How Film
Portrayals of the Military Influence Public Opinion About the Military
In military public affairs, public opinion is key to
maintaining a positive
image. Public affairs practitioners work each day to create, interpret, and improve public
opinion. While public affairs practitioners are active in obvious perception forming
arenas, they often ignore the high-impact images they did not create. The images films
produce about the military and service members are wide-reaching and salient. The average
person, with little or no military affiliation, watches these movies for entertainment and
often ends up with much more.
It is well known that televised media are instrumental in forming opinions and influencing
public perception (Benson, 1967). In the current pilot study, study reviewed relevant
research regarding the role of movies in perceptions and investigated the correlation
between military-themed movies and perceptions of the U.S. Armed Forces. In an average
movie, the viewer is bombarded with roughly 90 minutes of intense images. While the
average movie go-er realizes these are fictional portrayals of military life, such images
are too strong to ignore (Griffin, 1994) and can be used non-consciously by people in
forming opinions (Benson, 1967). If such movies constitute a majority of the exposure a
person has to the military, this body of research asserts that the person will then draw
upon those images when considering military affairs and when forming opinions and making
decisions about the military.