Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Films/War films task force

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[edit] More precise task force scope needed

This is really more a concern as regards the MilHist tag than it does the Film one, but what exactly are the boundaries of scope, particularly with regard to fiction? I know that MilHist traditionally doesn't get involved in things such as scifi and fantasy wars, but where are we drawing the line here? Because it seems like there are certain types of films, such as Saving Private Ryan, which are clearly within the scope. But then how front and center does the war need to be for the film to count for the tag? What about films about veterans? What about films set in contemporary times but about fictional military incidents, such as Dr. Strangelove? What about articles such as Nuclear weapons in popular culture? And so on...

Since this is a matter which will affect the scope of MilHist as a whole more than it will WP Films (since all films are in our scope), I'd like to hear what they'd desire. I'm currently on a tagging spree, but I'm trying to keep away from most borderline cases. Thanks! Girolamo Savonarola 17:09, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Well, from WP:MILHIST#SCOPE: "the project generally covers only those cultural depictions for which a discussion of historical accuracy or real military influence is applicable". In other words, MILHIST has become interested in things like films from two perspectives:

• Articles about films that cover historical or pseudo-historical events typically have some discussion of historical accuracy, which is obviously something we cover.
• Slightly more broadly, we're also interested in films as a depiction of how society views (real) militaries and military history.

Is that at all helpful, or are we being too vague? Kirill 17:25, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

It's a good start, but how would you deal with the above questions, in your opinion? Are there some examples that you can provide which more starkly illustrate where the line is drawn? I guess what I'm asking for is more specific litmus tests, because it's bound to come up in the future. Girolamo Savonarola 03:45, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I'd say that all of your examples qualify (at least until somebody starts seriously objecting, which I don't think anyone will). Something that I think wouldn't be in-scope would be something like Troy (film), which has no significant connection to actual historical events or an actual military.

Beyond that, I suspect we'll need to develop the boundary line here somewhat organically. I'm hesitant to make sweeping pronouncements here, as I don't really work with these articles. We need to strike a balance between including all the things that are of interest to us while at the same time avoiding pulling in piles of articles that will never have any military-related material in them. Kirill 04:15, 18 October 2007 (UTC)