Conclusion

This chapter provides a brief comparison between the categories Paul Storey identified as the defining characteristics of the Vietnam War film and The Hurt Locker. It examines how far the films made about Vietnam influenced those made about Iraq and Afghanistan. It also investigates how American films about the wars in which it participates tend to embody and perpetuate very similar ideas as the Vietnam War regardless of the enemy it is fighting or the complicated nature of the geo-political conflicts. The chapter talks about the immersion of The Hurt Locker in the ideological parameters of the culture which made it. It explores the ambiguity at the heart of The Hurt Locker and challenges some of the assertions of its film-makers.