Hollywood Heroism: From ‘Citizenfour’ and ‘Selma’ to ‘American Sniper’-- "Truthout" Review
Posted on Feb 23, 2015
By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout
(My small snips can't give an accurate description of how interesting Giroux's view of all Three Movies are to Progressive/Lib Dems...you need to read more if you are interested to get a sense of why it seems a "Good Read," whether one agrees or not...it's a good "Thought Piece," imho)
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The stories a society tells about itself are a measure of how it values itself, its children, the ideals of democracy and its future.
Under a regime of neoliberalism, a persistent racism and politics of disposability are matched by a theater of cruelty in which more and more individuals and groups are considered throwaways.
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The United States’ addiction to violence is partly evident in the heroes it chooses to glorify. Within the last few months, three films appeared that offer role models, however flawed, to young people while legitimating particular notions of civic courage, patriotism and a broader understanding of injustice. I am less concerned in this inquiry with the historical accuracy or artistic merits of the films than with the identifications they mobilize and the narratives they unfold about valor - still a solely masculine trait in Hollywood.
Citizenfour is a deeply moving film about former NSA intelligence analyst and whistleblower Edward Snowden and his admirable willingness to sacrifice his life in order to reveal the dangerous workings of an authoritarian surveillance state. It also points to the courageous role of journalists such as Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Julian Assange. These are the brave journalists and cultural workers who occupy the alternative media, refusing to become embedded within the safe parameters of established powers and fiercely challenging the death-dealing war-surveillance machine Snowden reveals both in the film and in later revelations published by The Guardian, Salon and The Washington Post, and later summed up in Greenwald’s book, No Place to Hide.
At one point in Citizenfour, whistleblower Snowden makes clear that his revelations carry extraordinary political weight, particularly when he states that the United States is “building the biggest weapon for oppression in the history of mankind” - this despite the lies and denials of the government and politicians on both sides of the ideological aisle. Snowden’s sense of political and moral indignation is captured in his belief that the United States had crossed over into a totalitarian politics that it now shares with the infamous Stasi, the ruthless and feared official state security service of the former German Democratic Republic. According to Snowden, the United States has morphed into a colossal digital update of the Stasi, and has fully retreated from any notion of democratic values and social responsibility. As the surveillance state grows, the United States is increasingly obsessed “by a creepy intoxication with what is now technically possible, combined with politicians’ age-old infatuation with bullying, snooping and creating mountains of bureaucratic prestige for themselves at the expense of the snooped-upon taxpayer.”
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He goes on to an Interesting Review/View of significance of the moviews "Selma" and "American Sniper" at:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/page3/hollywood_heroism_from_citizenfour_and_selma_to_american_sniper_20150223
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