Monday, October 6, 2014

American Sniper: Another SEAL Movie Shows Pattern


While online this weekend, I saw a trailer for American Sniper, the upcoming film directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Bradley Cooper. It tells the story of Chris Kyle, arguably the most lethal sniper in U.S military history. He identifies a mother and child in the street carrying what he believes is a grenade. He struggles with the decision to kill or not kill.

The recent trend of movies about Navy Seals shows what the public is looking for in their entertainment, but what else does it reveal about America? There is a wealth of amazing stories across the history of the Navy Seals, but why is it that Hollywood has turned its lenses on this subject now?

The increasing irony for me is the celebration of the gun-wielding warriors, while at home many fight against gun rights due to violence in civilian society. Moreover, the connection between the military glorification and gun violence does not seem coincidental. The picture of the warrior with a gun makes it to the big screen, which might be having some influence on civilians using guns. These people unfortunately also make it to the TV screen, but for the wrong reasons. The correlation between the two is widely recognized, but can it be changed? Is this an un-winnable battle to try and fight against the force of popular entertainment and media?


1 comment:

  1. Calvin, I think this is a really interesting post and have also noticed a pattern of movies revolving around this topic. I think another big contributing factor to the production of these movies is that they are extremely helpful in recruiting civilians to join the army and other special forces. I think this is an un-winnable battle due to the high level of interest in these films

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