- Re: Speaking of Orwellian, how about those 2018 Pulitzers? Archived Message
Posted by Ian M
on May 17, 2020, 11:33 am, in reply to "Speaking of Orwellian, how about those 2018 Pulitzers?"
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Thanks Mark for that confirmation about there being no historical evidence for the supposed vietnamese war crimes touted in A-now! and the deerhunter. Shows the power of these justification stories - I expect most viewers will just believe them despite being in a fictional context, and even those inclined to condemn US aggression will start from a position of 'well, of course in war both sides commit atrocities, but...'. Interesting to see that the types of media lies justifying war (eg: babies thrown out of incubators in Iraq, troops preparing for mass rapes in Libya etc) are also employed in cinema, having a similar effect. Shouldn't be surprising really... Another aspect of these films is the way they're almost always embedded in the experience of the invading/occupying soldiers, hardly ever from the POV of their victims. This is also an echo of common journalistic (sic) practices of going round with the troops and only reporting back what they permit to be seen. Viewer empathy is thus directed exclusively to 'our brave boys' to the expense of those who have an actual justification for violence against their oppressors. Frankie Boyle summed it up nicely in one of his better moments: Anyway, it's sunny out so I'll leave it there  cheers, I |