I pretty much agree with Alexander Belenky's take on this, now that I've seen the first two episodes of Generation Kill. It's good, but I don't think anyone will care. All of the people that liked David Simon and Ed Burnes' work on The Wire won't buy into this show. The two main contingents of The Wire's audience were high-minded liberals that thought the show brought legitimacy to a disenfranchised group like people on the streets in Baltimore and those that felt the were well represented by the show (and bought the bootleg copies).
But those high-minded liberals just won't by into Generation Kill. They've already been reading the accounts of the war for years. To them, it's old news. Similarly, the kinds of people who are represented in the show aren't into froofy HBO shows. They already know the experience and they don't need to pay for it on premium cable.
As Belenky says, of all the movies made about war in the last year or two, none as grossed more than $15 million domestically. A pittance for the moviemaking business. Making shows about making war, it seems are nearly as unprofitable as making the wars themselves.
Even if the show ends up tanking, the microisms are valuable. Understanding the culture of war is important, even if it is distasteful. There are small moments of truth when they talk about how Marines "make do" with their lack of resources, and vulgar as the dialogue may be, there is something of an art to the one-upsmanship the Marines fire at each other. I'll be tuning in for the rest of the series, but I'm not sure anyone else will be.
Showing posts with label generation kill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label generation kill. Show all posts
Monday, July 14, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Generation Kill
Tonight I watched the second episode in the mini-series of Generation Kill. For an hour, I felt like I was back in a room with some people I went to high school with, some of whom joined the Marines ("semper fi!"), and of those most went to Iraq. Mother Jones already gave the series a rave review, calling it "neither squeamish nor ham-fisted."
One of the broadest critiques of the film will surely be that the story is told from the perspective of an embedded journalist, the American perspective told over and over again by reported books like Fiasco, Imperial Life in the Emerald City, and Assassin's Gate. But those stories tell or are a critique on the officer's line of Iraq. As David Simon noted during the Q&A of the screening, the stories of the enlisted men, thanks to the nature of the volunteer military force, are almost as foreign to some segments of the American population as the stories of the Iraqis.
In a setting where the separation between enlisted men and your average American is merely one of class, it is important to remind ourselves -- if not limit ourselves -- of that experience. Officers among enlisted men are resented. Enlisted men come speak the kind of filth you'd never mention in the polite company of your grandmother. This is one reality of the war. It would be a shame to ignore it.
It's true that while Simon's other creation, The Wire, was praised in part for highlighting stories and actors that might never see the light of day on other networks and that might not be the case with Generation Kill. But it's also true that the series is replicated honestly and experientially. While watching it, I could think of little else than the experience of the Marines. Simon, Ed Burnes, and Evan Wright created the experience in the best way they could. The stories of the Iraqis make up other stories.
One of the broadest critiques of the film will surely be that the story is told from the perspective of an embedded journalist, the American perspective told over and over again by reported books like Fiasco, Imperial Life in the Emerald City, and Assassin's Gate. But those stories tell or are a critique on the officer's line of Iraq. As David Simon noted during the Q&A of the screening, the stories of the enlisted men, thanks to the nature of the volunteer military force, are almost as foreign to some segments of the American population as the stories of the Iraqis.
In a setting where the separation between enlisted men and your average American is merely one of class, it is important to remind ourselves -- if not limit ourselves -- of that experience. Officers among enlisted men are resented. Enlisted men come speak the kind of filth you'd never mention in the polite company of your grandmother. This is one reality of the war. It would be a shame to ignore it.
It's true that while Simon's other creation, The Wire, was praised in part for highlighting stories and actors that might never see the light of day on other networks and that might not be the case with Generation Kill. But it's also true that the series is replicated honestly and experientially. While watching it, I could think of little else than the experience of the Marines. Simon, Ed Burnes, and Evan Wright created the experience in the best way they could. The stories of the Iraqis make up other stories.
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