The Role of Film: ‘Tora! Tora! Tora!’ and ‘Pearl Harbor’ in Affecting Indonesian Society’s Public Opinion (Case Study: Pacific War 1937 – 1945)

Abstract: Film is a reflection of a national culture that describes various aspects of social life, reality, and lifestyle. In this case, film can be a tool or effective media in influencing the mind of global society. For example, Hollywood movie products that has luckily anestethize the mind of global society, especially Indonesian that are easily influenced. Many films product are labelled as controversy, but the author took the parameter by identifying in detail the history of Pacific War through film “Pearl Harbor” and “Tora! Tora! Tora!” by comparison. The research analyses the creation of public opinion of Indonesian society regarding the comprehension of the Pacific War between Japan and the United States of America, after watching and comparing both movies. The spread of public opinion in film is sometimes not realized as the effect of a power instrument by soft-diplomacy. The power could be a powerful milestone for a nation to be seen by any other nations, in terms of culture, social, politic and so forth. This research generates a fairly good response from several respondents who were interviewed statistically, related to their comprehension of the Pacific War history while it‟s viewed through the film as media. The majority of respondents „agree‟ that the film is a very effective media for creating public opinion in society and the purpose is to simplify any complexity of audience thought for an factual event, especially in understanding the case study of the history of the Pacific War.