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Movie Monday - Why We Fight review
(Small but major edit: It's WMD not WWD. I think I got the Worldwide Wrestling Federation (WWF) mixed up with Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). And, it's Adelman, not Adelmen Sorry)
I'm going to start with the much publicized breakup of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson of Twilight saga fame.. Anyone not living under a rock probably has some idea that the heart throbs of millions of teen girls, who have been a real couple or a publicity couple for the past three years (Hint: No intimate photos of Robsten [as they are affectionately called] have ever surfaced but the "affair" photos of Stewart and her director, Sanders, hit the streets almost as they were happening.)
In order to be completely honest, I have been following the comments to this story all weekend. And, while it sounds like the excuse men gave for reading Playboy when it was first published ("For the great articles."), I've been following these comments because I think they will segue into my review of Why We Fight.
To digression for a sec, I'm going to plow in with my theory for Stewart's abject public apology for the affair. Breaking Dawn, Part II, is coming out in November (the horror!) and stars contractually have to promote these films since their presence insures big box office. Perhaps, KS's rep read her contract and said: Hey, KS, you're a mufti-million dollar star now and look here, if you commit acts of moral turpitude which harm the box office you can be sued. How about a big, over-the-top public mea culpa because I do like my 15 percent?
As one observant commenter said: But she is a performer whose career is affected by how moviegoers feel about her. She makes an apology because she or her advisors believe that it will improve the perception of potential ticket buyers.... Bingo!
Which segues me into the transference meme. Freud defined transference as projection. Loosely put, it's when the individual identifies so strongly with something outside himself that he "feels" what it feels; his identity is tied up in its identity and often, reason be damned.
In order to be completely honest, I have been following the comments to this story all weekend. And, while it sounds like the excuse men gave for reading Playboy when it was first published ("For the great articles."), I've been following these comments because I think they will segue into my review of Why We Fight.
To digression for a sec, I'm going to plow in with my theory for Stewart's abject public apology for the affair. Breaking Dawn, Part II, is coming out in November (the horror!) and stars contractually have to promote these films since their presence insures big box office. Perhaps, KS's rep read her contract and said: Hey, KS, you're a mufti-million dollar star now and look here, if you commit acts of moral turpitude which harm the box office you can be sued. How about a big, over-the-top public mea culpa because I do like my 15 percent?
As one observant commenter said: But she is a performer whose career is affected by how moviegoers feel about her. She makes an apology because she or her advisors believe that it will improve the perception of potential ticket buyers.... Bingo!
Which segues me into the transference meme. Freud defined transference as projection. Loosely put, it's when the individual identifies so strongly with something outside himself that he "feels" what it feels; his identity is tied up in its identity and often, reason be damned.
The Twilight books and movies placed so many young girls in Bella's "shoes" and thus in Edward's arms. Perhaps they were in no relationship or a doomed relationship; no matter, when Edward declared undying love for Bella, he was declaring it to them.
Two comments I read this weekend sum this up: at the risk of seeming a bit weird, maybe its because I saw the twilight movies, but I thought they had some kind of special bond. the notion of their characters were in love and so were they in real life. that they actually had some kind of otherworldly bond that transcended the movies and:
Plus, now a lot of Edward/Bella fantasies are probably shattered.
The transference/projection I'm describing above probably occurs to all of us at some time. Intelligent and lucky humans move on into a logical, reality-based adulthood but that transition, in the modern world, is always a struggle. I don't mean in the area of love and fantasy but in the area of pushing back against a more dangerous meme: I am your government. Let me tell you the enemies you must hate.
Propaganda is a good way to start but transference is so much more permanent and unless the government slips up like KS, the results may last for lifetimes.
Which segues me into Why We Fight. WWF is not the pro-war propaganda directed by Frank Capra during WWII but a broad historical sweep looking at how the US has been convincing its population for decades that there is an enemy out there against which we must always be most vigilant. Whether it was the red scare of the 1920s (Yes, it started back then.), the atom bombs dropped to show Stalin we were really tough, the lying about the Gulf of Tonkin or the most recent (I think) lie about WMDs in Iraq, like movie stars, the government has played vast swatches of the US public like the proverbial violin.
Why We Fight (2005) should be viewed on two levels. First, it is a superb documentary using Eisenhower's warning at the end of his term (1960) regarding the danger of the military-industrial complex as a linchpin to explore how prescient but unheeded this warning was. To me, there was no question as to this movie's theme but it is not a screed and you hear from all major villains, Adelman, Bush, Perle, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Kristol, etc. in their own words. You get to see the millions of people worldwide who protested the Iraq invasion and, more importantly, you understand how such a vast world-wide protest was marginalized. (Hint: Vietnam was the last conflict where journalists were allowed to roam free. Government learned the lesson of media control from this conflict.)
But it is on the second level where the movie teaches a more important lesson. In order to invade Iraq, lies were spread and lies were believed. After 9/11, the US went bat-shit crazy. Flags were flown to "show" Bin Laden, french fries become freedom fries because the French were not bully-war enough and the Patriot Act was passed by a craven majority in Congress. The lies produced at the top of government were spun down to the US population and believed. The enemies of a powerful military industrial complex which runs our government became the enemies of average Americans so they were willing, once again, to send their sons and daughters to die on foreign soil.
In a cosmic way, the hatred of the enemies of the rich (who would not pay any price for their supposed hate) transferred to the average American who just didn't get that (just like with the fictional Edward and Bella story) they didn't have a dog in this fight.
Why We Fight brings this fact home poignantly by following a retired NYC cop who loses a son on 9/11. Seeking revenge but also wanting the boy's life to have meaning, he petitions the government to get his son's name printed on a bomb to be dropped on Iraq because he was told and believes that Iraq has WMDs. After a lot of traveling up the chain of command, his petition is granted and we get to see the bomb carrying his son's name.
But here is where the story gets its sad twist back to reality: As the Iraq invasion goes poorly and allies start to hang the US out to dry, George Bush finally admits that Saddam Hussein didn't have WMDs and we are left with the father who dutifully believed his government, disillusioned and angered.
Pundits write polemics about important issues on a national or global scale. Average people don't live in this world. They buy into a love fantasy as their own and they buy into a hate meme propagated by interests which really don't give a shit about them.
I'm not saying that Why We Fight will change the world. After all, millions of protesters stopped nothing. But, as our founders said, a citizenry must be informed. You owe it to future generations to see Why We Fight. It is a superb movie. And yes, you will come away disappointed but hopefully enlightened.
The transference/projection I'm describing above probably occurs to all of us at some time. Intelligent and lucky humans move on into a logical, reality-based adulthood but that transition, in the modern world, is always a struggle. I don't mean in the area of love and fantasy but in the area of pushing back against a more dangerous meme: I am your government. Let me tell you the enemies you must hate.
Propaganda is a good way to start but transference is so much more permanent and unless the government slips up like KS, the results may last for lifetimes.
Which segues me into Why We Fight. WWF is not the pro-war propaganda directed by Frank Capra during WWII but a broad historical sweep looking at how the US has been convincing its population for decades that there is an enemy out there against which we must always be most vigilant. Whether it was the red scare of the 1920s (Yes, it started back then.), the atom bombs dropped to show Stalin we were really tough, the lying about the Gulf of Tonkin or the most recent (I think) lie about WMDs in Iraq, like movie stars, the government has played vast swatches of the US public like the proverbial violin.
Why We Fight (2005) should be viewed on two levels. First, it is a superb documentary using Eisenhower's warning at the end of his term (1960) regarding the danger of the military-industrial complex as a linchpin to explore how prescient but unheeded this warning was. To me, there was no question as to this movie's theme but it is not a screed and you hear from all major villains, Adelman, Bush, Perle, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Kristol, etc. in their own words. You get to see the millions of people worldwide who protested the Iraq invasion and, more importantly, you understand how such a vast world-wide protest was marginalized. (Hint: Vietnam was the last conflict where journalists were allowed to roam free. Government learned the lesson of media control from this conflict.)
But it is on the second level where the movie teaches a more important lesson. In order to invade Iraq, lies were spread and lies were believed. After 9/11, the US went bat-shit crazy. Flags were flown to "show" Bin Laden, french fries become freedom fries because the French were not bully-war enough and the Patriot Act was passed by a craven majority in Congress. The lies produced at the top of government were spun down to the US population and believed. The enemies of a powerful military industrial complex which runs our government became the enemies of average Americans so they were willing, once again, to send their sons and daughters to die on foreign soil.
In a cosmic way, the hatred of the enemies of the rich (who would not pay any price for their supposed hate) transferred to the average American who just didn't get that (just like with the fictional Edward and Bella story) they didn't have a dog in this fight.
Why We Fight brings this fact home poignantly by following a retired NYC cop who loses a son on 9/11. Seeking revenge but also wanting the boy's life to have meaning, he petitions the government to get his son's name printed on a bomb to be dropped on Iraq because he was told and believes that Iraq has WMDs. After a lot of traveling up the chain of command, his petition is granted and we get to see the bomb carrying his son's name.
But here is where the story gets its sad twist back to reality: As the Iraq invasion goes poorly and allies start to hang the US out to dry, George Bush finally admits that Saddam Hussein didn't have WMDs and we are left with the father who dutifully believed his government, disillusioned and angered.
Pundits write polemics about important issues on a national or global scale. Average people don't live in this world. They buy into a love fantasy as their own and they buy into a hate meme propagated by interests which really don't give a shit about them.
I'm not saying that Why We Fight will change the world. After all, millions of protesters stopped nothing. But, as our founders said, a citizenry must be informed. You owe it to future generations to see Why We Fight. It is a superb movie. And yes, you will come away disappointed but hopefully enlightened.
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