In this chapter, I explore the way in which Hollywood films have portrayed the killing of civilians during wartime. My focus is on how American feature films have depicted American combatants killing an enemy that is not a conventional soldier. I focus on two sets of war films to explore the representation of civilian killing: films about World War II (both from the wartime period, and recent), and films about the post- 9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. My contention is that the way in which the American killing of civilians in wartime has been dealt with has changed substantially.

There have been more than 1,300 movies made that take place in the context of World War II, and most of these are American. During the 1941–55 period, American combat films concentrated on the depiction of air war. In these films bombings were repeatedly shown, but victims – even when their existence was implied or even commented upon – were not seen. Moreover, bombings were repeatedly justified as necessary for the war effort. More modern World War II films, however, usually focus not on bombers and bombings, but rather on infantry warfare. In these films American soldiers are killing – and being killed – by enemy soldiers. The killing of civilians through allied bombs disappears from the conceptualisation of World War II. It would seem that our contemporary horror at the idea of mass killing in war shapes the way we imagine and portray World War II. This has important repercussions culturally and politically. It allows the continued reification of World War II as the epitome of a just war, and makes contemporary wars seem excessively violent and even criminal.

In this context the wars of the post-1945 period seem violent in a new way. Films produced after 9/11 that take place during the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan do sometimes show American soldiers considering the decision to kill, and sometimes even killing, non-traditional combatants. In these cases the victim is often portrayed as an enemy fighter that looks like a civilian but is actually dangerous. These scenes of killing, nonetheless, are made immediate and personal. Directors are not relying on the viewer to imagine mass death, but rather personalising and detailing a specific moment of violence.