The paper will briefly outline the origin and ensuing development of the Lost Cause, its content, and its impact on America's collective memory. Subsequently, I will analyze the blockbuster “Cold Mountain” (2003) in search of remnants of this presumed discarded ideology – a movie based on the bestselling novel by Charles Frazier of the same title (which I will not neglect entirely) that drew considerable numbers of moviegoers into the theaters. Although at first view a love movie and thus designed for a particular audience, the Civil War nonetheless serves as the story's setting. Therefore, it is interesting to speculate what lessons this and other audiences – in terms of Civil War history and remembrance – might draw from “Cold Mountain”.
Over the previous decades, Civil War history came under scrutiny. Concurrently, revisionist historians and cultural scientists have hinted at the inherently problematic nature of the films in question and many more following over the first decades of the 20th century: These movies depict a blatantly distorted picture of that pivotal moment in American history; distorted by an incredibly tenacious and moreover distinctively racist Southern interpretation of the Civil War and its underlying reasons that emerged during the Reconstruction era and is commonly referred to as the Lost Cause.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Lost Cause ideology and its impact on Civil War history
3 Cold Mountain as a tale of the Lost Cause
3.1 Against all odds – The Confederate military experience in Cold Mountain
3.2 A place called home
3.3 A cause worth fighting for – preserving the idyllic world of Cold Mountain
4 Conclusion
Research Objectives and Key Themes
This paper examines the influence of the "Lost Cause" ideology on historical memory by analyzing its presence and potential subversion in the 2003 film Cold Mountain. The central research question explores whether the film successfully breaks with traditional, racially biased Confederate narratives or inadvertently perpetuates them through the portrayal of its characters and setting.
- The historical origin and development of Lost Cause mythology.
- The impact of Lost Cause ideology on American collective memory and cinema.
- A comparative analysis between Charles Frazier’s novel and the cinematic adaptation.
- The portrayal of Confederate soldiers and the "home front" in Cold Mountain.
- The complex role of slavery as an ideological cause vs. a tangential plot point.
Excerpt from the Book
3.1 Against all odds – The Confederate military experience in Cold Mountain
The Lost Cause emphasis on the overwhelming numbers of the North and the bravery of the heroic Confederate soldier in battle receives merely peripheral treatment in Cold Mountain – in the film less than in Frazier's novel. Presumably for cinematic purposes, director Minghella has omitted a number of the novel's battles at the war front and on the male protagonist's way home to Cold Mountain and thus reduced possible reference points. Nonetheless, these notions are not entirely absent.
In the novel, Frazier's male protagonist Inman delineates the Battle at Fredericksburg as resembling “a dream, one where your foes are ranked against you countless and mighty”. Frustrated and disgusted by the incessant slaughter of the enemy he continues: “The Federals kept on marching by the thousands at the wall all through the day […]. [They] kept on coming long past the point where all the pleasure of whipping them vanished. [He] just got to hating them for their clodpated determination to die”. In the film, Inman (Jude Law) recounts his war experience to the goat woman (Eileen Atkins), similarly hinting at the sheer manpower of the North: “I could be at killing for days, my feet against the feet of my enemy, and I always killed him and he never killed me”.
This latter quote in a way also demonstrates the prowess of the former yeoman and his peers in resisting the aggressor and stepping up to the task of defending their home land when necessary. Once enlisted, Inman, as it turns out, is quite a gifted fighter and certainly not a coward. The question of bravery and cohesion among Confederate troops gets further complicated and distorted, Ashdown writes, as Cold Mountain “fails to make explicit the extent to which desertion [out of various reasons] was a common occurrence” during the war. Inman's decision to desert, the film takes great pains to illustrate, is less a political one. His prime reason – notwithstanding his traumatic experiences in battle and his injuries – is very personal: to get home to Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman), the woman he barely knows but wholeheartedly loves. This motivation effectively frees him from any shame and allows him to hold on to his due pride.
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: Provides an overview of the American Civil War's contested legacy and introduces the "Lost Cause" ideology as a pervasive narrative that has shaped historical understanding through literature and film.
2 Lost Cause ideology and its impact on Civil War history: Defines the core tenets of the Lost Cause myth, including the downplaying of slavery, the canonization of Robert E. Lee, and the construction of a unified, virtuous Southern identity.
3 Cold Mountain as a tale of the Lost Cause: Analyzes the 2003 film Cold Mountain to determine how it employs or subverts traditional Lost Cause themes, focusing on military experience, the home front, and the motivation behind the Confederate cause.
4 Conclusion: Synthesizes the findings, arguing that while Cold Mountain challenges some aspects of the Lost Cause narrative, it ultimately relies on familiar sentimental imagery that preserves the myth's impact on American cultural memory.
Keywords
American Civil War, Lost Cause, Cold Mountain, Collective Memory, Revisionism, Slavery, Confederate Soldier, Historical Narrative, Hollywood, Southern Identity, Reconstruction, Cultural Trauma, Race Relations, Adaptation, Civil Rights.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research paper?
The paper focuses on the persistence of "Lost Cause" ideology in American Civil War remembrance and analyzes how the movie Cold Mountain interacts with these established historical myths.
What are the primary themes discussed in the work?
Key themes include the impact of the Southern narrative on historical memory, the depiction of slavery, the portrayal of the Confederate home front, and the revisionist tendencies in modern American cinema.
What is the main research question of the study?
The study asks whether Cold Mountain functions as a critical anti-war piece or if it inadvertently continues to propagate specific elements of the Lost Cause mythology through its characterizations and settings.
Which scientific methodology is applied here?
The author uses a qualitative cultural analysis, comparing historiographical research on the "Lost Cause" with a close reading and analysis of the film Cold Mountain, while occasionally referencing the source novel by Charles Frazier.
What topics are covered in the main section of the paper?
The main section investigates the Confederate military experience, the portrayal of the home front in Appalachia, and the shifting rationales provided by characters for their involvement in the war.
Which keywords best describe the essence of the work?
Key concepts include Lost Cause ideology, collective memory, the American Civil War, historical revisionism, Southern identity, and cinematic representation.
How does the movie handle the issue of slavery?
The movie presents slavery as the ultimate cause of the war through supporting characters, yet it largely distances the central protagonists from the issue, keeping it at a tangential level.
What conclusion does the author reach regarding Cold Mountain?
The author concludes that while the film avoids overt racism and challenges some myths, it ultimately reinforces the Lost Cause sentiment of Southern perseverance and sorrow, illustrating that the path to healing from the war's legacy remains incomplete.
- Quote paper
- Alexander Unger (Author), 2009, The Lost Cause Ideology and its impact on Civil War history, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1009477
