Tyler Horning/Collegian
Michael Medved spoke on “War Films, Hollywood, and Popular Culture” during this week’s CCA.
Each semester, hundreds of people register for the Center for Constructive Alternatives (CCA). This semester, the CCA, entitled “War on Film,” attracted more students than usual.
According to Tim Caspar, director of seminars, this CCA has been one of the greatest turnouts in CCA history. Approximately 340 registered for the CCA, excluding those who dropped at the last moment. Even with those who dropped it, Caspar estimated around 330 participants.
Due to the great number of people attending the CCA, it was closed for credit to everyone except to those who had already registered. Students hoping to register at the last moment were turned away by a large orange sign on the doors of Moss Hall.
“This is the first time we have had to close the CCA since I have been here,” Caspar said.
The enrollment was so large they wanted to make sure they could physically fit everyone into Phillips Auditorium.
Surprisingly, even October's CCA, “Ronald Reagan and the Sesquicentennial of the Republican Party,” which was very popular among students and guests, did not match this week's CCA in numbers. The Reagan seminar only registered around 200 guests, 100 less than “War on Film.”
According to guest lecturer Lawrence H. Suid, author of Guts and Glory: The Making of the American Military Image in Film , our attraction to war films is not the historical significance. Suid said Americans are attracted to war films because they allow them to vicariously experience what war might have been like, a potential problem when the depiction of war is flawed.
“War on film excites patriotism; its purpose is not historical value,” Suid said. “However, if it is based on events that didn't take place then their patriotism is not based on reality. If someone turned to movies for historical value, I would think them naïve.”
Monday night, Paul Fussell from the University of Pennsylvania echoed the same sentiments. Fussell, a war veteran, said he was mostly disturbed by war movies because they do not accurately depict war.
While most of the speakers spoke in opposition to the historical value of war films, they did not disregard their entertainment value. In fact, many of the lecturers said their favorite movies were war films; they just didn't want them confused with actual historical facts.
Angie Pytel, CCA faculty roundtable member and assistant professor of biology, said she thought the CCA lecturers conveyed a well-rounded perspective on the purpose of war films.
“I don't go to war movies to get history, and while they might not educate or accurately depict war, they do give you a sentiment and awareness about war,” Pytel said.
Talk show host Michael Medved said while war movies do not succeed in depicting the acctualities of war, he is less concerned with the films providing a false sense of patriotism as he is with movies portraying that all violence is pointless, where there is no distinction between justified violence and unjustified violence.
The movies ranged in date from 1938 to 1977, representing some of the first major films about war instead of recent films such as Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. Sophomore Marcella Kerrigan said the films were uncommon from contemporary films and very suspenseful.
Nonetheless, for whatever reason students were attracted to “War on Film,” the CCA attracted one of the largest numbers of people.