Movie Reflection
Imagine waking up to another country’s armed military parachuting into your neighborhood with their tanks roaming the streets. That is exactly what happened in Dan Bradley’s 2012 remake film, Red Dawn. Residents of Spokane, Washington woke up to an invasion from North Korea. Their friends and neighbors were forced out of their homes and into lines to be accounted by North Korean officials. The movie follows a few teenagers who managed to escape. Throughout the film, they hide out from their invaders, training for battle. The small team of teenagers, calling themselves the Wolverines, end up wreaking havoc upon the foreigners. This movie displays many of the themes that we have discussed in class throughout the year. The team dynamic and how each member fit into the group was a large part of why they were so successful. A different way of thinking was required for the teenagers to gain the courage to fight for their freedom instead of giving up. Many different perspectives were needed for various tactics and creative plans for the group. In addition, maybe the attack would have never happened if a better democracy were in place, leading to better leadership in America. These are several of the themes seen in Red Dawn that tie directly back to some of our class discussions.
Possibly the most important theme of this film was the team dynamic and how the group worked together. Each individual had to know their place for the whole group to succeed. For any successful team, a great leader should be in place. The leader for the Wolverines was the oldest. In fact, he was just returning from a tour with army. As soon as the invasion took place, he orchestrated an escape of himself, his little brother, and a few of his brothers friends. He then trained the group in military tactics and led them to organized attacks on the North Koreans. Each member of the group recognized him as the leader as he was incredibly strict when he needed to be and whenever any of the teenagers became on edge or too emotional, he would talk to them privately, helping to keep them at ease. As far as the rest of the group, they understood that in order for their plans to work, they needed to toughen up and do whatever the leader needed them to do. As a teenager, it was obviously hard for them to just drop everything and go into battle but that is what the team needed for each and everyone. Sacrifices and hard decisions were made but those are exactly the types of things needed for the group dynamic to work.
Along with the group dynamic, multiple perspectives were needed for the team to be successful. Although they had a distinct leader, his leadership style had some qualities of both an authoritative leader and a democratic leader. Different ideas were pitched in from different people for plans of attack. Only one perspective would inhibit the creativeness needed to be successful even if that one perspective was the leaders’. Each member had different knowledge about an assortment of topics that led to a wide variety of viewpoints on their plans and tactics. This was a big part of the group’s cohesiveness and allowed for successful attacks.
With the situation the teenagers woke up to, it would be easy to have the mindset of just giving up and becoming a prisoner. One would think that there was nothing much for a few teenagers to do. Instead, the teenagers saw this as an opportunity to stand up and fight for their freedom. They gained control of their situation by escaping capture and control is one of the more important aspects of being able to form a positive outlook out of what can be seen as a negative situation. This opportunity was used in fighting their country’s captors and ended up turning a presumed hopeless situation into an actual battle.
An attack on the United States was made possible in the film likely because the plans for the attack were largely unknown to officials in the United States government. Otherwise, it is unthinkable that the enemies would just fly in and take control over the majority of America. This shortage of knowledge could have been from a lack of proper leadership from the government. It is possible that the government didn’t put much effort into the foreign affairs that are responsible for finding out and planning against the attacks such as the North Korean attack against the US. The responsibility of choosing a proper leader lies heavily on the shoulders of the citizens of the United States. Unfortunately, many citizens don’t actively participate in their democracy and this could lead to the election of a candidate that might not be the best fit to actually run the nation and provide effective defense strategies. It takes a great amount of courage and team cohesiveness for a group of teenagers to take on an entire military but these are a few of the themes through which this team accomplished the task.
Possibly the most important theme of this film was the team dynamic and how the group worked together. Each individual had to know their place for the whole group to succeed. For any successful team, a great leader should be in place. The leader for the Wolverines was the oldest. In fact, he was just returning from a tour with army. As soon as the invasion took place, he orchestrated an escape of himself, his little brother, and a few of his brothers friends. He then trained the group in military tactics and led them to organized attacks on the North Koreans. Each member of the group recognized him as the leader as he was incredibly strict when he needed to be and whenever any of the teenagers became on edge or too emotional, he would talk to them privately, helping to keep them at ease. As far as the rest of the group, they understood that in order for their plans to work, they needed to toughen up and do whatever the leader needed them to do. As a teenager, it was obviously hard for them to just drop everything and go into battle but that is what the team needed for each and everyone. Sacrifices and hard decisions were made but those are exactly the types of things needed for the group dynamic to work.
Along with the group dynamic, multiple perspectives were needed for the team to be successful. Although they had a distinct leader, his leadership style had some qualities of both an authoritative leader and a democratic leader. Different ideas were pitched in from different people for plans of attack. Only one perspective would inhibit the creativeness needed to be successful even if that one perspective was the leaders’. Each member had different knowledge about an assortment of topics that led to a wide variety of viewpoints on their plans and tactics. This was a big part of the group’s cohesiveness and allowed for successful attacks.
With the situation the teenagers woke up to, it would be easy to have the mindset of just giving up and becoming a prisoner. One would think that there was nothing much for a few teenagers to do. Instead, the teenagers saw this as an opportunity to stand up and fight for their freedom. They gained control of their situation by escaping capture and control is one of the more important aspects of being able to form a positive outlook out of what can be seen as a negative situation. This opportunity was used in fighting their country’s captors and ended up turning a presumed hopeless situation into an actual battle.
An attack on the United States was made possible in the film likely because the plans for the attack were largely unknown to officials in the United States government. Otherwise, it is unthinkable that the enemies would just fly in and take control over the majority of America. This shortage of knowledge could have been from a lack of proper leadership from the government. It is possible that the government didn’t put much effort into the foreign affairs that are responsible for finding out and planning against the attacks such as the North Korean attack against the US. The responsibility of choosing a proper leader lies heavily on the shoulders of the citizens of the United States. Unfortunately, many citizens don’t actively participate in their democracy and this could lead to the election of a candidate that might not be the best fit to actually run the nation and provide effective defense strategies. It takes a great amount of courage and team cohesiveness for a group of teenagers to take on an entire military but these are a few of the themes through which this team accomplished the task.