Hollywood as a myth-maker

Historians and other academics point out that arrangement was the beginning of a uniquely American mission that continues even now. Relationships forged between U.S. government agencies and Hollywood during the Second World War and Cold War shaped how stories about the military are still being told.

"Many of [Hollywood's] films are embedded in the American military. And made to glorify the American military," Mirrlees said. "No country in the world churns out as many images of itself as the military hero… like the United States does. That is a unique cultural phenomenon."

Though he never saw combat himself, John Wayne was a kind of Second World War hero, starring in countless films including, They Were Expendable and Back to Bataan.

The U.S. government wanted to ensure those shared, communal feelings supported America's participation in the war, in part, because it worried that its enemies would expose negative aspects of American society to Americans themselves.

We love hearing stories about World War II because we like to think of ourselves as the good guys.

Hollywood manages to find ways of making Americans the good guys, Nazis the bad guys... all's right with the world. It can be turned into a very affirming … very bankable narrative."

That narrative continued with Hollywood's approach to later conflicts, including the Vietnam War.

This imperative to cultivate a sense of external threat to America — bad guys from abroad — would continue to be financially bankable and politically expedient as a storyline throughout the Cold War as well.