The WWI poets' gritty portrayal of the battlefield was a radical departure from the heroic images Victorian readers were used to. Owen, Sassoon and Rosenberg established a standard for portraying warfare as gruesome, depressing, purposeless and largely immoral. This has remained in place for much of the 20th century and 21st centuries, except for a hiatus during WWII, and some more recent variations. In the 1970s and 80s, films focused on the war in Vietnam, including Apocalypse Now and Platoon, seemed to have a similarly cynical view to that of the WWI poets. This trend has continued to some degree with films about the wars in the Middle East, including Black Hawk Down and The Hurt Locker, although there have been some more traditionally patriotic examples, including American Sniper. Starting with Saving Private Ryan 20 years ago, there have been a series of nostalgic portrayals of WWII (sometimes seen as the last inarguably “good” war), and in recent years this has drastically increased, with films such as Dunkirk, Fury, Darkest Hour, Unbroken and Inglorious Basterds. There have also been various television portrayals, including the series Band of Brothers. How would you describe the current popular portrayal of military combat?

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