A Somewhat Different Take on American Sniper

Adam L. Silverman

This morning, just before I saw COL Lang's post about American Sniper, I read Matt Taibbi's commentary at Rolling Stone. Taibbi has a very interesting and insightful take into why the movie has been so popular. It relates back to what a lot of people - analysts, commentators, and just informed regular citizens -  have identified as a problem in our ongoing experiment in self-government. American Sniper, like the war movies that came out in the years after the Vietnam War, allows Americans off the hook. As a result there is no need for deep politial or ideological self examination. There is also no reason to actually do anything to change the circumstances that allow for poorly conceived and ill advised adventures abroad and the ongoing degradation, at all levels, of self-government at home.

Taibbi writes:

"Sniper is a movie whose politics are so ludicrous and idiotic that under normal circumstances it  would be beneath criticism. The only thing that forces us to take it seriously is the extraordinary fact that an almost exactly similar worldview consumed the walnut-sized mind of the president who got us into the war in question."

 

In reference to an actual revuew of the movie, Taibii also writes that "Griggs added, in a review that must make Eastwood swell with pride, that the root of the film's success is that "it's about a real person," and "it's a human story, not a political one." Well done, Clint! You made a movie about mass-bloodshed in Iraq that critics pronounced not political! That's as Hollywood as Hollywood gets."

 

Taibbi saves the best of his unique ability to write with a biting wit for his most important argument about the movie:

"The thing is, it always looks bad when you criticize a soldier for doing what he's told. It's equally dangerous to be seduced by the pathos and drama of the individual solider's experience, because most wars are about something much larger than that, too.

They did this after Vietnam, when America spent decades watching movies like Deer Hunter and First Blood and Coming Home about vets struggling to reassimilate after the madness of the jungles. So we came to think of the "tragedy" of Vietnam as something primarily experienced by our guys, and not by the millions of Indochinese we killed.

That doesn't mean Vietnam Veterans didn't suffer: they did, often terribly. But making entertainment out of their dilemmas helped Americans turn their eyes from their political choices. The movies used the struggles of soldiers as a kind of human shield protecting us from thinking too much about what we'd done in places like Vietnam and Cambodia and Laos.

This is going to start happening now with the War-on-Terror movies. As CNN's Griggs writes, "We're finally ready for a movie about the Iraq War." Meaning: we're ready to be entertained by stories about how hard it was for our guys. And it might have been. But that's not the whole story and never will be.

We'll make movies about the Chris Kyles of the world and argue about whether they were heroes or not. Some were, some weren't. But in public relations as in war, it'll be the soldiers taking the bullets, not the suits in the Beltway who blithely sent them into lethal missions they were never supposed to understand."

Click on over and read the whole thing! And while you're there, if you haven't already, check out his writing on both the financial crisis and the criminal justice system. Make sure to catch his explanation of how turning the commodity markets into a casino helped to hugely inflate the price of gas. And treat yourself to his book and column reviews of Tom Friedman. WARNING: Do NOT eat or drink anything while reading the reviews of Friedman! 

Comments

[LeaNder]

thanks appreciate it, Anonymous, Logorrheic is not bad, but really simply bored babbling.

Psychopath set me off into a mental flight. Maybe I never deeply understood Bret Ellis Eaton's American Psycho? Maybe I dislike the inflation of certain words? ...

But, yes, in fact I only tried to escape my duties.

"Besides, for what I can perceive, people are becoming more and more focused on the individual, personal experience being described in the movies rather than in the context it provides."

You have to deal with the fact that all critical war movies failed, financially. But this one is a success. That you and me will not go to see it, won't change that very much. Apparently it fulfills needs.

Breitbart: "pro-American" a movies that celebrates war and Americana power versus "anti-American" those critical of it:

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2015/01/19/settled-science-pro-american-films-annihilate-anti-american-films-at-box-office/

[JM Gavin]

I concur with your sentiments on the draft, and agree that a draft would cause needed public debate on military action.

As an Active Duty Senior NCO with 24 years service (and counting), I also believe that it would be extremely difficult to incorporate draftees into the US military of today. Not impossible, but very difficult.

I think a draft would be anathema to current US culture as well.

I also know some military snipers who could do just about anything they set their mind to...but I am probably another sociopath, and I certainly enjoy the company of like sociopaths.

[shepherd]

kao_hsien_chih,

"sociopath" is a relatively recent word in the English language. Like many psychological words, it only really got going after WWII. I don't think it ever had a clinical definition.

"Lack of empathy" is a more specific thing and does have a clinical definition. Roughly speaking, it's an inability to put yourself in another's shoes. It applies to both being happy for someone's success as well as being unmoved by their pain. It's also shown by autistic kids, who do not respond to hugs.

A true lack of empathy is a scary thing, trust me. Talking to my relative is a lot like talking to a television set.

[Medicine Man]

Depressing but not surprising. Thanks for sharing, Origin.

[Walrus]

To Rjj:

"It's just a movie" - Words and images matter, whether we want to or not, we incorporate them into our worldview, our picture of how we think the world works.

So what's next Rjj? A reality TV series "Saturday Night Torture"? "The Execution Game"? "Worlds Worst floggings"?

The worldview of a great deal of Americans and Australians for that matter is already dangerously at variance with reality and shows like "Sniper" pander to all the wrong instincts and reinforce unreal world views. Ultimately having a world view not based on reality is life threatening.

[Lars]

No doubt it would require some serious re-organization of the military. The leadership will require pros and the proverbial "tip of the spear" will have to also. The draftees would in all likelihood be mostly in training and maybe only on "active duty" the last segment of their time in uniform. It would though, provide a huge reserve, should it be needed. As stated, more people need to have a skin in the game, which may change the chicken hawk problem. And it is truly a problem.

[rjj]

Walrus sweetie, I am not the one who said "it is just a movie. I decided against posting my own variation of your first two paragraphs. Got bogged down on choosing which prefix - proto- peri- apo- crypto- best modified SNUFF as a description of a trend in Entertainment Industry Product. Also because I haven't seen this movie and because I think Eastwood is above that decided the rant might not apply to his film so should STFU.

[optimax]

Joseph Conrad said, "literature speaks to temperament," and that applies to any art, including movies. The attraction of American Sniper to the American public is what I find most important, and not that Clint Eastwood didn't make the movie Taibbi would have made. Disagreeing with a movie's message is one thing but no one has the right to tell an artist what he should have created. It's arrogant to do so.

Movies and literature that focuses on the lives of returning veterans and their families have always been popular and important for us civilians to understand, at least a little, what they've sacrificed. The Best Years of Our Lives and Deerhunter are two movies that have helped shape our national character. Deerhunter, at its release, was criticized by some on the left for the singing of God Bless America in the bar at the end. Poignancy will always elicit strong emotions, pro and con, depending on the temperament of the audience member. It sounds like Eastwood succeeded in making a powerful movie. A long way from Rowdy Yates.

[optimax]

Gavin

There will be no draft in this country. If you want people to feel some part of the wars they support, raise taxes. Before the War on Terror, taxes were raised to pay for them. The top rate during and after WWII was 90% on income over 100,000 dollars. Bush invaded two countries and lowered taxes, sending the bill to future generations. Obama is requesting an 8% increase in military spending, over 5 billion going to train and equip Iraqis. The unsustainable trend of increased military costs and low taxes, especially on the rich, will continue as long as our political leaders need wealthy donors and the approval of a little sh*t country in the middle-east to get elected.

[JM Gavin]

Concur, but raising taxes is only slightly more palatable in the current political climate than reinstating the draft. Support for both are slightly behind reinstating prohibition in terms of popularity these days.

[LeaNder]

"I don't think it ever had a clinical definition."

shephard, I deeply regret I flew off on the "psycho-/sociopath" on Adam's tread. It was seriously off topic, since Adam's point was of course "the different take" and I do agree with that. ... Worse I consider it dangerous as any inspection of Kyle's claims post publication show. They may have inspired some.

I have pondered before about how and in what ways the WOT, TTG adds something: GWOT, could strike back on the American homeground. Not only concerning Homeland Security, but in the minds of people concerning "savages". ...

But you are correct it never was a clinical term. I read a study that offers the most diverse table the s partly juxtaposing the larger field of "abnormals" and comparable traits. And obviously you never get a pure catalog case in real life.

But then there is this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy_Checklist

[turcopolier]

LeAnder

Like JM Gavin I prefer the company of my fellow sociopaths. I am Southern (at least by adoption) so I will tell you a story. There is a commercial message on TV just now in which a large red dog is lying on a sofa. He is quite beautiful and has red eyes. His mistress can see him by means of a security camera in the house and a phone app. She says "you are a bad dog." The dog says to the camera, "who is to say who is a bad dog? It all seems very subjective to me." Who is to say that social scientists in describing people like soldiers as sociopaths are not merely describing their own fear of people capable of violence. pl

[LeaNder]

FBI, I hope you forgive me. I respect you a lot.

It's true that the US public or the voters that do or don't vote for one of the two parties carry responsibility. If we leave out the load of professionals and money in this context. There are legions of experts out there that design the message to fit voters. I doubt the voters freedom, and in the US strictly they have only two choices if they do not want to waste their vote on an unlikely winner. It's comparable over here.

Concerning the movie. Or people's interests and reactions. They are really easy, the major one may be pretty Darwinian: How can I best survive, what do it best under circumstances. Hard realizations about what our politics cause in the world cannot enter the stage in this system context.

I read that Clint Eastwood was against the War on Iraq. And then supported both, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran McCain and after that Romney. How exactly did that change happen?

I was even against the war in Afghanistan, since it made no sense. Never mind my huge distaste for the Taliban rule. It simply made no sense: You cannot attack a country since it hosts some crazies with possibly larger geopolitical aims. You can only allege it has sympathies for their aims. Not good enough for a war.

See, I was not too concerned about the women in Afghanistan, or if you like, I had to take a hard decision. Made war under these circumstance any sense? Now didn't I in this context show psychopathic traits, as a female? No empathy for females in Afghanistan?

Would there have been any other way to solve the issue,? Did the empire simply strike out based on the feeling of invulnerability that had been seriously harmed? We will never know the hardliners and Machiavellians change realities on both sides.

[David Habakkuk]

Colonel Lang,

It may also arise out of their fear of confronting the violence in themselves.

[optimax]

JM Gavin

The draft would get the attention of the poor and middle-class because it would be their sons (and daughters?) would do the dying. That would make them less likely to reflexively support unwarranted military intervention and get them away from their Kardasian butt obsession. Since the elite's influence on the legislative and executive dominates politics, draft laws would favor the children of the influential. The only way to involve the wealthy is to hurt them where it counts--in the pocket book.

Neither is going to happen, just an idea.

At some level I realize our country is fighting ourselves to death and will not stop until we ruin this gift we inherited called America. Pogo.

[optimax]

A different version of Sniper.

http://boingboing.net/2015/01/29/snipers-women-comedy-on-ifc-c.html

[Fred]

Now that is funny. I'm sure it will piss off somebody.

[optimax]

Fred

People are offended easily these days. It has become a cheap fad.

[rjj]

Umbrage is the most common form of self-aggrandizement; pity is a close second.

[on reflection] Pomposity comes in around around 25-28th.