Recontextualizing the Iconography of War in Contemporary American Culture through the Narrative and Therapeutic Dimension of Immersive Interactive Media
Recontextualizing the Iconography of War in Contemporary American Culture through the Narrative and Therapeutic Dimension of Immersive Interactive Media

Summary/Abstract: The article represents an exploration of the various approaches to the themes of war in contemporary American popular culture, with an emphasis on the relationship between fiction and reality. In a media landscape that has been saturated with spectacle and violence, the reality of war tends to become minimized as iconography or genre, even while attempting a meditative approach on the subject. These themes are often explored within new immersive media – namely video games and VR experiences both with the goal of entertainment, this aspect raising certain concerns about glossing over the consequences of the bombastic actions portrayed, and within military systems, with training and therapeutic applications. A particular interest is shown towards the cauterizing properties of deconstructing such a traumatic subject matter, for soldiers and veterans on one hand and for the general audience on the other, the latter having to face the social, economic, and emotional effects of contemporary war.

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