Classics of Our Century: A Film History of the Twenty-First Century in the Making
Listening Guide
Ridley Scott’s motive: dealing with reality.
What criticisms have been made of Black Hawk Down?
What does the opening quotation, ‘Only the dead have seen the end of war,’ mean?
Four phases of Hollywood war films.
September 11 brought Black Hawk Down forward in theaters.
Why are there relatively few films about the Gulf War?
Black Hawk Down follows Saving Private Ryan.
Kathryn Bigelow and Ang Lee emphasize war’s addictive power.
The bodily thrill of watching Black Hawk Down.
Why the American soldiers are hard to tell apart.
Scott is more interested in authentic human reactions.
Selected Quotes
Lao Ma: The film asks what war actually feels like. On a battlefield, people do not debate politics.
Lao Ma: Vietnam films portray dehumanization caused mainly by an unjust war. Bigelow and Ang Lee instead show the sensory and neurological shock of the battlefield—war itself is highly addictive.
Ah Wu: Scott wants to film ordinary people’s most authentic reactions under wartime conditions.
2026.08.20
Audio in Chinese
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