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Forums - General - Hurt Locker = war propaganda film or fair & balanced?

 

Hurt Locker = war propaganda film or fair & balanced?

War propaganda film! 22 38.60%
 
Fair & balanced just like most war films. 14 24.56%
 
Never seen it, not my cup of tea! 9 15.79%
 
Candy!! 12 21.05%
 
Total:57
rocketpig on 05 October 2010
sapphi_snake said:
nightsurge said:

Are you kidding me?  Iraq was run by a communist party up until the invasion by the US... educate yourself.

The devestation of Iraqi society was done so by Hussein and the communist party long before the US came.  The US exists there now to fight terrorist groups and help the Iraqi people build a strong democratic government that can protect itself.

Arab Nationalism is very different from Communism. There was no Communist party in Iraq. And the US has no right to invading any country and to overthrow their Government.

In Iraq, I'd agree with you. It's hard to make a case why the US shouldn't have invaded Afghanistan.




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sapphi_snake on 05 October 2010
rocketpig said:

It's been awhile since I watched the film but weren't the mercenaries pretty bad guys? It didn't make much sense for the main crew to be evil characters, as their main job was bomb disposal. That doesn't leave much room for John Rambo to pop out and start annihilating civilians.

And why exactly did there need to be an "evil" soldier? Some of their actions were evil but none of the characters stood out as champions or villains.

And, like I mentioned in the Blade Runner thread, when did this generation start preferring things to be laid out in black and white without any hint of subtlety? I commend Bigelow for not taking the cheap route out with this movie, which would have been far easier to do than what she did with the characters in the film. What some of you are advocating would have made for a shitty and predictable movie with uninspiring characters.

What hint of subtlety? And why only one side portrayed that way (using shades of gray)? And the movie was very predictable and the charatcers were cliche.



"I don't understand how someone could like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, but not like Twilight!!!"

"Last book I read was Brokeback Mountain, I just don't have the patience for them unless it's softcore porn."

                                                                               (The Voice of a Generation and Seece)

"If you cant stand the sound of your own voice than dont become a singer !!!!!"

                                                                               (pizzahut451)

Kantor on 05 October 2010

I haven't seen the movie, but I'll address this accusation of Tony Blair.

1) America proposed the invasion of Iraq, not Britain

2) Britain agreed to join. Like these people:

  •  Australia: 2,000 invasion (withdrawn 7/09)
  •  United Kingdom: 46,000 invasion (withdrawn 7/09)
  •  Romania: 730 peak (deployed 7/03-withdrawn 7/09)
  •  El Salvador: 380 peak (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 1/09)
  •  Estonia: 40 troops (deployed 6/05-withdrawn 1/09)
  •  Bulgaria: 485 peak (deployed 5/03-withdrawn 12/08)
  •  Moldova: 24 peak (deployed 9/03-withdrawn 12/08)
  •  Albania: 240 troops (deployed 4/03-withdrawn 12/08)
  •  Ukraine: 1,650 peak (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 12/08)
  •  Denmark: 545 peak (deployed 4/03-withdrawn 12/08)
  •  Czech Republic: 300 peak (deployed 12/03-withdrawn 12/08)
  •  South Korea: 3,600 peak (deployed 5/03-withdrawn 12/08)
  •  Japan: 600 troops (deployed 1/04-withdrawn 12/08)
  •  Tonga: 55 troops (deployed 7/04-withdrawn 12/08)
  •  Azerbaijan: 250 peak (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 12/08)
  •  Singapore: 175 offshore (deployed 12/03-withdrawn 12/08)
  •  Bosnia and Herzegovina: 85 peak (deployed 6/05-withdrawn 11/08)
  •  Macedonia: 77 peak (deployed 7/03-withdrawn 11/08)
  •  Latvia: 136 peak (deployed 5/03-withdrawn 11/08)
  •  Poland: 200 invasion—2,500 peak (withdrawn 10/08)
  •  Kazakhstan: 29 troops (deployed 9/03-withdrawn 10/08)
  •  Armenia: 46 troops (deployed 1/05-withdrawn 10/08)
  •  Mongolia: 180 peak (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 09/08)
  •  Georgia: 2,000 peak (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 8/08)
  •  Slovakia: 110 peak (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 12/07)
  •  Lithuania: 120 peak (deployed 6/03-withdrawn 08/07)
  •  Italy: 3,200 peak (deployed 7/03-withdrawn 11/06)
  •  Norway: 150 troops (deployed 7/03-withdrawn 8/06)
  •  Hungary: 300 troops (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 3/05)
  •  Netherlands: 1,345 troops (deployed 7/03-withdrawn 3/05)
  •  Portugal: 128 troops (deployed 11/03-withdrawn 2/05)
  •  New Zealand: 61 troops (deployed 9/03-withdrawn 9/04)
  •  Thailand: 423 troops (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 8/04)
  •  Philippines: 51 troops (deployed 7/03-withdrawn 7/04)
  •  Honduras: 368 troops (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 5/04)
  •  Dominican Republic: 302 troops (deployed 8/03-withdrawn 5/04)
  •  Spain: 1,300 troops (deployed 4/03-withdrawn 4/04)
  •  Nicaragua: 230 troops (deployed 9/03-withdrawn 2/04)
  •  Iceland: 2 troops (deployed 5/03-withdrawal date unknown)

Yes, Britain sent in more troops than every country except America combined. But Britain was not the only nation who supported the war.

3) I've seen an interview with him about this, and...well, it makes a lot of sense. He wasn't Dick Cheney. He invaded for idealistic purposes - he knew that Saddam would restart his nuclear programme as soon as the UN restrictions were lifted, he wouldn't hesitate to use his WMDs, he had used WMDs in the past in the ethnic cleansing of thousands of people...really, Saddam Hussein was not a nice person. Was Iraq better off under him than the Taliban? Yes. Could he have just been allowed to remain in power? No.

4) I don't like the Labour party, and ordinarily, I would jump on any opportunity to bash them, but you can't blame Tony Blair for what happened. It may be that he made the wrong decision, with the benefit of hindsight, but he didn't have that then. He just had a psychotic mass-murdering dictator on his hands and the ability to remove that dictator from power.



(Former) Lead Moderator and (Eternal) VGC Detective

naznatips on 05 October 2010

Er... it's the opposite. It's an extremely inaccurate, sexist, and disrespectful view of the American military. It's childish and ridiculous and not a commentary on the war, but one on the soldiers, and a poor one.



Kantor on 05 October 2010

Oh, and another thing. Why would they release this pro-Iraq-invasion propaganda film whilst they were withdrawing from Iraq?



(Former) Lead Moderator and (Eternal) VGC Detective

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sapphi_snake on 05 October 2010
Kantor said:

Oh, and another thing. Why would they release this pro-Iraq-invasion propaganda film whilst they were withdrawing from Iraq?

The movie was filmed in 2007 and released at the Venice Film Festival in 2008 .



"I don't understand how someone could like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, but not like Twilight!!!"

"Last book I read was Brokeback Mountain, I just don't have the patience for them unless it's softcore porn."

                                                                               (The Voice of a Generation and Seece)

"If you cant stand the sound of your own voice than dont become a singer !!!!!"

                                                                               (pizzahut451)

Kantor on 05 October 2010
sapphi_snake said:
Kantor said:

Oh, and another thing. Why would they release this pro-Iraq-invasion propaganda film whilst they were withdrawing from Iraq?

The movie was made in 2008 .

It was released in 2009! That was plenty of time to cut out all of the supposed "pro-war" bits.

Also, spreading propaganda through popular films went out with Goebbels.

EDIT: Godwin's Law. It really does work.



(Former) Lead Moderator and (Eternal) VGC Detective

rocketpig on 05 October 2010
sapphi_snake said:
rocketpig said:

It's been awhile since I watched the film but weren't the mercenaries pretty bad guys? It didn't make much sense for the main crew to be evil characters, as their main job was bomb disposal. That doesn't leave much room for John Rambo to pop out and start annihilating civilians.

And why exactly did there need to be an "evil" soldier? Some of their actions were evil but none of the characters stood out as champions or villains.

And, like I mentioned in the Blade Runner thread, when did this generation start preferring things to be laid out in black and white without any hint of subtlety? I commend Bigelow for not taking the cheap route out with this movie, which would have been far easier to do than what she did with the characters in the film. What some of you are advocating would have made for a shitty and predictable movie with uninspiring characters.

What hint of subtlety? And why only one side portrayed that way (using shades of gray)? And the movie was very predictable and the charatcers were cliche.

Probably the most fair argument made in this thread. Bigelow didn't delve into the reasoning behind the bombers at all. Maybe she didn't want to convolute the story. I don't know but showing the bombers as something other than hardened murderers would have been appreciated (even though I'm not really sure how she would have efficiently done that within the confines of the story).




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nightsurge on 05 October 2010
sapphi_snake said:
Kantor said:

Oh, and another thing. Why would they release this pro-Iraq-invasion propaganda film whilst they were withdrawing from Iraq?

The movie was made in 2008 .

It was released in 2009 (for most of the world)



sapphi_snake on 05 October 2010
Kantor said:
sapphi_snake said:
Kantor said:

Oh, and another thing. Why would they release this pro-Iraq-invasion propaganda film whilst they were withdrawing from Iraq?

The movie was made in 2008 .

It was released in 2009! That was plenty of time to cut out all of the supposed "pro-war" bits.

Also, spreading propaganda through popular films went out with Goebbels.

EDIT: Godwin's Law. It really does work.

You mean cut every scene of the movie?

Funny observation though about Godwin's Law. I think in the future I'll start a thread on a random topic (babies, Kirby, Britney Spears), just to see if Hitler or the Nazis are mentioned.



"I don't understand how someone could like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, but not like Twilight!!!"

"Last book I read was Brokeback Mountain, I just don't have the patience for them unless it's softcore porn."

                                                                               (The Voice of a Generation and Seece)

"If you cant stand the sound of your own voice than dont become a singer !!!!!"

                                                                               (pizzahut451)