by Marshall Chisholm

Created on: November 23, 2009   Last Updated: November 24, 2009

In John Milius's 1984 film Red Dawn, besides the obvious theme of world war three there is another message presented: the death of innocence. The films depicts a possible future ( for us this future's time period has long since passed) where the cold war ignites into an all out assault on the United States. The communist countries are seen as evil invaders that unite to strike the US during its weakened state after Vietnam; the US has only itself to respond to the onslaught as Europe avoids involving itself in the conflict. This movie works as patriotic inspiration for teens, though it was released during a time when even the slightest amount of patriotic propaganda was viewed to be in poor taste. However all this is brought to our attention as a form of patriotic revival for the 80's.

The heroes in the film consist of a group of stereotypical teenagers in high school that band together in order to liberate their country. The group is thrown together after their school is raided by paratroopers during the middle of the day. These children are euphemisms of a true response force that the government would normally provide. They represent the idea of the underdogs prevailing against superior odds and superior numbers. However their very involvement in the war suggests the nation as a whole losing its persona of innocence. The war was brought to us, yet we respond with the most unlikely of forces as a countermeasure.

The United States was in a moral depression in the 80's with the aftermath of the Vietnam war. During this time the cold war was looming over the shoulders of the allied countries and any patriotic advertisement was looked down on. It simply was seen as a slap in the face of vets after they realized the utter pointlessness of the war, not to leave out how we were seeking to make amends with other nations and flaunting our own country's nationalism was not a way to get on their good graces. This film was simply released at a bad time, when the other countries were assessing our actions in Vietnam.

Walter Wagner, a contributor in the American Journal of Sociology, has an article called The Role of Movies in Morale. In this article he discusses the effects of speakers, advertisements, and films on the passion of the masses. He describes movies as a medium for the conveyance of clarification, entertainment, and inspiration. The communists and Nazis used the idea that they had a destiny as a superior race to control the world and that they were involved

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