I think everyone can agree that war is a rather appalling thing, whether you believe that it is preventable or necessary. I don't believe any sane person would say that war is a good ole time. War sucks. It's painful, violent, intense, tragic, hopeless, the list can honestly go on for ever. Even though war can be described in these horrific ways, it can still be justified by the idea that all the pain and suffering is for a greater cause. This is how basically all war movies present war, Red Dawn included (even though it isn't technically about a real war). War is colored in this light that makes it seem horrendous while also making it seem like this great cause, something you should join to be a real hero. Slaughterhouse Five is different because I this book war isn't quit as intense as it is everywhere else. War is viewed in the same absurd way that Billy Pilgrim looks at everything else. The whole point of Slaughterhouse Five is to make war seem childish, while Red Dawn has the over arching theme of fighting for your home.
Though Red Dawn isn't about a real war and is so obviously not the best war movie out there, it has this great relatability to it. I have never had many strong opinions on war because it is a topic I feel quite ignorant about. I have never fought in a war and I don't experience it firsthand. This movie brought war to America, which in a way made it that much more terrifying, but for the first time in my life I felt like I understood war to some degree because "when you're fighting in your own backyard, and you're fighting for your family, it all hurts a little less and it makes a little more sense"(Jed Eckhert/Matt Eckhert in Red Dawn). This movie was so intense because it was a fictional war that in reality could happen at any moment. It portrayed a war that lives as the nightmare in the back of America's mind. This movie also presented the idea that war is okay when you are fighting for your home. This makes you wonder of there is justification for anyone who has been on the other side of any war involving America.
Slaughterhouse is in no way as fear inducing as Red Dawn. Red Dawn isn't as brutal as the majority of war movies but, Slaughterhouse's portrayal of war is still laughable in comparison. While war movies show us death and gore in the most graphic way, Billy Pilgrim describes a scene of someone bleeding out as snow turning "the color of raspberry sherbet". War is still by no means portrayed in a casual way but it is meant to make war seem like a joke. War is shown in a way that suggest it isn't a noble thing to die and to kill others. War isn't necessary and all the violence and suffering is born of foolishness.
There are a million answers to how war should be approached. Not I single one of them is necessarily wrong. War shouldn't be started but when it is we should make sure that it wasn't started in vain. We need to make sure all the deaths were worth something. The death of babies is never okay, but when there is greater cause it makes more sense and hurts a little bit less.
