“The World of 1898,” 1998). There is irony in using a President who faced such resistance in a movie that glorifies the guerilla warfare of the high school students. Then again, Americans have a fascination with the guerilla fighters that exists on the level of cultural myth. This can be seen in the American infatuation with the minutemen, guerilla fighters who battled the Native Americans in the 17th century and the British in the Revolutionary War (Melnyk, 2003). The minutemen have statues in Concord, MA and Lexington, MA built in their honor and the name minuteman appears in places such as the company Minuteman, which sells vacums, and the U.S. LGM-30 Minuteman III, a missle. This is a contrast to the attitudes being espoused in the current situation in Iraq, where the Unites States is the occupying force and our enemies use guerilla tactics. Moreover, many of the tactics disparaged when used by the Iraqi insurgency are presented in a sympathetic light within “Red Dawn.“ This list has been compiled in the weblog “Flogging the Simian” by Soj, Wolverines sneak into town and pose as civilians but then set off bombs. Almost all of the equipment, guns and weapons the Wolverines own and use are stolen. The Wolverines ambush convoys all the time. The Wolverines plant improvised explosive devices along the road. The Wolverines use the civilian population to gain intelligence about the occupiers. The Wolverines have several 'safe houses' with people in/near town. The Wolverines steal and stash heavy weaponry. The Wolverines use children to lure occupation forces to their deaths. The Wolverines dress the same as civilians and easily 'melt' into town. The Wolverines execute prisoners, traitors in their own ranks and civilians who cooperate with the occupiers. The Wolverines openly disdain the Geneva Convention when it comes to captured prisoners. One of the reasons the Iraqi guerillas are so vehemently hated in the U.S. may be mythical in root. Americans are supposed to be the valiant underdog, fighting the long odds with grim determination, using the support of the people against the invader. The fact that U.S. enemies are fitting the mythical context Americans like to picture themselves in could produce extra hostility. Within “Red Dawn” hostility is directed towards gun control measures. After the initial invasion, the streets of the town are littered with wrecked cars and dead bodies. The camera focuses on a bumper sticker on one of the cars that reads, “You can have my gun when you can pry it from my cold dead hands.“ Predictably enough, the next shot is of a Russian soldier taking a gun from the hands of the car's dead owner. Later on a list of registered gun owners is seized from a sporting goods store. The list is used to round up all gun owners in a nod to the anti-registration stance of gun owners and the National Rifle Association (“If we have licensing,” n.d.). Gun ownership in America is an important issue to a significant slice of the population. The power of the NRA suggests that gun contr...