"War Porn: Hollywood and War, From World War II to "American Sniper"

[sinkingfeeling]

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/29195-war-porn-hollywood-and-war-from-world-war-ii-to-american-sniper

In the age of the all-volunteer military and an endless stream of war zone losses and ties, it can be hard to keep Homeland enthusiasm up for perpetual war. After all, you don't get a 9/11 every year to refresh those images of the barbarians at the airport departure gates. In the meantime, Americans are clearly finding it difficult to remain emotionally roiled up about our confusing wars in Syria and Iraq, the sputtering one in Afghanistan, and various raids, drone attacks, and minor conflicts elsewhere.

Fortunately, we have just the ticket, one that has been punched again and again for close to a century: Hollywood war movies (to which the Pentagon is always eager to lend a helping hand). American Sniper, which started out with the celebratory tagline “the most lethal sniper in US history” and now has the tagline “the most successful war movie of all time,” is just the latest in a long line of films that have kept Americans on their war game. Think of them as war porn, meant to leave us perpetually hyped up. Now, grab some popcorn and settle back to enjoy the show.

Like propaganda films and sexual pornography, Hollywood movies about America at war have changed remarkably little over the years. Here's the basic formula, from John Wayne in the World War II-era Sands of Iwo Jima to today's American Sniper:

American soldiers are good, the enemy bad.

War films spend no significant time on why those savages might be so intent on going after us. The purpose of American killing, however, is nearly always clearly defined. It's to “save American
lives,”

Our soldiers are human beings with emotionally engaging backstories, sweet gals waiting at home, and promising lives ahead of them that might be cut tragically short by an enemy from the gates of hell. The bad guys lack such backstories.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. "The bad guys lack such backstories."

Letters from Iwo Jima

Critical response
....

In Japan

The film was far more commercially successful in Japan than in the U.S., ranking number 1 for five weeks, and receiving a warm reception from both Japanese audiences and critics. The Japanese critics noted that Clint Eastwood presented Kuribayashi as a "caring, erudite commander of Japan's Iwo Jima garrison, along with Japanese soldiers in general, in a sensitive, respectful way." Also, the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shinbun noted that the movie is clearly "distinguishable" from previous Hollywood movies, which tended to portray Japanese characters with non-Japanese actors (e.g., Chinese-Americans, and other Asian-Americans). Consequently, incorrect Japanese grammar and non-native accents were conspicuous in those former films, jarring their realism for the Japanese audience. In contrast, most Japanese roles in 'Letters from Iwo Jima' are played by native Japanese actors. Also, the article praised the film's new approach, as it is scripted with excellent research into Japanese society at that time. According to the article, previous Hollywood movies describing Japan were based on the stereotypical images of Japanese society, which looked "weird" to native Japanese audiences. Letters from Iwo Jima is remarkable as the movie that tries to escape from the stereotypes. Owing to the lack of stereotypes, Letters from Iwo Jima was appreciated by Japanese critics and audiences.

[happyslug]

8. how about the 1945 "The Story of GI Joe"

Last edited Sun Feb 22, 2015, 09:26 PM - Edit history (1)

It is one of the greatest war movie ever.

Video: Any movie that starts with a dog can't be bad

[happyslug]

9. Pyle's column of the death of Captain Waskow (Walker in the movie) the last scene in the movie

http://mediaschool.indiana.edu/erniepyle/1944/01/10/the-death-of-captain-waskow/

More on the Movie:

http://thenedscottarchive.com/hollywood/films/story-of-g-i-joe.html

More on Waskow's life and death:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_T._Waskow

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. I'm not familiar with that one.

I'm not conversant with the genre of war movies, and I'm limited to what shows up on over-the-air (OTA) broadcasting and the DVDs at the public library. As one of my OTA channels, I get Grit TV, which runs a lot of John Wayne movies.

Thank you for pointing out "The Story of G.I. Joe." Having Ernie Pyle's writing as its inspiration automatically puts it at an advantage. I'll look for it.

ETA: a link to Ernie Pyle's Wikipedia entry.

[happyslug]

11. The Story of GI Joe, a movie full of tension but only three short battle scenes

The first is at the start of the movie, where the convoy Pyle and the men he was with came under attack of a German Plane. The Plane is not seen, but you do see the 50 caliber machine gun and BAR being used as AA weapons and the rest of the troops jumping from the trucks and taking cover. There lose one man, the soldier who had gone into a nearby town and brought back the puppy that the unit adopted as their own.

The battle of Kasserine pass is seen from the Battalion headquarters. The Colonel talking on the phone with the phones NOT always working, you hear but do not see artillery shells going off overhead as the news get worse and worse, till finally a Sargent breaks in and tell them the bad news, his unit had been pushed off its defensive position by the Germans. This causes the Colonel to order a retreat and the abandonment of the headquarters. AS everyone leaves, Pyle notice one man still laying down when he ask if he should wake the man, Pyle is told he is dead and leave him behind.

The story then talks about Sicily and other units but starts up again as Pyle rejoins that unit after visiting other units. This time as their march up the Italian boot. One Soldier jokes that at the end of the war he is going to get a map to find out where he had been. In one quick scene the Captain and his Sarganget takes out two snipers in an destroyed Church, this is the second combat scene in the movie, the only time you see the submachine guns carried by the Sarganget and the Captain actually being fired.

Then they dig in for Mount Casino. Pyle watches the men go out to fight and come back missing some of their fellow soldiers. My father always said it was closest he ever saw to his actual combat in Normandy. You came back and told the Captain how many men you had lost and what you had done. Cold and callous, the story of the Infantrymen. Then it shows the men complaining of German use of Mount Casino Monastery being used by the Germans as a look out post and the debate to bomb it or not. It was decided to bomb it, film is shown blowing up the monastery. The men go out to take that mountain, but are beaten back again as the Germans used the ruins to fortify their position.

That is the last actual battle scene. You see the bombing the troops leaving and then coming back defeated again. Pyle then leaves that unit but comes back later on, this time to see the unit see their Captain comes back dead, carried by a mule. Pyle writes about that scene and it is considered his best article. It is the scene the movie ends on. You just see the mules carrying the dead and the reaction of his men to his death. They march onward.

For a war movie, very little violence and I did skip over many of the sub plots. It is the story of the men who fought in North Africa and Italy but it is the story of every infantryman in that war.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

13. Thanks, but I didn't read it. I don't want to know how it ends.

But I know what happened to Ernie Pyle, so maybe it's not such a spoiler.

Thanks.

[happyslug]

14. The movie was made while Pyle was still alive

It was released two months to the day after Pyle was killed. The movie was filmed before Pyle left for the Pacific. Pyle had barely survived the bombing of St Lo in the days after D-day. Thus Pyle was in the states from July 1944 onward and why the movie only covered North Africa and Italy and ends with Robert Mitchum being carried in by a mule. No fighting just the men in the company reacting to seeing his body. It is from Pyle's most famous dispatch and they follow that dispatch almost to the letter.

When Pyle was killed it was reported he had been killed by a sniper. In reality Pyle was machined gunned. The Army thought being sniped sounded better then being cut in half by a machine gun. Being sniped also implied a quick death not the lingering for several minutes as what happened to Pyle.

[happyslug]

12. As to Pyle, I always like his report on Pittsburgh: He was a travel writer before the war:

http://www.carnegielibrary.org/research/pittsburgh/pyle.html

[Fred Sanders]

2. A lot of folks WANT to be lied to..."black hats versus white hats" avoids having to deal with nuance.

[Nitram]

3. A number of excellent "war" films have been made...

...that in no way glamorize war or deal in nationalistic pride for the U.S. to name a few, MA.S.H, Catch 22, Apocalypse Now, Dr. Strangelove, the Deer Hunter, Jacob's Ladder, Platoon, Slaughterhouse Five. American sniper is indeed the poster boy for propagandistic Hollywood movies, but that does not devalue the great movies that have been made.

[GGJohn]

5. We Were Soldiers, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers,

to name a few others.
Just watched Fury the other night, very intense.

[Blue_Tires]

7. +1000

Makes me wonder what the hell that writer has been watching...

[charles d]

4. Kochsucking

With "our" Congrees lining up to kneel.

[Blue_Tires]

6. ok...Not only does that writer fucking suck as a film critic

He has *clearly* never in his life seen a Civil War movie...The fact that he doesn't cite one is telling...