Defining the box-office propaganda film

American Sniper has seen one of the most successful box-office opens in history. The Clint Eastwood directed film starring Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, grossed over $90 million on a special four-day screening over the holidays; an unheard of feat. It has already been nominated for a slew of Academy Awards, but has also invited controversy.

But if you are expecting a hot-take condemning Michael Moore’s twitter comments on Monday calling snipers “cowards,” you’ll have to read else-where. Moore backed off his statements, saying that they weren’t in regards to the film; however, the timing of his remarks seemed a little more than coincidental.

But if there’s anything recent Hollywood trends show, it’s that nothing fuels a butthurt conservative’s resolve more than some liberal pantywaist passive-aggressively complaining about a movie. The thought is that you can defeat liberals and show how patriotic you are by purchasing a ticket; an act which is pure slacktivism.

But what I really found interesting was how Seth Rogen took a jab at the movie, comparing it to Nazi Propaganda. Rogen’s remarks seemed peculiar to me, given that Sony paid him $8.3 million to star in and direct “The Interview,” an action-comedy that sparked both a cyber attack from North Korea, as well as generating national security concerns. Added to those facts were the waves of conservative freedom-loving people who were gunning to see Rogen’s stupid movie, (by far one of the dumbest movies I’ve seen), where he and James Franco assassinate a man for laughs.

The act of going to a movie theater as a political statement is the definition of propaganda. When did purchasing a movie ticket become a proxy for patriotism and free speech? These faux-conflicts are created then capitalized on, with the end goal being to get your ass into a movie seat and generate profits for Hollywood.

But I think the great thing about Twitter is that everyone has a soap-box and can step up and make an ass of themselves in the public eye. You have the right to be offended, and you have the right to offend. It’s the perfect medium for it, and the whole news industry has come to capitalize on 140 characters of unbridled idiocy.

Liberals are not the only ones to blame; tweets from conservative politicians are constantly captured and compiled into listicles by bloggers at liberal websites like “Addicting Info,” (a misnomer I assure you; the site is neither addictive, nor contains any actual information). This ravenous culture of talking points and twitter-flubs is making us dumber, and I’m probably contributing to that culture, for which I’m sorry.

But for all of the attention paid to twitter, there is a double edge sword. The fringes and the far right made a number of stupid remarks that completely missed the point about American Sniper.

Countless people tweeted about how the movie inspired them to want to “go and kill Arabs.” Besides being offensive, disgusting, and racist; the mentality flattens the conflict and does a disservice to myself and my fellow Veterans. I watched the film, and it didn’t give me any sense of nostalgia for war. I’m not gunning to go back and “kill Arabs.”

But for some folks, the response to the film is “hero worship,” and that’s where Eastwood went wrong.  Calling someone a hero, to me, is as hollow and banal as saying “thank you for your service.”

Kyle was a patriot who loved his country and he would have done anything to defend it. He watched over the lives of countless Marines and soldiers and made sure that they returned home to their families. He did kill a lot of people, but that is what he was trained to do. He did his job and I cannot discredit that.

In fact, one of the articles I’ve read talked about how Kyle referred to the insurgency as “savages.” They were trying to destroy Kyle’s credibility by highlighting that remark, but in my observation and experience, he was only calling a spade a spade.

If you look at the brutal beheadings and executions perpetrated by ISIS in the recent months, it would be hard to say those actions are anything other than savagery. I suspend judgment on that point alone, because if you witness atrocities, you have to build some sort of barrier to keep your sanity; to dehumanize your enemy to some extent is to be expected with any conflict. War is never going to be as clean cut and sanitized as the civilians, who aren’t fighting it, would like.

I love my country, and that’s why I sacrificed five years of my life to defend it. But I hate most of the movies that have come out about war during my generation. What we get are these stale quasi-patriotic pro-war movies, rather than a portrait of what actually happens in war. Films like Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” and the HBO series “Generation Kill,” more accurately depict what war like versus “The Hurt Locker,” “Lone Survivor,” or any of the other shallow bullshit Hollywood has pumped out in recent years.

American Sniper does disservice in a couple of areas. While there was a brief exposition when one of Kyle’s buddies questioned the war, Eastwood paved over this dialog in a way that was reminiscent of the flower shop scene in Tommy Wisseau’s “The Room.” To paraphrase: Kyle’s buddy says, “I don’t feel like we are doing anything here.” Kyle says, “But we ARE doing something here,” to which Kyle’s buddy responds “You’re right!” I found that to be a shallow plot device and it was annoying and unnecessary.

While the portrayal of PTSD was well done, other points, such as when Kyle echoes a Ted Nugent aphorism, “America is not at war, the military is at war. America is at the mall,” were interrupted, and they felt forced. Good points were sacrificed in order to make a movie that made the audience feel warm and fuzzy about war, which doesn’t bode well for our future.

During the State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama mentioned that he was going to ask Congress to declare war on ISIS. I’m not going to get on my high-horse and be condescending, but you know what’s more patriotic than watching a movie? Serving your country. For everyone masturbating to American Sniper and itching for an opportunity to “shoot bad guys,” you just might have your chance.

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