- Directors wanted to discourage those in favor of fighting with the use of gruesome battle scenes, by putting the loss of humanity soldiers underwent on display, and by highlighting the mental health decline that troops experience.
- One of the biggest changes that war films underwent was the portrayal of battle scenes. Before the shift towards anti-war sentiment in America, battle scenes were used to make a soldier appear to be a country loving patriot who could make himself a hero by shooting as many “bad guys” as he could to save the day.
- After the change in feelings towards fighting in wars, Hollywood began to show much more gruesome, violent war scenes. Rather than taking a light-hearted, almost comedic approach, directors began to focus on blood, death, and super realism to expose the true nature of war to their viewers.
