"As a Mother Cuddles a Child": sexuality and Masculinityin World War II Combat Films

Easthope and Simpson offer a totalizing reading of displays of the feminine and of affection in the war film. In effect, they see representations of behavior readable as feminine and/or homosexual as validated by suffering and death. But examination of the combat films made during World War II suggests that their arguments need qualifying. Although their readings may be appropriate for certain contemporary films, they ignore the complexities of the earlier films' relation to their sociocultural-historical framework.