Current Events > Hollywood and society's fetishisation of soldiers has always creeped me out.

(+) Yeah! (+)

"How sweet and honourable it is to die for one's country"

I rewatched Band of Brothers not long ago. Pretty much a perfect series. And then I watched some clips on youtube of some of the best parts.

Ever since then, I've been getting served a lot of "hero" content on youtube, and it strikes me how much people are desperate to show being a soldier as a really noble and heroic profession.

I understand in the context of WW2 that it was a necessity and people were just doing what they had to do. But this attitude extends to basically every military conflict since then. Like it's a very simple "you're a good guy, you're going to fight the bad guys, the mission is to protect freedom" message, every time. But that's not most wars or most battles.

Military recruitment ads are the creepiest thing I've ever seen. They literally mimmick hollywood movies and make joining the military seem like this epic CoD campaign where you're just off to kill bad guys and do cool shit.

Even Rambo, a movie that was originally just about how much war can fuck a person up mentally, ended up bastardising the character in every subsequent movie as the perfect noble unkillable soldier.

The older I get the more cynical I become of stuff like this. It's like there's a giant machine and its entire purpose is to make war seem like a good idea.

its Hollywood's work culture propaganda, for me.

like, have you noticed how much media is centered around the work place, where characters still hang out with their coworkers after hours, date them, have them as best friends, etc.

Baron_Ox posted...

its Hollywood's work culture propaganda, for me.

like, have you noticed how much media is centered around the work place, where characters still hang out with their coworkers after hours, date them, have them as best friends, etc.

And the fixation on working as hard as possible for as long as possible to "make it", sacrificing everything for work, where the main character's entire life revolves around a job

Yeah it's a pretty gray area. Unfortunately, force projection has become a necessity now more than ever in the nuclear age. It's a fire that fans its own flames. By every nation building themselves to be a deterring force, they force the hands of everyone else. It's become an ugly necessity and most militaries try to circumvent that by glorifying it, because that's the most effective fuel. Pride. You can institute conscriptive forces lead by fear, but they're simply not going to fight as strongly as a force that truly believes their cause to be the most just. Otherwise you'll only have individuals fighting for themselves and that could result in grave damage to those among their ranks and eventually the nation itself

pinky0926 posted...

And the fixation on working as hard as possible for as long as possible to "make it", sacrificing everything for work, where the main character's entire life revolves around a job

I know some people are like this irl, which is a shame, but what gets me is we also see it with fictional workers who are slackers.

In fact even though I love Band of Brothers, it has to be one of the most pro-war bits of media ever told. It somehow makes the gruesomeness of war seem impossibly noble. You want to be a member of easy company, you want to be Spiers, you want to be an officer like Winters, you want to take the Eagles Nest, etc. It really makes the entire thing seem very thrilling.

pinky0926 posted...

Even Rambo, a movie that was originally just about how much war can fuck a person up mentally, ended up bastardising the character in every subsequent movie as the perfect noble unkillable soldier.

That must be why the second movie ends with this conversation:

• Trautman: You don't belong here, why don't you come back with me?
• Rambo: Back to what? My friends died here, and a piece of me did too.
• Trautman: The war, the whole conflict may have been wrong, but damn it, don't hate your country for it.
• Rambo: Hate? I'd die for it.
• Trautman: Then what is it you want?
• Rambo: I want, what they want, and every other guy who came over here and spilled his guts and gave everything he had, wants! For our country to love us as much as we love it! That's what I want!
• Trautman: How will you live, John?
• Rambo: Day by day.

It's almost like he still has PTSD and knows the country doesn't give a shit. He doesn't even go back to the US until the end of the fourth movie because of it.

US culture is extremely propagandized but they will insist they aren't and everyone else is. They're really bad at spotting propaganda.Almost everyone in Russia knows there is propaganda everywhere, they accept it as a fact of life. Americans legitimately think they aren't falling for any propaganda (and many then ironically fall for Russian propaganda).

PurpleOutsider posted...

That must be why the second movie ends with this conversation:

* Trautman: You don't belong here, why don't you come back with me?
* Rambo: Back to what? My friends died here, and a piece of me did too.
* Trautman: The war, the whole conflict may have been wrong, but damn it, don't hate your country for it.
* Rambo: Hate? I'd die for it.
* Trautman: Then what is it you want?
* Rambo: I want, what they want, and every other guy who came over here and spilled his guts and gave everything he had, wants! For our country to love us as much as we love it! That's what I want!
* Trautman: How will you live, John?
* Rambo: Day by day.
It's almost like he still has PTSD and knows the country doesn't give a shit. He doesn't even go back to the US until the end of the fourth movie because of it.

This is all surface level platitude. Yeah, noble soldier says noble stuff. "I hates war, war is hell. Now let's go kill some guys". The actual substance of the movies (excluding first blood) are about how fucking badass stallone is and how impossible he is to kill and how many bad guys he can kill in one movie, that's what rambo is.

People don't watch rambo 2 to get a sense of the horrors of war. They watch it to see Stallone be a human machine gun.

At least they aren't political. /s

PurpleOutsider posted...

That must be why the second movie ends with this conversation:

* Trautman: You don't belong here, why don't you come back with me?
* Rambo: Back to what? My friends died here, and a piece of me did too.
* Trautman: The war, the whole conflict may have been wrong, but damn it, don't hate your country for it.
* Rambo: Hate? I'd die for it.
* Trautman: Then what is it you want?
* Rambo: I want, what they want, and every other guy who came over here and spilled his guts and gave everything he had, wants! For our country to love us as much as we love it! That's what I want!
* Trautman: How will you live, John?
* Rambo: Day by day.
It's almost like he still has PTSD and knows the country doesn't give a shit. He doesn't even go back to the US until the end of the fourth movie because of it.

Isn't that saying people should love soldiers

ssjevot posted...

US culture is extremely propagandized but they will insist they aren't and everyone else is. They're really bad at spotting propaganda.Almost everyone in Russia knows there is propaganda everywhere, they accept it as a fact of life. Americans legitimately think they aren't falling for any propaganda (and many then ironically fall for Russian propaganda).

Pretty much. Just look at how many Americans actually believe that "social credit" exists in China, despite being debunked by US researchers. But having a credit ratings system that encourages spending and getting into debt, while having bad rating or even refusing to provide one could lock one out of housing and employment opportunities? Totally fine!

Eh, there hasnt been much it regards to patriotic films, or shows and you never see any of it in cartoons anymore.

likely because theyve shifted to more progressive content of late.

Yvan eht nioj

Punished_Blinx posted...

At least they aren't political. /s

Isn't that saying people should love soldiers

At the very least, just... not blatantly hate them by default like the Sheriff and his deputies in First Blood, and the CIA guy in Rambo 2.

Fenriswolf posted...

Pretty much. Just look at how many Americans actually believe that "social credit" exists in China, despite being debunked by US researchers. But having a credit ratings system that encourages spending and getting into debt, while having bad rating or even refusing to provide one could lock one out of housing and employment opportunities? Totally fine!

Dude you literally drink Chinese propaganda like water. You are the last person to be commenting on this.

Part of it is that the DoD subsidizes lots of Hollywood movies in the form of granting access to military equipment and allowing filming on military bases and ships. In exchange the DoD gets script approval so it all creates a financial incentive for movie studios to create films that portray the U.S. military in a positive light.

Nonsense. Propaganda is only what the bad guys do.

Baron_Ox posted...

its Hollywood's work culture propaganda, for me.

like, have you noticed how much media is centered around the work place, where characters still hang out with their coworkers after hours, date them, have them as best friends, etc.

Well that be fair, it's very relatable to the audience.

and conveniently allows the story to fit within 2 hours while also showing the development of their relationships.