xx Introduction inherently honorable intentions and values, no doubt impact how Ameri- cans see themselves and the wars their country has fought—and may fi ght. Establishing an American cinematic “ownership” of guerilla resistance relentlessly reassures Americans of both their essential justness and good- ness and that they are hopelessly disadvantaged in the struggle against their “enemy,” whoever that may be. Th e chapters that follow explore how the American guerilla narrative has informed the representation of confl ict in American fi lm over the last century, shaping and refl ecting—and in some rare cases questioning and challenging—how Americans view themselves and their nation as it relates to violence and armed confl ict. Chapter 1, “Th e Indian Fighters on Screen,” serves as a short introduc- tion to the concepts of the “Indian Fighter” or “frontiersman hero” as they are imagined on screen, demonstrating the power of Hawkeye, Davy Crockett, and Daniel Boone as American hero fi gures and quintessential examples of the kind of warrior Americans are “born” to be, one who fi ghts and defeats Indians using their own ways. Chapter 2, “Imagining Revolutionaries,” examines how the American guerilla narrative struc- tures most fi lms on the American Revolution, arguing that the narrative frames the development of an “American” identity as parallel with an insurgent one. Becoming an “Indian fi ghter” guerilla in these fi lms—not simply serving with the militia or Continental Army—is equated with embracing one’s “Americanness.” Chapter 3, ‘Honorable’ Outlaws,” dis- cusses the American guerilla narrative as it is present in fi lms—often but not always westerns—on the Civil War era. Here, the guerilla narrative is generally deployed in literal and rhetorical defense of the Confederacy, with heroes who are often Southern partisans: guerillas who wage war, kill, and steal in service of the South. What is interesting, however, is that these guerillas are often contrasted with mere “bandits” who do the same things for plunder and material gain. Th e guerilla heroes of these fi lms are lauded for their skill, honor, and absolute faith to the South the morally bankrupt values of the cause for which they fi ght—slavery, racism, insti- tutional white supremacy—are almost universally ignored. Chapter 4, “Global Freedom Fighters,” is an examination of the American guerilla narrative in World War II–era confl icts. Here, American guerillas func- tion in two ways, both of which show Americans as the global center- point of resistance to Axis aggression. Americans here are shown as fi ghting overseas in resistance groups, and emerging as leaders or motiva- tors of the native partisans, often with far more success or pure dedica- tion than the natives with whom they fi ght. In other fi lms, the guerilla heroes are ostensibly “foreign”—French, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Chinese, or Russian—but through casting, performance, and production design, are presented as American . Such fi lms appropriate the valiant
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