The cultural impact of the Falklands War spanned several media in both the United Kingdom and Argentina. The 1982 conflict produced films, television dramas and documentaries in both countries, as well as novels, poetry, comics, plays, war art and a substantial body of popular music. It also shaped press coverage, sporting rivalries and public commemoration, and left a mark on the English language through terms such as "yomp" and "Exocet".

On 4 May 1982, the British tabloid newspaper The Sun ran the headline "Gotcha" in reference to the sinking of the General Belgrano. The headline has been described as an encapsulation of a section of British opinion at the time and has become a widely cited example of British front-page history.

Arts, entertainment, and electronic media

Films and television

A number of films and television productions emerged from the conflict. Notable examples include:

Simon Weston, a Welsh Guardsman who had suffered serious burns during the bombing of Sir Galahad, became a popular figure due to British media coverage. A series of television documentaries followed the progress of rehabilitation and eventual recovery from his injuries, the first being Simon's War (6 April 1983) in BBC One's QED series. The 1983 British film The Ploughman's Lunch is set in the media and political world at the time of the war, which it compares to the 1956 Suez War. "A Game of Soldiers," by Jan Needle, a three-part story in the Thames Television schools series Middle English, was broadcast on the ITV network in September–October 1983. It tells the story of a group of Falkland children who find a wounded Argentinian conscript in hiding after the cessation of hostilities because he is afraid to surrender to the British. The first Argentine film about the war was Los chicos de la guerra (The Boys of the War), directed by Bebe Kamin in 1984. The film version of Whoops Apocalypse (1986) features a conflict very similar to the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and the fictional Caribbean country of Maguadora over the equally fictional Santa Maya. The BBC drama Tumbledown (31 May 1988) told the story of Robert Lawrence MC, a junior officer in the Scots Guards (Colin Firth) left paralysed down his left side by a gunshot wound to the head inflicted by an Argentine soldier on Mount Tumbledown, during the final push for Stanley, and his adjustment to disabled life after the war. Harley Cokeliss' horror film Dream Demon (1988) depicts a planned marriage between the main character and a Falklands War veteran. The 1989 British film Resurrected, directed by Paul Greengrass, had David Thewlis as a British soldier previously presumed dead in the war reappearing alive weeks after the end of the conflict. In the American/British film For Queen and Country (1989) starring Denzel Washington, Reuben is a St. Lucia-born British ex-para finding it difficult to adjust to civilian life some years after the war. The film deals with the poverty, crime, and racism that Reuben encounters back home and how he is ignored by both society and government despite his service. The BBC film An Ungentlemanly Act (13 June 1992) depicts the events leading up to and during the initial occupation of the Islands by Argentine forces. Based on true events, the film was produced to mark the 10th anniversary of the conflict and starred actors Ian Richardson as Governor Rex Hunt and Bob Peck as Major Mike Norman. The Cracker episode "Brotherly Love" (1995) features a psychologically damaged veteran from the Falklands War, Barney (Ron Donachie), who gets into a brief argument with DS Jimmy Beck (Lorcan Cranitch) and flies into an insane rage when Beck shows no interest in Barney's exploits in the war. Although the drama by Ian Curteis that became known simply as The Falklands Play was originally commissioned by the BBC in 1983, it was then temporarily set aside until 1985. The Corporation subsequently gave a number of reasons why it could not be made, including that it would have been broadcast too close to the 1987 General Election. Curteis maintained that the generally sympathetic portrayal of Margaret Thatcher and his refusal to include material that was contrary to both the official record and what his interviews with the major protagonists had revealed, went against a perceived BBC anti-government bias, citing the fact that Tumbledown — which he and others claimed was more "anti-establishment" — was made and broadcast. Curteis' play was eventually recorded in a truncated form and screened by the digital satellite channel BBC Four in 2002. The 2005 Argentine film Iluminados por el fuego (literally "Lit by Fire", released in English speaking countries as Blessed by Fire), directed by Tristán Bauer and starring Gastón Pauls, is a docudrama based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Argentine Falklands veteran Edgardo Esteban, who fought in the conflict as an 18-year-old conscript. It received a San Sebastián Festival special award. The film tells about a veteran's memories, re-awakened after he learns of the suicide of a former soldier comrade. The movie gave a realistic portrait of the extreme weather and psychologically stressful conditions the Argentine soldiers faced in the field, the brutality and indifference to the suffering of the soldiers by their leaders, and the horrors of modern conflict. The movie won several awards, including a Goya. The 2006 British film This Is England, directed by Shane Meadows, is set in July 1983 in a small town in England and includes documentary footage and extracts from radio broadcasts about the Falklands War. The main character of the film is 12-year-old Shaun, whose father was killed fighting in the war. The British science fiction series Ashes to Ashes uses the Falklands War as a backdrop during its second series. BBC motoring show Top Gear visited Argentina in 2014 to film a Christmas special episode. However, the presenters' cars' number plates were seen as references to Falklands War. Presenter Jeremy Clarkson's Porsche 928's original number plate "H982 FKL" was seen as a direct reference to the conflict. Upon reaching Ushuaia, from where the General Belgrano departed on its final voyage, an angry mob confronted them. The three presenters were forced to abandon their cars, which were pelted with rocks from demonstrators, and catch the last plane to Buenos Aires and flee to Chile. A film crew of 30, which was left behind, was escorted to the Chilean border by local police overland. The Falklands War is a significant episode of the 2011 biographical film The Iron Lady, depicting the life and career of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The 2013 Argentine miniseries (Combatants), depicting an Argentine conscript. In the 2015 TV show Blunt Talk protagonist, Walter Blunt (Played by Patrick Stewart) is a former Royal Marines major and veteran of the Falklands War along with his valet Harry Chandler (Played by Adrian Scarborough), a former Royal Marines lance corporal. In episodes 4 and 5 of the fourth season of the Netflix series The Crown the Falklands War plays a major role. In episode 4 Margaret Thatcher demands action to recover the Falkland Islands after the invasion by Argentina. In episode 5 she discusses the recapture with the Queen and organizes a victory parade without inviting the Queen to attend. The 2020 Argentine documentary Good Night Malvinas () focuses on the Falklands War. The 2025 adaptation of The Eternaut depicts flashbacks of the war experienced by Juan Salvo, a veteran with PTSD.

Games The computer games Harrier Attack (1983) and Yomp presented unofficial portraits of the fighting. The naval strategy game Strike Fleet (1987) includes a scenario set in the Falklands, where the player takes control of British destroyers under attack from Argentine submarines. The naval strategy game Janes' Fleet Command includes a scenario set in the Falklands, where the player controls the entire naval force, from Carriers to Destroyers and Aircraft. The naval tactical game Harpoon 4 has an extension book named "South Atlantic War: Battle for the Falklands" which comprises numerous scenarios and historical details about the conflict. The second edition was published in 2002 by Clash of Arms Games. Malvinas 2032, developed by Sabarasa, is a real-time strategy game, in which the player has to command the Argentine forces and re-take the Falkland Islands for Argentina. The Falklands War - 1982 scenario collection, created with the Harpoon3 naval warfare simulator, is intended to accurately recreate the real-life war from 1982. The Falklands War 1982 was published by Shrapnel games. Port Stanley: Battle for the Falklands (1984), a battalion level board war game of the land campaign, was published by 3W.

John Tiller's Squad Battles Falklands is a turn-based, realistic videogame based on the Falklands land war. Falklands '82 (1986) by Personal Software Services. Project Reality v1.4 includes multiple maps based on the Falkland conflict

Literature

Fiction Jack Higgins' thriller Exocet (1983) deals with one of the war's most famous "buzz-words"; for many years afterwards, "Exocet" became synonymous with "missile" in the UK. ("Yomp" and "Task Force" also entered the lexicon.) Pierre Boulle's novel La Baleine des Malouines (1983), translated in the UK as The Falklands Whale and in the US as The Whale of the Victoria Cross, is about a blue whale which befriends the British task force. The comic strip Bloom County featured several story lines taking place during the Falklands War. Raymond Briggs' picture book The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman (1984) is a satire of the Falklands War. On Foreign Ground (1986) by Eduardo Quiroga, a novel in diary/letter form, tells of the war from the viewpoint of a young Argentine soldier. In Stephen King's novella The Langoliers (1990), the character Nick Hopewell is a Falklands veteran. Falklands 2: Argentina's Back and This Time It's Different (1997) by Jim Thorn is a technothriller about a fictional second invasion of the Falkland Islands. Las Islas (The Islands, 1998; translated 2012), a novel by Carlos Gamerro, is a satire of the war and the Argentine dictatorship, narrated by an Argentine veteran of the war. The first chapters of Chris Ryan's novel Land of Fire (2002) are set in the Falklands War, while the latter part involves a plot by a new military junta to re-invade the islands. The novel Ghost Force (2006) by Patrick Robinson depicts the Argentines reinvading the Falklands. David Mitchell's bildungsroman Black Swan Green (2006) is set in Worcestershire, England, in 1982, and contains many references to the Falklands War. Daniel E. Arias' novel That Forgotten Little War (2012) is about the intertwined lives of 14 participants in the Falkland War. The Captain's Story (2012) by Ray J. Cowling is a Falklands War novel about fictional Commander Mike Mansfield of the fictional Type 42 destroyer HMS Devonport. A Stone's Throw (2015) by Lee Watts is set mainly in Belfast during the troubles but has several chapters concerning the Falklands conflict and Mount Longdon. Ian McEwan's novel Machines Like Me (2019) is set in an alternate history in which Argentina won the Falklands War. Steven Taylor's novel Rock Scorpion (2024) is a spy thriller set in Gibraltar during the early stages of the Falklands War about a secret Argentine operation to sink the fictional supply ship RFA Fort Edward in Gibraltar harbour.

Non-fiction