War has been present since the beginning of human history. Likewise, war films have been present since the beginning of the film industry. Just like most other film genres, war films were created as a form of entertainment to profit a person or organization. Many more people are willing to spend time and money for a feeling of action, excitement, heroism and patriotism than for gruesome and horrific images of real and common human destruction. Propaganda has been used by governments for a long time, and when cinema was born, governments almost immediately saw the new medium as an opportunity to influence audiences. Governments such as the United States of America collaborate with the film industry to use this influence to promote a positive perception of war in order to gain support for wars. The film industry portrays war in an emotional, glorified, romanticized, and heroic light and often demonizes enemies; this causes an unrealistic public perception of war which leads to greater positive public opinion and support for real wars. Hollywood war films are commonly based on heroic and courageous actions. These are the main features of the films Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down. Although the film Black Hawk Down is based on a true event, it is about ordinary soldiers who overcome fear and hardship to save wounded allies, despite seeing friends die along the way. The story becomes personalized and revolves around some individual soldiers who set examples of heroism. In the film, a soldier returns to base wounded and then chooses to return to the front lines to help save his allies who are more seriously wounded than he is. There are also more snapshots... middle of the paper... new war as a positive and inevitable part of life and they act accordingly. If the public were shown the true horrors of war, they would be shocked by what they see and would see war for what it really is, a tool that governments use to their advantage, regardless of how horrible it is. The public would behave differently. There would be more protests against the war because people would realize that it is not the most efficient or effective way to achieve goals. Members of Congress would be less likely to vote to engage in war for fear of displeasing their constituents, and there would be fewer wars, fewer lives lost, and more exploration in diplomatic negotiations. War should be reserved for the defense of a nation. With war films, the film industry has a great influence on public perception and at the moment this influence is not being used appropriately for the good of humanity.