RASCUNHOS DOS TEMPOS: A CONQUISTA DA HONRA E CARTAS DE IWO JIMA REESCREVEM A HISTÓRIA E A MEMÓRIA

Abstract

This study presents the cinema as one of the symbols of modernity, one of the phenomena of mass society and consumer society, by identifying the cinema as the owner of a specific language. The film is dealt with as an artifact of industrial society, one which contains meanings and historical substance. Three sources will be the objects of study, used as tools that will make it possible to discuss the appropriation of individual memory converted into social memory. However, rather than being treated as memories, they will be treated as symbols of updating of the past. The sources are the personal letters exchanged between the Japanese officer Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the book Flags from our fathers (2000) written by American writer James Bradley and two movies: Flags from our fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, both of them directed by Clint Eastwood and released in 2006. The study argues that historical filming, like the two analyzed, is always a piece of fiction which originates from a montage of past evidence. To conclude, the dissertation sustains that the three sources allow one to reread the past, valuing personal experiences and individual memories which constitute an outstanding, vast material for the mastering of cultural history.