By “American-produced,” I mean either written by an American citizen or published by an American company, and preferably both.
I’m specifying international armed conflict because I’m not interested in stories like, oh, Stephen King’s Firestarter*, in which a shadowy government cabal exploits or abuses American citizens on our soil. I want stories in which there’s actual battles (if not all-out war) on foreign soil.
Need I explain villain? Okay, fine. In the story, the US should either be perceived by the protagonist as being the aggressor, or be shown as such by the tone of the narration.
I don’t care if the stories are novels, comic books, movies, television shows, or theatre, or are heroic fantasies or more thoughtful dramas. No comedies, though (I ask in full knowledge that I’ll be ignored if the thread gets legs).
Wag the Dog is a movie about starting a war for a presidential political reason. Though you could argue that a party seized the reins of government and used it for its own ends, so it’s arguably a movie about an invisible coup. Long time since I’ve seen it, though …
FYI, if you’re looking for non-fiction, there’s plenty out there about Bush/Cheney and the last Iraq war. There’s also some about Reagan and the invasion of Grenada.
Oops, didn’t read all the OP. WTG is a black comedy.
I haven’t read it, but the Wikipedia plot description of It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis includes the U.S. turning into a totalitarian state, which eventually leads to an “unjustified invasion of Mexico.”
I don’t if it would be right to say America is the villain in John Sayle’s Amigo, which is set in the early part of our occupation of the The Philippines. But we’re definitely not the good guys, either.
And though I’m coming up blank at the moment I’d have to think that there have been many westerns that present the U.S. military as in the wrong during various Indian wars and skirmishes.
Though that would fall to the definition of “international conflict.”
The movie Syriana might qualify. The US isn’t involved in all-out armed conflict, but it is covertly assassinating people and setting off bombs.
Been a while since I saw it, but IIRC…
They arrange the assassination of a progressive ‘Saudi’ Prince, to assure his more oppressive brother ascends to the throne, because the evil brother promised the US more oil.
I can think of numerous movies in which the US armed forces and/or top military leaders are presented as evil, but not many in which the evil Americans are at war with other countries.
Among the many movies presenting the US military and top generals as evil
The Siege (Bruce Willis as a power-mad general who wants to put all Arabs in concentration camps)
Seven Days in May (Burt Lancaster as power-mad general who wants to stage a coup d’etat)
Outbreak (Donald Sutherland as power-mad general plotting germ warfare)
The Abyss (power-mad Navy SEALs want to slaughter wonderful, peace-loving aquatic race)
The Iron Giant (mean old US military ganging up on poor, innocent robot)
Going back a bit, the film Gabriel over the White House has a US President turn into a fascist dictator, and eventually use the threat of a superweapon to blackmail the rest of the world into disarming.
The computer game Fallout 2 takes place after a nuclear war. The ultimate villain of the game is the remnants of the US government, who have a plan to eliminate all the “mutants” (ie, everyone who is not them) in the wastelands.