as I said before, trite, predictable and formulaic - and if you don't know that
the academy awards is a purely political process itself then you know nothing
about it at all. When a movie like this gets made in a time of war, few are
willing to criticize it for fear of right wingers who think all critics should
be themselves raped and killed (this has already happened)
"Only a few weeks into its release, the film has been flattened into a symbol
to serve the interests of an ideology that, arguably, runs counter to the ethos
of the film itself. How much, if at all, should Eastwood concern himself with
fans who misunderstand and misuse his work? If he, intentionally or not, makes
a hero out of Kyle – who, bare minimum, was a racist who took pleasure in
dehumanising and killing brown people – is he responsible for validating
racism, murder, and dehumanisation? Is he a propagandist if people use his work
as propaganda?
That question came to the fore last week on Twitter when several liberal
journalists drew attention to Kyle’s less Oscar-worthy statements. “Chris Kyle
boasted of looting the apartments of Iraqi families in Fallujah,” wrote author
and former Daily Beast writer Max Blumenthal. “Kill every male you see,” Rania
Khalek quoted, calling Kyle an “American psycho”.
Retaliation from the rightwing twittersphere was swift and violent, as Khalek
documented in an exhaustive (and exhausting) post at Alternet. “Move your
America hating ass to Iraq, let ISIS rape you then cut your cunt head off,
fucking media whore muslim,” wrote a rather unassuming-looking mom named Donna.
“Rania, maybe we to take you ass overthere and give it to ISIS … Dumb bitch,”
offered a bearded man named Ronald, who enjoys either bass fishing or playing
the bass (we may never know). “Waterboarding is far from torture,” explained an
army pilot named Benjamin, all helpfulness. “I wouldn’t mind giving you two a
demonstration.”
The patriots go on, and on and on. They cannot believe what they are reading.
They are rushing to the defence of not just Kyle, but their country, what their
country means. They call for the rape or death of anyone ungrateful enough to
criticise American hero Chris Kyle. Because Chris Kyle is good, and brown
people are bad, and America is in danger, and Chris Kyle saved us. The attitude
echoes what Miller articulated about Kyle in her Salon piece: “his steadfast
imperviousness to any nuance, subtlety or ambiguity, and his lack of
imagination and curiosity, seem particularly notable”.
The real American Sniper was a hate-filled killer. Why are simplistic patriots
treating him as a hero? | Lindy West
| |
| | | | | | | |
| The real American Sniper was a hate-filled killer. Why a...Lindy West: Clint
Eastwood’s film about Navy Seal Chris Kyle has hit a raw nerve in America, with
right wingers calling for the rape or death of anyone ungrateful e... |
| |
| View on www.theguardian.com | Preview by Yahoo |
| |
| |
From: "Mike Dixon [email protected] [FairfieldLife]"
<[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 7:48 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Eastwood Rise from the Sepulchre
Actually, I've been addressing your original post, that it was a crummy
film. Six academy ward nominations are a great honor. Whether you win or not.
The nominations come from people far more knowledgeable about films than you or
I or the geek who's critique you justified your post by. I could care less
about the rest of your rant... any of it. It's quite obvious, your dislike for
the film, is purely political in nature.
From: "Michael Jackson [email protected] [FairfieldLife]"
<[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Eastwood Rise from the Sepulchre
Horse shit. And what did it win? Best Sound Editing. Big deal. People
don't like the movie because it is poorly made on a lot of levels. You just
going with the cult mentality knee jerk mind set that any American soldier
serving in Iraq is automatically a hero. Why don't you address the rape and
sexual assault issue I mentioned? You think that because someone serves well on
the battlefield he is entitled to rape anyone of his fellow soldiers he likes?
Or how about stick with the reality that Kyle said he loved war and his sniping
job and that it was fun, but in the movie is portrayed has having remorse and
so forth which he did not in reality. Eastwood is way past his prime and will
do us all a great favor if this is his last film.
From: "Mike Dixon [email protected] [FairfieldLife]"
<[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 4:48 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Eastwood Rise from the Sepulchre
Six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Leading Actor,
Best Adapted Screenplay. Six Academy nominations are sufficient accolades for a
first class film. US man in uniform good, brown people bad, proves my point
about liberal mindset and why they hate the movie. The icing on the cake was
that the *brown* people were Islamic terrorists. Now, to be true to script
Michael, you're supposed to come back and say they weren't *terrorists*, they
were *freedom* fighters and we were killing them to take their oil.
From: "Michael Jackson [email protected] [FairfieldLife]"
<[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 2:00 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Eastwood Rise from the Sepulchre
Sure because of the cult "US man in uniform good, brown people bad"
mentality.
The box office numbers of films like Age of Ultron prove that a garbage movie
can make lots of money. Titanic is another good example.
From: "Mike Dixon [email protected] [FairfieldLife]"
<[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 2:35 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Eastwood Rise from the Sepulchre
90.2 million dollars opening weekend. I guess somebody liked it.
From: "Michael Jackson [email protected] [FairfieldLife]"
<[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 1:24 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Eastwood Rise from the Sepulchre
Couldn't disagree more. All the politics and war this and that aside, just
considering the movie as a movie, the film is very poorly made.
The first 30 minutes or so of back story is trite, formulaic and boringly
predictable. From the point at which the protagonist, Chris Kyle is shown
beginning his Iraq tour the movie devolves into a repetitive cycle of fight,
kill, go home, fight with wife, go back to Iraq, fight, kill, go home, fight
with wife, and so on.
The first time I saw the two evil doers, the antagonists of the film, I knew
they and the situations the filmmakers were showing were made up bullshit.
Subsequent research into the differences between Kyle's book and the film
confirmed that.
Far from the film being great and it not being PC to say so, the film makes a
joke out of the Iraq war and turns the soldiers into caricatures of the real
men and women who served and serve there.
The reason the film is so popular is the kind of cult mentality we have often
discussed here on FFL, where a point of view is so obsessively adhered to one
cannot think or perceive reality clearly. In this case the point of view is
that all US soldiers are good and whatever they do makes them heroes, and that
the Iraqis are all evil (which is pretty much what Kyle himself believed - read
his book and you'll see.)
This is absurd. I have known more than a few men and women who have served in
both the 1st Gulf war and the current conflict. What people who think this film
is fine fail to recognize is that a soldier can do their job in combat, even
become heroic at times and still be an ass or even a criminal in their day to
day life.
How do you think so many thousands of sexual assaults occur in the military,
especially in war zones every year? Combat soldier by day, rapist by night. It
happens all too frequently. About 20,000 cases a year are actually reported and
one estimate showed that only one in five assaults get reported. Put that
together and you have about 100,000 cases of sexual assault occurring in the
military every year! And this is being done by heroes???
I knew of one instance here in SC - the man, Army officer literally died a
hero, jumping on the grenade to save his buddies scenario and man was he ever
praised and lionized all over the place with the Governor herself, and many
state dignitaries praising this guy to high heaven in any number of memorial
services.
I have known his widow since she was born, and I know that her husband before
his death had been cheating on her. She found out and asked him to stop and
start being a husband and a father to their 3 year old and 5 year old. He
refused and she began divorce proceedings. Part of her angst was over the fact
that while in Iraq, he was sending money that should have gone to her and their
kids to pay the mortgage to his girlfriend here so she could buy a new truck.
After he was killed his wife discovered that after his last leave when she told
him to shape up or she would divorce him, not only did he stop sending her any
money at all, he took her name off his life insurance policy and put his
mother's name on it. She was a real honey too. The mother came up to the widow
at the freaking memorial service and told her to her face in front of others
that she (the mother) would see to it that she (the wife) would not collect a
penny in his military benefits. Hero on the battlefield, ass in real life.
Many of the scenes in the movie were made up, fictional including the butcher
character and mustafa, the scene where Kyle's brother was complaining on the
tarmac and especially the scenes where Kyle was shown getting tired and
uncomfortable with what he was doing. That was complete bullshit. Read his
book. He states without question that he loved killing and loved the war. He
not only loved it, he said it was fun more than once in the book. Anyone who
thinks that war and killing is fun is mentally unbalanced.
The fact that he himself was killed by another Iraq war vet is one of the most
telling things about his life and the movie barely mentions. As one reviewer
put it, they made a movie about a killing machine with a heart of gold.
Which is bs too. If you read anything about the real Kyle it is obvious that he
was a self centered braggart and liar. The Jesse Ventura incident - bs. The
story of himself and two other SEALS killing 30 looters in New Orleans from
atop the Superdome - bs. And his tale of killing two carjackers and the cops
turning him loose when they realized who he was - total bs.
If he had to fabricate such stories to make himself look good, how accurate can
his war record be? And before you go to squalling about it, the kill record of
the snipers rely a good deal on the testimony of the snipers themselves. And
none of the records are considered official by the army. its just a bragging
rights thing.
If you read the book, you will find some of the most telling aspects of Kyle's
mentality revolve around him competing with other US snipers to see who would
rack up the highest body count. When one of his "competitors" gets close to
surpassing his record, he talks about how so many more insurgents suddenly
began to appear in front of his scope, heavily implying that he went out and
killed whoever he had to to keep up his record.
The truth is generally much more sordid than the Clint Eastwoods of the world
make it seem in their films and I guess all his years of TM have finally caught
up with him, cause his latest film is pitiful on all levels.
From: "Mike Dixon [email protected] [FairfieldLife]"
<[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 1:04 PM
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Eastwood Rise from the Sepulchre
Yeah, I watched it last night... again. It's a great film but it isn't
chic(sheik) or PC to admit it. Actually, it's fashionable among libs to
ridicule it. Got to get that Muslim vote! Of course American Muslims hate it
because they say it's anti-Muslim. Anti-Muslim because it shows the greatest
American sniper killing Terrorists( who happen to be Muslims) in order to
prevent the deaths of Marines taking Fallujah and Sadr City in order to
stabilize Iraq. I guess they wanted him to talk the terrorists out of their
attacks. Hmmm... all that effort and all those lives and limbs for nothing.
American Sniper got good reviews in Baghdad with cheers for each kill from many
in the audience. However, it had to be closed down the first week due to
terroristic threats.
From: "Michael Jackson [email protected] [FairfieldLife]"
<[email protected]>
To: FairfieldLife <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2015 11:11 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Eastwood Rise from the Sepulchre
Anyone see Dinosaur TM'er Clint's latest film?
I watched American Sniper last night and was duly unimpressed. The worst film
Eastwood has ever made and that includes such bombs as Bronco Billy
#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572 -- #yiv1410230572ygrp-mkp {border:1px solid
#d8d8d8;font-family:Arial;margin:10px 0;padding:0 10px;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572ygrp-mkp hr {border:1px solid #d8d8d8;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572ygrp-mkp #yiv1410230572hd
{color:#628c2a;font-size:85%;font-weight:700;line-height:122%;margin:10px
0;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-mkp #yiv1410230572ads
{margin-bottom:10px;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-mkp .yiv1410230572ad
{padding:0 0;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-mkp .yiv1410230572ad p
{margin:0;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-mkp .yiv1410230572ad a
{color:#0000ff;text-decoration:none;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-sponsor
#yiv1410230572ygrp-lc {font-family:Arial;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572ygrp-sponsor #yiv1410230572ygrp-lc #yiv1410230572hd {margin:10px
0px;font-weight:700;font-size:78%;line-height:122%;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572ygrp-sponsor #yiv1410230572ygrp-lc .yiv1410230572ad
{margin-bottom:10px;padding:0 0;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572actions
{font-family:Verdana;font-size:11px;padding:10px 0;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572activity
{background-color:#e0ecee;float:left;font-family:Verdana;font-size:10px;padding:10px;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572activity span {font-weight:700;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572activity span:first-child
{text-transform:uppercase;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572activity span a
{color:#5085b6;text-decoration:none;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572activity span
span {color:#ff7900;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572activity span
.yiv1410230572underline {text-decoration:underline;}#yiv1410230572
.yiv1410230572attach
{clear:both;display:table;font-family:Arial;font-size:12px;padding:10px
0;width:400px;}#yiv1410230572 .yiv1410230572attach div a
{text-decoration:none;}#yiv1410230572 .yiv1410230572attach img
{border:none;padding-right:5px;}#yiv1410230572 .yiv1410230572attach label
{display:block;margin-bottom:5px;}#yiv1410230572 .yiv1410230572attach label a
{text-decoration:none;}#yiv1410230572 blockquote {margin:0 0 0
4px;}#yiv1410230572 .yiv1410230572bold
{font-family:Arial;font-size:13px;font-weight:700;}#yiv1410230572
.yiv1410230572bold a {text-decoration:none;}#yiv1410230572 dd.yiv1410230572last
p a {font-family:Verdana;font-weight:700;}#yiv1410230572 dd.yiv1410230572last p
span {margin-right:10px;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:700;}#yiv1410230572
dd.yiv1410230572last p span.yiv1410230572yshortcuts
{margin-right:0;}#yiv1410230572 div.yiv1410230572attach-table div div a
{text-decoration:none;}#yiv1410230572 div.yiv1410230572attach-table
{width:400px;}#yiv1410230572 div.yiv1410230572file-title a, #yiv1410230572
div.yiv1410230572file-title a:active, #yiv1410230572
div.yiv1410230572file-title a:hover, #yiv1410230572 div.yiv1410230572file-title
a:visited {text-decoration:none;}#yiv1410230572 div.yiv1410230572photo-title a,
#yiv1410230572 div.yiv1410230572photo-title a:active, #yiv1410230572
div.yiv1410230572photo-title a:hover, #yiv1410230572
div.yiv1410230572photo-title a:visited {text-decoration:none;}#yiv1410230572
div#yiv1410230572ygrp-mlmsg #yiv1410230572ygrp-msg p a
span.yiv1410230572yshortcuts
{font-family:Verdana;font-size:10px;font-weight:normal;}#yiv1410230572
.yiv1410230572green {color:#628c2a;}#yiv1410230572 .yiv1410230572MsoNormal
{margin:0 0 0 0;}#yiv1410230572 o {font-size:0;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572photos div {float:left;width:72px;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572photos div div {border:1px solid
#666666;height:62px;overflow:hidden;width:62px;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572photos div label
{color:#666666;font-size:10px;overflow:hidden;text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;width:64px;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572reco-category {font-size:77%;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572reco-desc {font-size:77%;}#yiv1410230572 .yiv1410230572replbq
{margin:4px;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-actbar div a:first-child
{margin-right:2px;padding-right:5px;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-mlmsg
{font-size:13px;font-family:Arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572ygrp-mlmsg table {font-size:inherit;font:100%;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572ygrp-mlmsg select, #yiv1410230572 input, #yiv1410230572 textarea
{font:99% Arial, Helvetica, clean, sans-serif;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572ygrp-mlmsg pre, #yiv1410230572 code {font:115%
monospace;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-mlmsg *
{line-height:1.22em;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-mlmsg #yiv1410230572logo
{padding-bottom:10px;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-msg p a
{font-family:Verdana;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-msg
p#yiv1410230572attach-count span {color:#1E66AE;font-weight:700;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572ygrp-reco #yiv1410230572reco-head
{color:#ff7900;font-weight:700;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-reco
{margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-sponsor
#yiv1410230572ov li a {font-size:130%;text-decoration:none;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572ygrp-sponsor #yiv1410230572ov li
{font-size:77%;list-style-type:square;padding:6px 0;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572ygrp-sponsor #yiv1410230572ov ul {margin:0;padding:0 0 0
8px;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-text
{font-family:Georgia;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-text p {margin:0 0 1em
0;}#yiv1410230572 #yiv1410230572ygrp-text tt {font-size:120%;}#yiv1410230572
#yiv1410230572ygrp-vital ul li:last-child {border-right:none
!important;}#yiv1410230572
