• American Studies
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.155-182
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• 2021

This study explores how American war films modify or reenact American exceptionalism depending on political and social situations in the United States. To this end, it analyzes the two war films, Saving Private Ryan and We Were Soldiers that were released before and after the 9/11 attacks as a critical juncture in the twenty first century, respectively. While the former conducts a partial modification on American exceptionalism in order to restore the national identity and moral authority of the United States lost ever since the Vietnam War, the latter demonstrates a complete reenactment of American exceptionalism in accordance with the foreign policy of the Bush administration and neoconservatism. It concludes with the illumination that the examination of American war films within the framework of American exceptionalism is efficacious in understanding from a broad perspective how American exceptionalism is utilized depending on political and social situations in the United States.