ABSTRACT
One of the remarkable features of American public life is the extent to which Hollywood studios continue to turn warfare into stunning media spectacles—a phenomenon shared with TV and video games, beneficiaries of the same high-tech assets. Violence and bloodshed, endemic to military combat, are now the artistic and technological essence of modern cinematic overkill, whether at the hands of Tony Scott or Oliver Stone. Rambo-inspired films are explicitly designed to evoke audience pride in and identification with the U. S. military as a vehicle of imperial power—tales of a warrior charged with fighting evildoers in Communist-infested Asian countries. Charles Derber and Yale Magrass write: "A militarized society develops a culture and institutions which program civilians for violence at home as well as abroad." Guns and the gun culture are celebrated in war, political rights, grassroots movements, and media culture. As the imperial system generates new cycles of blowback, ideological supports become all the more essential to legitimacy.
