Hymns for the Fallen

"In this dynamic study, Todd Decker explores the significance of sound in four historic cycles of Hollywood combat films. Made in the decades following the Vietnam War, these movies reflect the changing public psyche, with shifting perspectives on soldiers, veterans, sacrifice, catharsis, and memorialization. What the audience hears is key to evolving narrative and political strategies, and the insightful holistic focus on all soundtrack elements—dialogue, sound, and music—reveals the complex ethical territories and representational maneuvers of films that exploit violence while simultaneously making moral statements about violence."—Miguel Mera, City, University of London

"Decker has captured the aesthetic, emotional, and narrative sorcery of modern combat films' soundscapes, and has woven engaging and articulate close analyses of the musical, vocal, and sound-effect components that illustrate the most bombastic and sensitive filmic moments. He reveals the sonic elegance behind the tragic despair."—Vanessa Theme Ament, author of The Foley Grail: The Art of Performing Sound for Film, Games, and Animation

"By undertaking a meticulous and far-reaching sound analysis of a broad array of war films, Decker reveals hidden continuities that a normal audience member could never discern. This is extremely important work, because these hidden structures are subtly shaping contemporary attitudes to war, and to violence more broadly. Decker doesn’t merely describe how music, voice, and sound work in these films (although he does do this, admirably); he also helps us understand how these films work on us. Given the extent to which popular ideas about war and ethics are formulated through cinematic experiences, this book should be required reading."—J. Martin Daughtry, author of Listening to War: Sound, Music, Trauma, and Survival in Wartime Iraq