Cultural impact of the Falklands War

The cultural impact of the Falklands War spanned several media in both Britain and Argentina. A number of films and television productions emerged from the conflict. The first Argentine film about the war was Los chicos de la guerra (The Boys of the War) in 1984. The BBC drama Tumbledown (1988) told the story of a British officer who got paralysed due to a bullet wound. The computer game Harrier Attack (1983) and the naval strategy game Strike Fleet (1987) are two examples of Falklands-related games. A number of fictional works were set during the Falklands War, including in Stephen King's novella The Langoliers (1990), in which the character Nick Hopewell is a Falklands veteran. The war provided a wealth of material for non-fiction writers; in the United Kingdom (UK) an important account became Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins' The Battle for the Falklands.

The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges wrote a short poem, called Juan López y John Ward (1985), about two fictional soldiers (one from each side), who died in the Falklands, in which he refers to "islands that were too famous". Another Argentine example is "Elegy for the Argentine Dead Boys, in the South Atlantic" by Salvador Oria.[1] Music referencing the war includes songs by Captain Sensible, the Argentine punk-rock band Los Violadores' song "Comunicado #166", and British heavy metal band Iron Maiden's song called "Como Estais Amigos".[2]

Arts, entertainment, and electronic media

Films and television

Simon Weston, British war veteran.

A number of films and television productions emerged from the conflict. Notable examples include:


Games

Literature

Fiction

Non-fiction

The war provided a wealth of material for writers, and many dozens of books came from it; in the United Kingdom (UK) the definitive account became Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins' The Battle for the Falklands. Other titles focused on the Sea Harrier (Sharkey Ward's Sea Harrier over the Falklands), the land battles leading up to the Argentine surrender (Christian Jennings and Adrian Weale's Green Eyed Boys), and the general experience of battle and life in the surrounding area (Ken Lukowiak's A Soldier's Song and Marijuana Time). Vincent Bramley's "Forward into Hell" offers a less apologetic account of the War. In Argentina, one of the best-known is Commodore Pablo Carballo's Halcones de Malvinas, a collection of personal experiences of fighter pilots and many others[8] and mandatory reading for admission to the FAA' Escuela de Aviación Militar.[9]

Poetry

The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, himself partly of British descent and bilingual in Spanish and English, wrote a short poem, called Juan López y John Ward (1985), about two fictional soldiers (one from each side), who died in the Falklands, in which he refers to "islands that were too famous". He also said about the war: "The Falklands thing was a fight between two bald men over a comb."[10]

A large amount of poetry has been written on both sides, regarding the war. An Argentine example is "Elegy for the Argentine Dead Boys, in the South Atlantic" by Salvador Oria.[11]

Comics

Music

Music referencing the war includes:

Prior to the Falklands war, the Argentine military had considered its "rockeros" (rock and roll music enthusiasts and artists) as internal enemies of the state. For a time during the war, popular music in English was prohibited on radio stations. Subsequent to the war and the defeat of the military junta, popular music in Argentina reacted strongly to its prior oppression as well as the impact of the war. A number of pop songs grew out of the aftermath of the conflict, including "Para la Vida" by León Gieco.

Theatre

Visual arts

Linda Kitson was the official war artist accompanying British troops during the Falklands Conflict. She created over 400 drawings of the troops' daily life, many of which are now part of the Imperial War Museum’s art collection and were exhibited to the general public in November 1982. They were featured again in the Museum's exhibition Women War Artists, in 2011-2012.[21] All of Kitson's drawings which were not retained by the Museum were sold.

Sport

Tottenham Hotspur's popular Argentine midfielder Ossie Ardiles had helped beat Leicester City one day after the invasion, to no ill effect, although he subsequently left the UK for a year, of his own volition. His cousin José Ardiles, a fighter pilot, was killed during the early stages of the air campaign. The war also created heightened passions between Argentina and England in the 1986, 1998, and 2002 FIFA World Cups, featuring play by Diego Maradona, Peter Shilton, and David Beckham. (See Argentina–England football rivalry.)

State recognition

Monument to the Fallen Soldiers, Buenos Aires.
Liberation Monument, Stanley.

Holidays

The war is commemorated as Día del Veterano de Guerra y los Caídos en Malvinas (Veterans and Fallen Soldiers of the Falklands Day), a public holiday in Argentina, on 2 April. It is sometimes referred to as Malvinas Day.

In Britain, those who lost their lives are remembered as part of Remembrance Sunday.

In the Falkland Islands themselves, two holidays commemorate the war: Margaret Thatcher Day on 10 January and Liberation Day on 14 June (or the first Monday afterward, if it falls on a weekend).

Memorials

In the United Kingdom, there is a national memorial at Pangbourne College, a small co-educational public school in Berkshire; it is titled the Falkland Islands Memorial Chapel.

When the war started a Buenos Aires street, "Calle Inglaterra" (England Street), was renamed "Calle 2 de Abril" (April 2 Street), after the start date of the war. In November 2013, the street briefly reverted to its original name "Calle Inglaterra".[22] But due to the resulting denunciations and fierce protests caused by this name, the same street was finally renamed in March 2014 as the "Pasaje 2 de Abril" by the Buenos Aires government, also because another street named "Calle 2 de Abril" already exists in Buenos Aires.[23]

In 1982, after the Falklands War ended, the clock tower "Torre de los Ingleses" (Tower of the English), which was a gift from the local British community to the city of Buenos Aires in commemoration of the centennial of the May Revolution of 1810, was renamed as the "Torre Monumental" (Monumental Tower). At the same time, the "Plaza Británica" (British Square), where the tower is situated, was renamed as the "Plaza Fuerza Aérea Argentina" (Argentine Air Force Square). The Monument to the Fallen Soldiers was built in this square.

Terminology

This war is occasionally written as The Falklands/Malvinas War,[24][25][26] recognising the international split over the Islands' name. Other constructs such as Falklands Conflict and Falklands Crisis have also been used. The term Guerra de las Malvinas or Malvinas War is the one normally used in Spanish-speaking countries and has also been used by some socialist groups in English-speaking countries.[27][28]

The name "Guerra del Atlántico Sur", meaning "War of the South Atlantic" is also used in Spanish.[29][30] Unlike the term "Falklands/Malvinas War", this reflects the fact that some of the conflict occurred in South Georgia, and the deep ocean.

References

  1. Oria, Salvador. "Elegy for the Argentine Dead Boys, in the South Atlantic". Falklands.info.
  2. Paterson, Lawrence (2009). Blaze Bayley: At the End of the Day. Blaze Bayley Recordings Ltd. p. 70.
  3. "Malvinas 2032 game demo". jdejuegos.com.
  4. "Falklands War - 1982". HarpoonHQ.
  5. "The Falklands War 1982". Shrapnel Games.
  6. "John Tiller's Squad Battles Falklands". John Tiller Software.
  7. "PR 1.4 Release Announcement". Project Reality official Forums.
  8. "Book Review". Air & Space Power Journal. Winter 2006.
  9. Escuela de Aviación Militar, FAA. "Bibliografía de consulta obligatoria". Ediciones Argentinidad.
  10. Rees, Nigel (2006). Brewer's Famous Quotations: 5,000 Quotations and the Stories Behind Them. London: Orion Publishing Group. p. 98. ISBN 0-304-36799-0. The quote apparently came from an interview published in Le Monde on 27 June 1982.
  11. Oria, Salvador. "Elegy for the Argentine Dead Boys, in the South Atlantic". Falklands.info.
  12. Sifting Through the Ashes: Analyzing Hellblazer, Part 11
  13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bobUGEliic
  14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_SKx4m_7vQ The song is about the Malvinas/ Falklands War of 1982, which ended in infamously brutal hand-to-hand combat between infantrymen using practically the same equipment.
  15. "Comunicado #166". antiwarsongs.org (in Spanish).
  16. "Label". Southern.com.
  17. Paterson, Lawrence (2009). Blaze Bayley: At the End of the Day. Blaze Bayley Recordings Ltd. p. 70.
  18. "000809". dummocrats.
  19. "Postkort fra Port Stanley". Lyrics59.
  20. "Big Country". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  21. "Press Desk: Women War Artists". Imperial War Museum. 7 April 2011.
  22. La calle "2 de Abril" volvió a llamarse "Inglaterra" y se desató la polémica
  23. http://www.parlamentario.com/noticia-70606.html La calle “Inglaterra” se llamará “Pasaje 2 de abril”
  24. "The Falklands/Malvinas War". SocialistParty.org.
  25. "Warrior Nation - Images of War in British Popular Culture 1850–2000". History.ac.uk.
  26. "Justice and the Genesis of War". Cambridge.org.
  27. "The Malvinas War Revisited". LRP-cofi.org.
  28. "The Malvinas War". World Socialist Web Site. June 2007.
  29. Veteranos de Guerra del Atlántico Sur Archived 23 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  30. Roberto Russell, America Latina Y La Guerra Del Atlantico Sur
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