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What Cannot Be Said. „Silent Dust“ (1949) and the Malevolent Veteran

  • “Silent Dust”, released in February 1949, was one of a group of films that explored the problems of the returning Second World War veteran. Although the maladjusted veteran is a feature of all major wars, it assumes an added significance in this instance because the Second World War, in Britain and America at least, is conventionally understood “almost universally as honourable and noble, fought with right and justice exclusively on the Allied side”. Angus Calder has argued that the dominant narrative constructed about the Second World War in Britain was what he terms the “myth of the Blitz”, a heroic myth of courage, endurance and pulling together. This myth, through its perpetuation in an enormous array of cultural practices - notably a cycle of combat films in the 1950s such as “The Dam Busters” (1955) and “Reach for the Sky” (1956) - became the accepted view and was almost impossible to dislodge. It was a myth that was officially ratified in the British state’s commemoration of the war and, like all dominant discourses, served to marginalise alternative constructions of the conflict, particularly those that represent it as a traumatic and possibly brutalising experience. By analysing “Silent Dust” in detail and in relation to its social and cultural context, I hope to recover this repressed narrative and restore it to its rightful place as an important discourse about the Second World War.

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Metadaten
Author:Andrew SpicerGND
URL:https://www.zeithistorische-forschungen.de/1-2005/4712
DOI:https://doi.org/10.14765/zzf.dok-2022
Parent Title (German):Zeithistorische Forschungen – Studies in Contemporary History
Publisher:ZZF – Centre for Contemporary History: Zeithistorische Forschungen
Place of publication:Potsdam
Document Type:Journal Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2005/01/10
Date of first Publication:2005/01/10
Release Date:2020/11/22
Volume:2
Issue:1
First Page:110
Last Page:118
ZZF Regional-Classification:Europa
Europa / Westeuropa
Europa / Westeuropa / Großbritannien
ZZF Chronological-Classification:1940er
1945-
ZZF Topic-Classification:Gewalt
Militär
Soziales
Politik
Kultur
Kommunikation
Gedächtnis
Medien
Emotionen
Visual History
Film
Friedens und Konfliktforschung
Erinnerung
Krieg
Web-Publications:Zeithistorische Forschungen
Studies in Contemporary History: Articles:1 / 2005 Kriege nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg
Publication type:Rezension
Licence (German):License LogoZZF - Clio Lizenz