Religion and Moral Injury in American Vietnam War Films

This essay focuses on the representation of religion in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987), Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and Brian de Palma's Casualties of War (1989). It explores how religion intersects with the experience of moral trauma at an individual...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of religion and film 2021-10, Vol.25 (2), p.0_1-32
Main Author: Brewer, Mary F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American history
Armed forces
Casualties
Christianity
Cultural change
Culture
Ethics
Kubrick, Stanley
Medical personnel
Military personnel
Moral injury
Motion pictures
Perceptions
Post traumatic stress disorder
Religion
Stone, Oliver
Suicides & suicide attempts
Trauma
Veterans
Vietnam War
War
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Summary:This essay focuses on the representation of religion in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987), Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and Brian de Palma's Casualties of War (1989). It explores how religion intersects with the experience of moral trauma at an individual level, and how the films portray moral injury to be as damaging an aspect of war trauma for Vietnam veterans as grievous physical harm. Further, the essay considers how moral injury is a fundamental component of the collective trauma the nation experienced and, in turn, the culture wars that erupted during and after the war in Vietnam.
ISSN:1092-1311
1092-1311