At the start of Saving Private Ryan what effect is the American flag* supposed to have on the audience?

Question

*with light shining through it.

need sum1 whos good at english and media

plz help!! -10 points to best answer :)

Answer 1

Using the flag for both the opening and closing scenes is... well... a Hollywoodism. I suppose Spielberg wanted to convey to the audience that many an American died during the war and they died for their flag...

You can also add that in Leni Riefenstahl's "Tag der Freiheit - Unsere Wehrmacht" made in 1935 had a n**i flag was swaying in the wind - almost exactly like the scene from SPR, only with a different flag. :)

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Answer 2

It's an attempt to make people think America saved everyone in the war even though they could have saved thousands of lives by getting off their arses sooner

Answer 3

The image of the flag is supposed to instill a sense of pride & patriotism in the American citizen.

Answer 4

Patriotism give you a sense of pride for being american

Answer 5

Flag as symbol of national identity and pride - but I think it is being used ironically a potent symbol of a disastrous foreign policy which has continued to glorify war to the present time. You could argue that the US's tacit support of the n**i's in the 30's as being preferable to the threat of the spread of Communism led directly to Hitler managing to create Fortress Europe - and the need for Operation Overlord. The comparison's with Triumph of the Will and other work by Riefenstahl do not appear to be mere co-incidence. The fact that the film graphically goes on to effectively debink the myth about the glory of war is probably made the more chilling as a result of using this image.