1

Jason Williams

3/4/2015

Dr. Polak
Digital Media Analysis
Hero of War
"Hero of War" is a music video that was released in the Spring of 2009 by the band Rise
Against that serves as a social commentary about war. The song and video are about a young
man who is recruited into the military under the aspirations of seeing the world without needing
to do much else. Throughout the video we see realistic footage of the Middle East that
progressively gets more graphic as the narrative evolves. The graphic war scenes and
introspective scenes become more frequent as a man captured by the main character is tortured,
and despite protesting it, the main character joins in. The main character then shoots an unarmed
women that was waving a white flag and at that point the visuals and lyrics focus onto the main
character as he returns home. Lyrically, the main character as a veteran becomes the recruiter as
the beginning lyrics are repeated from the other perspective. Visually, the main character
becomes blank as hes surrounded by family members, he sits unattended at the Veterans Affairs
(VA) office, and in the end is seen walking bare-chested in the street with a white-painted face
and wicked smile as sirens wail in the background. Rise Againsts Hero of War attempts to
represent the hardships that soldiers face during deployment and upon returning home, and they
accomplish this by using a lot of intense and explicit images along with oversimplification, reallife events and situations.
Our societal views represented in the video depict returning soldiers as heroes,
understandably, but in many cases the soldiers dont view themselves in such high regard
because of the things that theyve witnessed and done. In the beginning two choruses of the song,

the singer says that, a hero of war and when [he] come[s] home theyll be damn proud of
[him], (Rise Against) in which they are referring to the main character in the video because of
his decision to join the military. The longer hes deployed, the more he denies this idea of being a
hero, and he starts to resent the people supporting him back home because all they see according
to the lyrics, are , just medals and scars, (Rise Against) and they dont truly understand all
thats hes gone through. The band is trying to humanize soldiers in a way that doesnt set the
societal standard at a point where they dont choose to get help because it isnt heroic.
One verse in particular depicts a time when the main characters team captured a prisoner
and his team started torturing him. The lyrics describe the main character trying to be a good
man, but failing to do so, [he] told them to stop, but then [he] joined in, (Rise Against) when
faced with his team torturing a prisoner that they captured. This verse sounds like a
melodramatic work of fiction but is actually a direct reference to the events in 2004 at Abu
Ghraib, a U.S. military prison in Iraq. In the actual video it shows the main character staring
blankly at the camera while surrounded by family and friends in a few different situations; the
fabled thousand-yard stare that soldiers often bring back with them. The band is making the
claim that being a hero isnt quite as simple as going overseas, and if the idea isnt internalized
by the individual it could cause internal conflict.
Patriotism is an ideal that is respected immeasurably in a country such as the U.S., but it
is often taken in a blind or jingoistic direction that amounts to waving the flag more passionately
than everyone else. Towards the beginning of the song, the main character starts off believing
that, [he]ll carry the flag to the grave if [he] must because its a flag that [he] loves and a flag
that [he] trusts, (Rise Against) which is an admirable outlook for someone whos risking their
life to defend that very flag. However, a circumstance arises where he shoots a woman out of

fear for his life after, [he] begged her to stay, and, she collapsed with a flag in her hands; a
flag white as snow, (Rise Against) which is the universal sign of surrender and he has to live
with that guilt. After this experience the visual representation of the music video shifts more
towards the main characters life as he returns home. The final chorus following the killing of the
woman explains how the main character, brought home that [white] flag [because] its a flag
that [he] loves, and the only flag [he] trusts, because it was due to his overzealous patriotism
that he accidentally killed a surrendering civilian. The band is trying to express how blind
patriotism can impair judgment and lead to fatal consequences, and that learning and living
under a more peaceful lense can lead to a better life.
Oversimplification is a dangerous and effective persuasion tool that can trick near anyone
into doing something that they may regret later. The recruiter in the beginning of the song tells
the main character to, just carry this gun and youll even get paid, (Rise Against) in exchange
for seeing the world, but what wasnt mentioned was the harsh reality of war. Because of this
lack of information the main character is sent into a constant state of internal conflict and
turmoil. The video frequently cuts to the main character in a dark room seen with night vision
yelling and crying and beating on the walls. The mind of the main character has become a prison
where he is constantly haunted by the things that hes done. Upon returning home it is obvious
that the main character is severely affected by the post-traumatic stress (PTSD) that his
experience as a soldier has burned into his mind. As the song ends the main character ironically
repeats the first lines of the song, "son, have you seen the world? Well what would you say, if I
said that you could?" because of the resentment that he holds for the man who essentially tricked
him into ruining his own life. In the video however, the main character is seen sitting in the VA
office waiting to be helped even though it never comes. The video ends with him walking down

a street with no shirt on and a painted chalk-white face as sirens begin to start in the background;
an obvious implication that the untreated young veteran has lost himself to his PTSD and has
turned to violence. The band was trying to point out how dangerous it is to leave veterans
unaided in their return home because of the hard adjust from war to civilization.
In the end, I believe that the band was commenting on the harsh reality of war and the
harsher reality of veteran treatment. This songs place in culture is to serve as a healthy reminder
that things in the world and our country arent perfect, and that even the people that we may view
as heroes need help too. The most important value is that this artifact is honest about the world,
no matter how harsh the reality may be.

Works Cited
Rise Against. Hero of War. Appeal to Reason. DGC & Interscope Records, 2009. Music Video.
Dir. Bill Stevenson & Jason Livermore. YouTube. 26/2/2015. WEB.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DboMAghWcA
http://www.riseagainst.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_Against