War Film: Morphological and Dramaturgical Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to conduct a morphological and dramatic analysis of the war film, as well as identify and characterize its most obvious subgenres. Main research approaches include morphological, culturological and sociocommunicative. The morphological analysis allowed to study the specifics of war film, to determine its genre conventions and dramaturgical structure. The culturological approach provided the determination of the basic cultural meanings, contained in war films. The sociocommunicative approach made it possible to analyze the war film from the point of view of the objectification of cultural meanings into the film and its following deobjectification by the viewer. The detailed dramaturgical and genre analysis of the war film allowed to single out three subgenres of the war film: warlike, warfare and anti-war. Warlike films are dedicated to conquest aggressive wars. They contain a message to forcing and exonerating the war, forming the image of the enemy. Warfare films show the course of defensive or liberation wars. War in this subgenre is an essential measure for the main character, a means of protection. The sides of the conflict in the anti-war film begin with confrontation, but then come to cross-cultural dialogue, consensus by means of cultural tolerance. Genre diffusion of war film is vast and multifaceted. The war film has the closest links with historical drama, epic film and melodrama. Combinations with the biopic, action, and adventure film genres are also quite common. There are genre priorities for different war film subgenres. For war-like, the epic genre is a priority, for warfare – action, for anti-war – adventure. The conventions of subgenres and types of conflicts are also revealed, providing their unique characteristics. The chapter proposes a new classification of the war film genre, consisting of warlike, warfare and anti-war films, and offers a solid justification for these subgenres in terms of morphological, dramatic, cultural and visual contexts. The trend of genre diffusion of the war film of the period of the second half of the 20th century – the first 15 years of the 21st century is revealed. The provisions and conclusions, set forth in this, chapter can be used in the process of film production when working on a war film. The revealed trends will serve as an effective help in choosing war film subgenre and related genres, effective conventions to increase audience interest. In addition, the scientific findings can be applied in the educational process of training future screenwriters and filmmakers in general.