How Pearl Harbour Shaped the Action Movie Industry
Isabella Tiani
Visual Culture 1500
Terryl Atkins
November 25, 2024
In the 2001 film Pearl Harbour produced by Michael Bay starring Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett, the storyline follows two friends who fought the attack on Pearl Harbour. The film follows perspectives of survival, heartbreak, love and loss in a way that makes viewers feel the emotional turmoil.
The scene from the movie that I decided to pull from was one of the final scenes in the film. Rafe and Danny are laying in a field whilst fighting Japanese military personnel. Danny suffers multiple gunshot wounds. Rafe and Danny lay, as Danny is slowly knocking on deaths door. The audience only saw the men sharing their last moments together, alive.
The portrayed emotions are strictly followed through editing, filming and the overall production of the movie. The shots within the scene depict what is inevitable. The emotions are heightened amongst the scene as the two men were best friends who faced deep trauma and adversity with one another. The men knew their role in the war and for that to be to fight for their country. The two men represented the “American dream” as they took on the roles of heterosexual Caucasian men who did not show weakness and fought in honour of their brothers.
The speed of the scene is slow for these friends to say their final goodbyes. The quality of the scene focuses not on Danny’s near future, but what it will mean for Rafe. The ability amongst the characters relies on not only the power dynamic, but the circumstances among it. As Rafe is
Michael Bay, “Pearl Harbor” Touchstone Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer, Inc (2001) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213149/mediaviewer/rm2150209536/?ref_=tt_ov_i
Screen Zone, “Pearl Harbor Danny’s Death” YouTube December 14, 2016, video , 2:00-3:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofAjy9r6mV4
trying to keep his friend alive, not only for Danny but himself, we see a relationship that has had many ups and downs end in a devastating way. Rafe tells Danny that he is going to be a father, but Danny tells him that Rafe will be the father of his child.
Whilst we take apart the production aspect, we see how the editing adds to the integrity of the piece. In the minute clip, there is a total of twelve edits. In the point of view, we see what Rafe sees, what Danny sees and an outside perspective of the best friends last dying wishes. The camera seems natural as death is, so the multiple perspective showcases how death does not only affect the victim, but the surroundings too.
Action movies follow a specific understanding of violence, love and loss. We can watch an event being played out without having a narration which takes away from the emotional integrity of the film at hand. In the article “Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action Movie”, written by Eric Lichtenfeld, the author states, “The action genre, like any other, is a concoction of elements- some a matter of plot- some mythological, some purely cinematic- that creates for the audience a sense of ritual and a host of expectations.” In the film Pearl Harbour, it follows the action sequence as Danny is to die to make the movie better. By killing him off, the action is determined. Action movies follow a scheme in which reality plays a major role and what puts the play on is violence, death, love and loss.
Eric Lichtenfeld, “Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle and the American Action Movie” Wesleyan University Press (2007) https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jHhbLBgVLS0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR10&dq=action+speaks+louder&ots=49JfxeK2OX&sig=e70_Qtc-rLlrHkAvTOZrBkFXYUM#v=onepage&q=action%20speaks%20louder&f=false
With Pearl Harbour being an action movie, the statistics amongst the movie industry reflected deep success. According to Box Office Mojo, the movie Pearl Harbour raked in $198,542,554 million dollars within the domestic region. Within the Europe, Middle Eastern and African region, there was a total of $53,514,900 million dollars. Within the Asia Pacific Region, there was a total of $11,107,862 million dollars made.
Real life and movies tend to coincide with one another in a confusing, yet astonishing way. In the article, “American’s Revenge Against Japan in Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbour Movie (2001): A Sociological Approach”, we see the tale of Pearl Harbour told in an American lens. “Roger Ebert (2001) said there is no sense of history, strategy or context; according to this movie, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour because American cut off its oil supply, and they were down to an 18-month reserve. Would going to war restore the fuel sources.” With this misinformation spread in such a high volume through film, it allows for wrong education that can lead to assumptions. The consequences fall not only on the Americans who make these wrongful predictions from the film whilst not looking into the history of the initial attack, but also the Japanese. Japanese people face implicit bias, racism and prejudice strictly due to a war that they were not a part of. Pearl Harbour was a tragedy that is to be remembered as a triumph, for the Americans then and now
Box Office Mojo, “Pearl Harbor (2001) ” Box Office Mojo https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0213149/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Anggiet Noviana Puteri, “American’s Revenge Against Japan in Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbour Movie (2001): A Sociological Approach”, School Of Teacher Training And Education Muhammadiya University Of Surakarta (2011) https://eprints.ums.ac.id/11882/2/cover%26bab1.pdf
and their survival, but the Japanese who created a whirlwind for their people and their everlasting impact of racism with the biggest force in history pushing towards them, America.
Bibliography
Anggiet Noviana Puteri, “American’s Revenge Against Japan in Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbour Movie (2001): A Sociological Approach”, School Of Teacher Training And Education Muhammadiya University Of Surakarta (2011) https://eprints.ums.ac.id/11882/2/cover%26bab1.pdf
Bay, Michael. “Pearl Harbour” Touchstone Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer, Inc (2001) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213149/mediaviewer/rm2150209536/?ref_=tt_ov_i
Box Office Mojo, “Pearl Harbor (2001) ”Box Office Mojo https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0213149/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Lichtenfeld, Eric. “Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle and the American Action Movie” Wesleyan University Press (2007) https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jHhbLBgVLS0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR10&dq=action+speaks+louder&ots=49JfxeK2OX&sig=e70_Qtc-rLlrHkAvTOZrBkFXYUM#v=onepage&q=action%20speaks%20louder&f=false
Screen Zone. “Pearl Harbor Danny’s Death” YouTube December 14, 2016, video, 2:00-3:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofAjy9r6mV4
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