More holiday movieblogging
Just got back from Jarhead at the cheap theatre. Holy crap.
Reminded me of Band of Brothers somewhat, with all the waiting, all the nothing. Also a wee bit of Apocalypse Now.
I wonder why American culture doesn't have any real system for honoring combatants. The end of the film presents the post-war characters as entering a sort of re-assimilation into the general society that mirrors my own imagining of what a returning soldier must be faced with. It seemed so very abrupt. I wonder if the expectation of instant integration arises from our old notion of the citizen soldier, of the ready conversion of our nation's people between civilian and military. This would make more sense if everyone served, which we clearly don't. I wonder too if the expected resumption of ordinary life comes from society's lack of understanding of what it is to be a soldier, of what it means to live through combat. It seems to me that we give little to no attention to the lives of those we've sent to Iraq in our names, and it's therefore not surprising that we don't pay much attention to them when they return. But isn't that weird? How many other cultures have placed so little value on the returned warrior?
Perhaps the neocons have finally succeeded in creating their perfect, politically acceptable war, one which the American public can forget and passively permit. But this sort of war robs those who sacrifice for us the dignified recognition of and long-term repayment for that gift. To me, that seems like an unacceptable price for easy war-making, one with more serious and lasting ramifications than even the immediate loss of life involved.
Reminded me of Band of Brothers somewhat, with all the waiting, all the nothing. Also a wee bit of Apocalypse Now.
I wonder why American culture doesn't have any real system for honoring combatants. The end of the film presents the post-war characters as entering a sort of re-assimilation into the general society that mirrors my own imagining of what a returning soldier must be faced with. It seemed so very abrupt. I wonder if the expectation of instant integration arises from our old notion of the citizen soldier, of the ready conversion of our nation's people between civilian and military. This would make more sense if everyone served, which we clearly don't. I wonder too if the expected resumption of ordinary life comes from society's lack of understanding of what it is to be a soldier, of what it means to live through combat. It seems to me that we give little to no attention to the lives of those we've sent to Iraq in our names, and it's therefore not surprising that we don't pay much attention to them when they return. But isn't that weird? How many other cultures have placed so little value on the returned warrior?
Perhaps the neocons have finally succeeded in creating their perfect, politically acceptable war, one which the American public can forget and passively permit. But this sort of war robs those who sacrifice for us the dignified recognition of and long-term repayment for that gift. To me, that seems like an unacceptable price for easy war-making, one with more serious and lasting ramifications than even the immediate loss of life involved.
posted by onlooker at 6:26 PM
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