Screening the irregular war: cinematic historiography as a strategic narrative in post–9/11 counterinsurgency

This paper examines how post–9/11 Hollywood war films – specifically Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and American Sniper (2014) – function as strategic narratives that construct a historical memory of irregular warfare significantly divergent from archival records. Drawing on declassified Senate Intelligence Committee reports, leaked military logs, and CIA inspection records, the study demonstrates that these films constitute a distinct historiographical intervention. They privilege narrative coherence and heroic individualism over the institutional complexity and civilian casualty patterns documented in the archives. The paper argues that by smoothing over the strategic failures and ethical controversies of the Global War on Terror, these films actively stabilize the legitimacy of contested counterinsurgency doctrines. This analysis contributes to the field of Small Wars by highlighting how cinematic ‘memory-making’ influences the public and political understanding of intervention, ultimately shaping the context in which future military doctrine is formulated.