This week Charles and Aaron look back at Batch Thirteen and talk about the evolution of “boat action” on screen. Who is in charge, how do they feel watching the young boys and men die under their command, and why does Master and Commander feel

B13E03 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Dec 26th, 2023 1h 33m

This week Charles and Aaron enlist with Kirk and Co. and take to the stars. We talk more about leadership as well as delving into re-militarizing a non-military brand, the struggle to liberate the science fiction imaginary, and the music of Jam

B13E02 Captain Horatio Hornblower

Dec 19th, 2023 1h 28m

Chales and Aaron are back on the barky, this time with Gregory Peck pacing the quarter deck and a quarter of a million dollars in miniatures getting blown to smithereens. How do you produce sound after an era of silent films? How do you impor

B13E01 Master and Commander

Dec 18th, 2023 2h 3m

Charles and Aaron board the Surprise to talk about the neomacho, striping books of criticism for the sake of a simple story, and we revisit our conversation about child soldiers. “For England, for home, and for the prize!”Support the show thro

B12E04 You Are Already Dead

Dec 5th, 2023 1h 2m

Charles and Aaron look back on the first batch of films for Season 2. They talk Patton (1970), The Admiral: Roaring Currents (2014), and Twelve O'Clock High (1949). Leadership in the air, on land, and at sea, death armies and impossible odds; d

B12E03 The Admiral Roaring Currents

Nov 28th, 2023 1h 33m

Charles and Aaron lose their minds over turtle ships and talk about the most watched movie in Korean history. Impossible odds, death armies, and patriotism on screen; did we mention that you are already dead? Because you are already dead.Suppo

B12E02 Twelve O'Clock High

Nov 21st, 2023 1h 38m

This week Charles and Aaron take to the skies with Gregory Peck. We make hard choices and then face the consequences…with a nap.Flashbacks, leadership, and the line between sanity and insanity, don’t feel sad about it, because you are already

B12E01 Patton

Nov 11th, 2023 1h 59m

“Americans traditionally, love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle. Americans play to win all the time.”Season Two of The Reel War Project kicks off with 1970’s Patton. Charles and Aaron talk about a movie that celebrates as

Bonus

Reel aWARds Show

Mar 13th, 2023 1h 32m

In this very special episode of the Reel War Project, Charles and Aaron look back on season one and bestow honors on the best and worst film, soldier, music, and more. The barb wire is twinkling and the privates are strewn for the affair - don'

Reel aWARds Show

Mar 13th, 2023 1h 32m

Bonus

Dirt Maps episode 11: Dr. Lorenzo Veracini on Settler Colonial Cinema

Feb 13th, 2023 42m 36s

This week on Reel War Project's Dirt Maps: Dr. Lorenzo Veracini describes key differences between colonialism and settler colonialism, the roles of cinema in sustaining and re-enacting each, and the importance of alienhood in all that follows.

Bonus

Dirt Maps Episode 10: Andy Rakich on Mixing Entertainment and History

Nov 21st, 2022 52m 11s

This week on Reel War Project's Dirt Maps Aaron and Charles talk with Andy Rakich from Atun-Shei Films on the importance of tone in storytelling about war.Listen anywhere you get podcasts http://anchor.fm/reelwarprojectSend us an email reelwa

Bonus

Dirt Maps Episode 9: White Veteranhood with Dr. Joseph Darda

Nov 7th, 2022 59m 1s

This week on Reel War Project's Dirt Maps Aaron chats with Dr. Joseph Darda about his new book: How White Men Won The Culture Wars: A History of Veteran America. From grand military reunions to Stallone’s movies and Springsteen’s music, who we

Bonus

Dirt Maps episode 8: Heroic Music with Dr. Scott Murphy

Oct 24th, 2022 51m 17s

This week on Reel War Project's Dirt Maps Aaron interviews Dr. Scott Murphy from the University of Kansas about the music of Ken Burns’ Vietnam War documentary and heroic structures from the 1850’s found in James Bond, 1917, and The Avengers.L

Bonus

Dirt Maps episode 7: Defeated Masculinity with Raya Morag

Oct 10th, 2022 50m 41s

This week on Reel War Project's Dirt Maps we talk to Raya Morag from Hebrew University about her work on Defeated Masculinity and Perpetrator Cinema. We talk about film’s power to repress accountability and yet prompt ethical reflections in vie

Dirt Maps episode 6 with Dr. Walter Metz

Sep 26th, 2022 52m 33s

This week on Reel War Project's Dirt Maps Charles, Aaron and Eli talk to Dr. Walter Metz from Southern Illinois University about our batches and his perspectives on film criticism.Listen anywhere you get podcasts http://anchor.fm/reelwarprojec

B11E4 Day of Day with Zombies

Sep 12th, 2022 1h 1m

This week Charles and Aaron record their final episode of Season One, looking back at the batch on Normandy. We discuss a "classic epic", a "thoughtful critique", and a "roller coaster ride with zombies." The book would be "Grover Gets Killed a

Bonus

Dirt Maps episode 5 with Alyssa Ember Smith: Whitewashing vs Blackwashing

Sep 8th, 2022 34m

In this episode of Reel War Project: Dirt Maps Aaron talks to Alyssa “Ember” Smith about her paper comparing legacies of white washing and blackwashing. We talk about cinema and priming, the politics of representation, and the importance of ant

B11E3 Overlord (2018)

Sep 5th, 2022 1h 55m

This week on Reel War Project Charlie and Aaron watch the 33rd and final movie of the season: Overlord (2018). We talk about blackwashing and whitewashing; the sharing of technology between cinema and games; and once again we explore horror as

B11E2 Overlord (1975)

Aug 29th, 2022 2h 2m

This week on Reel War Project Charlie and Aaron continue Batch 11 on Normandy with 1975's Overlord. We talk about "The Falling Soldier" photo, using war footage with horror tropes to resist war, moving bodies (until there is nothing left at all

B11E1 The Longest Day

Aug 22nd, 2022 2h 43m

This week on Reel War Project Charles and Aaron take The Big Step Off into the last batch of the season, starting with The Longest Day. Avengers vibes, officer movies, epic shots that stand the test of time, and the power of the lies of faction

B10E4 A Crew of Specialists

Aug 15th, 2022 1h 13m

This week on Reel War Project Charles and Aaron wrap up Batch 10: A Crew of Specialists. We talk about the small squad archetype, violence with stakes, and alienhood rhetoric.Listen anywhere you get podcasts http://anchor.fm/reelwarprojectSen

Bonus

Dirt Maps episode 4: Trek and militarism with Dr. Amanda Taylor

Aug 8th, 2022 58m 32s

This week on Reel War Project’s Dirt Maps episode four: Trek and Militarim: Dr. Amanda Taylor talks about her research into the martial body and the domestication of war, and then we talk Star Trek and pacifism.Listen anywhere you get podcasts

B10E3 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Aug 1st, 2022 2h 29m

Charles and Aaron wrap up Batch 10 with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. We talk about nonviolence in the aesthetic of empire, a long standing effort to speak to diversity from the standpoint of power, horny dolphins, and making a blockbuster war

B10E2 Tears of the Sun

Jul 25th, 2022 2h 37m

This week Charles and Aaron watch Bruce Willis connect Jacksonian Militarism to Global Meliorism while Tom Skerritt shouts into a phone on a very busy flight deck: we watched 2003's Tears of the Sun. Afro Pessimism meets the white savior indust