Week 2: The Steel Helmet

Film#2: The Steel Helmet, dir. Samuel Fuller

During the Korean War, after being wounded in a skirmish, strong battle-worn and cantankerous Sergeant Zack is rescued by a young orphaned South Korean boy. Together they encounter and join a squad of American soldiers. The group stumbles upon a Buddhist temple where they decide to set up an operating post, believing it to be empty. This film was the first American film about the Korean War and is noted for its confrontation of American racism--particularly a scene wherein a North Korean Communist prisoner baits a Black American soldier and a Japanese American soldier over the inequalities they suffer both in the U.S. military and at home. The Korean soldier also makes the first-ever mention in a Hollywood movie of the internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II. 

• As you watch, think about how the film portrays the U.S. military. The Cold War and its proxy wars marked the age of racially-integrated U.S. troops. What themes do you think the film is trying to communicate about this? Despite portraying soldiers of color in a way that acknowledges the racism they faced, do you think the film still endorses U.S. military involvement in Asia? Does the film critique such military involvement? Moreover, think about the contrast between the portrayal of the Japanese American soldier Tanaka (played by Chinese American actor Richard Loo) and the Korean Communist soldier--despite both being Asian characters, is one portrayed as more "foreign" than the other? If so, why do you think that is? Which character is portrayed as the film's "hero"?

Week 2 Slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14Uh32kCjbm4JKWsAemwxcLYIutS_nxQOQ655yEJjJCo/edit?usp=sharing