The Hurt Locker- Genre

The Hurt Locker may generally be considered a somewhat atypical war film, as it does include

conventional elements, such as violence, heroism, rivalry and a common enemy. On the other hand, there are various typical features missing from the film. For example, even though the Hurt Locker more or less includes traces of each of the conventions, there are few distinct characteristics involved that one might expect from a conventional war film.

Examples of this would be where there are no large scale battles and no criticism of war. Th only prolonged physical act of conflict seems to be during the shoot-out between the British mercenaries, US troops and the Iraqi soldiers. Also, throughout the film, the concept of war is painted as addictive, yes, but not necessarily as a massively negative thing. Instead, it is portrayed in such a way that the viewer may quickly and easily become desensitized to the graphic violent content of the film and perhaps subconsciously see modern warfare as a relatively normal part of life. Evidence of this can be seen in the way in which the characters appear to move on so quickly from the brutal deaths of other soldiers around them. By the time the next scenes roll around, the viewer may also have already started moving on from a previous storyline.