Religious Pacifism and the Hollywood War Film: From Sergeant York (1941) to Hacksaw Ridge (2017)

Abstract

This chapter examines how the Hollywood war film accommodates and contains religious pacifism. Through comparison of Sergeant York (1941) and Hacksaw Ridge (2016), both of which tell the stories of religious pacifists who find themselves on the battlefield, this chapter describes how each film shows the transgressive nature of religious pacifism and puts in place containment strategies that seek to recuperate this radical anti-war belief system. I argue that in spite of this ideological recuperation the films still retain a strong sympathetic view of this form of pacifism, and that this testifies to the possibility that the audience is suspicious of the dominant pro-war narrative and may even desire an alternative, more pacific view of the world.