This is Her Story, This is Her Song

This research examines American film representations of women in World War II from the war years, and in the immediate post-war years through America’s involvement in the Korean War (1941 -- 1953), and contrasts those onscreen depictions with re-interpretations from the 1980s and 1990s. The research presents various subgenres of the women’s wartime film, with the following classifications: (1) Women-in-Combat; (2) Women-at-Home; (3) Women-as-Spies; (4) Women-as-Distraction (musicals); and (5) Women Incarcerated. The purpose of this research is to examine initial social, cultural, and gender messages embedded within the films, and contrast that information with modern interpretations of the past. This research offers film re-interpretations as companions to the ongoing re-interpretations in American historical scholarship, in that the narrative continues to reflect the social and cultural climate in which it is introduced. This research is designed to contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between American history and the film medium, and the need for placing film products within the social and cultural context of their origin.