Saving Private Ryan and Communication Theory

There are many great films in which the principles of Communication Theory can be identified and studied. It is my personal opinion that Saving Private Ryan is one of the most insightful and meaningful films in which to do this. I feel that all of the theories that we have studied show through in this film and help us to understand the never ending process of communication. That being said, I must admit that I may be a little bit biased on the subject and content of Saving Private Ryan, being that I am a member of the United States Army. I personally feel that I have more knowledge and understanding of the events and communication processes in the film because I am a member of the organization which is depicted. Now that I have established my military background I feel I must also set the stage for my paper by defining what I call "the six key theories of Military Communication ." These six key theories that lay the foundation for all military communication are Symbolic Interaction, Group Think, Adaptive Structuration, Organizational Culture, Organizational Information, and Cultural Studies. These theories are constantly present among the military and although they have vast presence in the film I will try not to focus on them for this very reason. I will however give a brief explanation of these principles in regards to Military Communication in general.

Symbolic Interaction is ever present among the military. The essence of the military is based upon symbols of rank, whether officer or enlisted, and these symbols represent the authority of the individual and govern the manner in which communication takes place. In the film the soldiers communicate based upon this symbolic rank, speaking casually with their peers and rendering Non-Commissioned Officers and Officers with the proper respect and courtesy set by military standards. This ideal of symbolic interaction therefore leads to the remaining theories, which in a way are all linked together in some shape or form. In this manner a forced Group Think manifests itself through the unquestionable loyalty to and execution of orders given by organizational leaders. This being because the lower ranks in the chain of command have little to no say in the decision process; which in turn supports a forced harmony among the generally cohesive mass that is the U.S. Military. Adaptive Structuration plays a part in this process by laying the ground rules and regulations that structure the military system in all ways, but especially in communication. Once again this system structure is based upon the principles of a hierarchical rank structure in which power lies in the hands of the Organizational Heads including the President, Secretary of Defense, and other government officials as well as the Generals. The power is then passed down the chain of command in a diminishing manner to the very basic, yet essential levels of leadership. It is this same pattern that preludes the involvement of Organization Information in the military culture. Information is passed back and forth between the upper and lower echelons with the sole purpose of developing a successful organizational strategy for victory in all situations. These principles of communication create a unique and effective organization, or fighting force if you will, in which a distinct culture is formed. This leads to the ideals of Organizational Culture and Cultural Studies. This military process of communication through Symbolic Interaction guided and regulated by Group Think, Adaptive Structuration, and Organizational Information lead to a shared sense of organizational reality, or culture that is non-existent outside of the military. This pervading culture is governed by inherent shared values, hierarchical ideals of power and authority, and the interpretation of the symbols that govern the structure of communication and interaction. These theories are the very essence of the U.S. Military and make it one of the most successful organizations in the world.

In the interpretation of this paper it is necessary to understand that these six theories govern all communication in the film and set the stage for the interaction that takes place. In fact these theories are so prevalent in the film that I can not even begin to touch on all the examples that are shown, literally in every scene, and I will therefore focus on the remaining theories and their relevance to the film and also to these six essential theories. Being that the content of the film allows for many examples from each theory I will try to focus on the examples that I deem to be the most critical in a theory specific manner, as opposed to a chronological manner. I will begin with Coordinated Management of Meaning.

Before I begin laying out the examples of Coordinated Management of Meaning I must first explain that most of these examples fall under what Pearce and Cronen call the Cultural Patterns level of the Hierarchy of meaning; in which people identify with particular groups in particular cultures. In this case it is directly relative to the six key theories of Military Communication which I laid out above. Throughout the film, including the scenes at Omaha Beach and the battle for Ramelle, the soldiers use the shared meaning of military training and terminology to plan an effective course of action and relay the information down the chain of command in a quick and decisive manner. There are also specific meanings associated with actions and words which signal specific events. For instance the use of hand signals to relay information and give orders during battle, the use of the term "Alamo" to represent the last means and meeting point before defeat, and especially the use of the explosion of mines to signal the beginning of the assault in the final battle scene for Ramelle. This shared coordination of meaning comes from and through the six key theories, but especially Symbolic Interaction, Organizational Information, and Organizational Culture. However, another prominent and unrelated example of Coordinated Management of Meaning came in the scene in which Captain Miller and Private Ryan Converse before the battle of Ramelle. Private Ryan mentions that he can't remember his brothers' faces and Captain Miller tells him he has to "think of a context" in order to remember them; Captain Miller then goes on to explain that he thinks of his wife in their rose garden to remember home. This idea requires the conversion of raw data from the content level of the Hierarchy of Meaning to a Life Script context in which Private Ryan is able to remember his brothers' faces through an Episode in his life.

There are many great examples of Cognitive Dissonance throughout Saving Private Ryan. In my mind the idea of war is the prime example of Cognitive Dissonance being that people are taken from a society in which killing is wrong and immoral and throwing them into a conflict in which killing the "enemy" is praised and awarded. This principle is evident throughout the film as the soldiers engage in combat, lose members of their unit, take prisoners of war, and in essence function in all capacities. One good example of Cognitive Dissonance comes in the church scene as Captain Miller converses with Sergeant Horvath justifying the loss of men for the cause of war. He says when you lose a man "you tell yourself it happened so that you can save the lives of 2 or 3 or 10 others...maybe a hundred others." This rationale is a clear example of creating consistency, or cognitive harmony, among dissonant or psychologically inconsistent ideas.

Expectancy Violations manifests itself more in terms of questioning authority and direct orders than through proxemic zones. For instance in the scene in which Captain Miller decides to storm the machine gun position he is met with much resistance from the soldiers in his unit. They question his authority and judgment in many ways and he becomes angry, especially when no one will volunteer to "go left." In a similar manner the soldiers once again question Captain Miller's authority and judgment after the mission to storm the machine gun causes the loss of Private Wade, the Medic, and his decision to release the German POW responsible for Wade's death. In the scene that follows Private Reiben directly questions Captain Miller's authority and tries to desert the mission. These scenes portray enormous violations among the expectations of military culture which holds high value to respect and adherence to the rules of Adaptive Structuration and hierarchy as well as Relational Dialectics.

The best example of Social Penetration and Uncertainty Reduction comes in the addition of Corporal Upham to the unit. During the orientation stage Upham is not received well by the soldiers of the unit, meeting with great hostility and tension. The soldiers in fact at times mock him and alienate him. Upham's uncertainty is evident in the comment he makes about "the brotherhood that develops among soldiers that fight together at war", which shows that he has a certain degree of cognitive and behavioral uncertainty over not being accepted into the group in this entry phase of interaction. However, as the movie progresses the level of acceptance and self-disclosure between Upham and the other soldiers increases until he is almost fully accepted among the others in the unit. This transformation is evident in the scene in which Private Mellish, also known as "fish", finally explains the term "FUBAR" after he and the rest of the soldiers have mocked him using the same term throughout the film. This shows that Corporal Upham clearly progresses through the orientation stage to the exploratory affective stage of Social Penetration.

The scene in the church that I spoke of above in regards to Cognitive Dissonance also sets the stage for Social Exchange. After explaining his rationale for losing men under his command Captain Miller goes on to say "this Ryan better be worth it." This scene lays out the type of Social Exchange ideas that remain throughout the film. For instance in the scene after storming the machine gun when Private Reiben questions Captain Miller's authority and tries to desert his unit Reiben sarcastically says, "I hope that Mrs. Ryan is happy because little Jimmy's life is more important than two of our guys lives." Also near the end of the film as Captain Miller is dying he tells Private Ryan to "earn this" which sets the stage for the final scene in which an aged Private Ryan questions whether the life that he has lived and the good deeds that he did "earned" the ultimate sacrifice of Captain Miller and his men.

Relational Dialectics plays an enormous part throughout the movie. There are many occasions where contradiction exists among cognitions and ideals which in turn brings about the characteristic tension that defines the theory. This is mostly evident through the same examples of Expectancy Violation in which the soldiers begin to question the authority and decision of their commanding officer Captain Miller. A good example of this comes from the scene after Captain Miller lets the German POW go free and Private Reiben and the other soldiers become angry and defiant. In the scene the argument escalates until Sergeant Horvath draws his sidearm and threatens to shoot Private Reiben for deserting the mission. In my mind the line that made this a definitive example of Relational Dialectics is when Private Reiben asks Sergeant Horvath if he is going to shoot him because he is abandoning the mission and Sergeant Horvath replies, "I'll shoot you because I don't like you!" I believe that this scene shows the tension created by different dialectic approaches to the situation resulting from the outcome of Captain Miller's decision to let the POW go free, rather than violate the ethical laws of land warfare. The interesting outcome of this scene is that Captain Miller uses principles of self-disclosure and Social Penetration to relieve the tension and calm the situation. In essence he breaks up the argument at the apex of controversy by finally disclosing his personal background as a school teacher from a small town in Pennsylvania. This act then leads to a relational perspective change between the soldiers and Captain Miller from the stereotypes of leaders and followers to simplistic and equal human beings.

I have to say that this scene following the release of the German POW is probably the best scene in the film for defining Communication Theories and also leads right into my next theory of Rhetoric. There are three outstanding examples of Rhetoric in this scene. The first example comes from Corporal Upham who continually states the logos truth that it is unethical and in his paraphrased words "not right to kill a Prisoner of War." The second example comes during the conflict between Private Reiben and Captain Miller as Reiben draws on pathos means to express his distaste for the mission saying, "we only lost one of our men!" The rest of the soldiers then take the stance of Reiben and begin trying to convince Captain Miller to abandon the mission in a logos manner of thinking saying "Ryan is dead." The third and final example in the scene comes as Captain Miller is in the process of self-disclosure and uses logos and pathos, as well as possibly ethos means being that he is the commanding officer, when he says he doesn't care about Private Ryan and that he is only a means of being able to go home to his wife. He also goes on to say "every man I kill the farther away from home I feel" as a pathos way of justifying his decision to release the POW. Another scene that I must mention in terms of Rhetoric is the scene in which Captain Miller tells Private Ryan about the death of his brothers and the mission to send him home. Private Ryan refuses to leave and begins questioning "why me? Why not anyone else?" Captain Miller then draws upon pathos to try and convince him to leave his post by saying, "Is that what they are supposed to tell your mother when they send her another folded American flag?" After giving this statement a moment of thought, Private Ryan replies in a assertive and Group Think manner saying "tell her that when you found me I was here with the only brothers' I have left and there is no way I was going to desert them." I felt that these scenes summed up the principles of Rhetoric very efficiently.

A theory of interest in this film is Dramatism, which in my mind was mostly shown in terms animalistic nature. For instance when the soldiers pick through rotten apples to sustain hunger before Private Caparzo is killed by a sniper. I felt that this showed that even in the midst of war the first thought of the soldiers was to satisfy their hunger. The only other example of Dramatism that I could come up with is present in Corporal Upham in the final battle scene in which he becomes complacent and is overtaken by the animalistic nature to preserve his life, which puts him into a bout of Combat Stress in turn rendering him useless for a period of time.

In terms of Narrative Paradigm I chose to highlight the scene in which Captain Miller and Private Ryan converse prior to the battle for Ramelle. After putting a context to his brothers' faces, Private Ryan begins to tell a story of the last night that he was together with all of his brothers. I felt that this scene clearly showed that human beings communicate through story telling and these stories in turn influence our choices and perceptions of reality.

A final thought and example that astounded me also came in the final battle scene after the soldiers had retreated to the "Alamo." After losing cognitive functions for a moment following an explosion, Captain Miller displays a pivotal example of Group Think in the military. Putting selfishness aside and thinking only of accomplishing the mission he makes a final effort to reach the detonator and destroy the bridge. In the process, however, he is shot. Continuing without fail he pulls out his sidearm and continues shooting at the approaching tank with loyalty and dedication, even though there is no hope. I felt that this scene truly defines the seven Army Values which are loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage.

Although I have only begun to touch upon the countless examples and principles that the film contains, I feel I have given the film a just representation and have supported my statement that Saving Private Ryan is one of the best examples of Communication Theory. However, beyond the simple requirements of this assignment I hope that this paper has also given a new perspective on the film and the military in general. I strongly believe that communication is the most valuable part of life, and if it weren't for the men and women of our armed forces throughout history upholding the values for which our society stands, there would possibly be no means by which to use this valuable tool.

Bibliography

West, Richard, and Lynn H. Turner. Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and Application. 2^nd EdMcGrawYork: McGraw-Hill, 2004.

Saving Private Ryan. Dir. Steven Spielberg.DreamWorks. DreamWorks Home Entertainment, 1999.