War Isn't Hell, It's Entertainment ─ Essays on Visual Media and the Representation of Conflict

Real war is a cruel theater of death, yet it is also an exciting narrative exploited for national, political and commercial purposes and turned into numerous films, television shows, computer games, news stories and reenactment plays. These essays examine the relationship between war, visual media and entertainment from a number of academic perspectives. Key topics include how war is used as an imaginary site to stage dramas; how boundaries between war, media, and entertainment dissolve as new media alters the formal qualities of representation; how entertainment is used to engage audiences; and what effect products of war and entertainment have on consumers of popular culture.

Rikke Schubart is director of studies and associate professor of literature, media and cultural studies at the University of Southern Denmark. Fabian Virchow holds an interim professorship at the Center for Conflict Studies at Philipps University, Germany. Debra White-Stanley is an assistant professor of film studies at Indiana University and Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Tanja Thomas is a professor of communication studies and media studies at The University of Lueneburg, Germany.