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Why is American Sniper such a hit?

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Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Old 01-26-15, 03:58 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Neil M.
Did we see the same movie?
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know films weren't open to different interpretations. Strange how different that is from every other art form in existence. The fact the the film sidesteps being overtly political doesn't mean it isn't. If you disagree, hats off to you, but I doubt I'm the only one who believes such a notion.
Old 01-26-15, 04:31 PM
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I would hope that any film-good or bad, anti-war or outright fascist, US or foreign-wouldn't he used as a solitary education tool. I haven't seen this film, so it'd be foolish of me to condemn or praise it, but as with any film, I would hope people don't take it as the definitive presentation or statement about any issues. Watching Schindler's List didn't make me a Holocaust expert. Watching Triumph of the Will didn't make me a Nazi. Watching Rambo didn't make me a fascist. Watching The Wire didn't make me a socialist. I understand controversy surrounding any film, but I do find it somewhat disconcerting how often people who talk about a film use it as the key text for anything. It's AN interpretation. When anyone comes out and say a film misrepresents something, I totally understand it, but I would hope that someone watching a film wouldn't take it simply at face value and wouldn't use it as an educational tool. If a film purports to be about a specific issue, and it's of interest to whoever is watching, I would hope that someone would get to the end credits and say "let me go read more about this topic." I find the idea that someone would get all of their education about any issue from a two hour movie to be disturbing.
Old 01-28-15, 11:46 AM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

If anything I actually got a anti-war message from the movie. Yes it showcased someone who was very highly skilled and decorated because of that skill, but it also showed that even the so-called best soldiers are very messed up and war fucks you up in ways that cannot even be truly understood.

I like most people my age have relatives who served in various wars, my grandfather and great uncle both served in WW2. My great uncle actually served with JFK and worked with him after the war as well. When my grandfather found out my mother was pregnant (this was during the Vietnam war) he pulled my father aside and made him swear that if another war with a draft happened while I was of age, that my father would run to Canada with me because he didn't want his grandson to experience the horrors he lived through. He told me the same thing when I was older before he passed away before I was 9. He made me promise on what was his deathbed to go to Canada if I was ever drafted.

Back to the movie. I did not get a sense they were glorifying war or Chris Kyle as a whole. Rather that a messed up guy did some amazing things in a horrible situation. YMMV.
Old 01-28-15, 12:16 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

More importantly, this is a movie that is very pro-Oscar.
Old 01-28-15, 12:22 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by d2cheer
Very true even though I have issues with the guy lying. Anyone whining about it being a Republican movie must of had their eyes shut the whole time.

AND the other reason it is doing so well....


America Fuck Yea!!
I will never understand why a liberal can complain all day long about it being a movie that doesn't fit their anti war views. If you don't like it go watch an Oliver Stone movie, or that Matt Damon movie Green Zone. Also watching AS exemplifies American Exceptionalism, when our leaders have done everything they can to make Americans feel shameful of our country. It came along at the right time. This is also why liberals hate Top Gun.
Old 01-28-15, 12:26 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Bluelitespecial
This is also why liberals hate Top Gun.
Citation needed.
Old 01-28-15, 12:27 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Bluelitespecial
This is also why liberals hate Top Gun.
I'm sure there's more reasons than that. It's like saying, "This is why people with blonde hair hate Battlefield Earth."
Old 01-28-15, 12:30 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Look up any celebrities who have said they hate the movie. I think Bryan Adams said he didn't want to make any of the music for it because he thought it was a gung ho war flick.
Old 01-28-15, 12:31 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by EddieMoney
I'm sure there's more reasons than that. It's like saying, "This is why people with blonde hair hate Battlefield Earth."
There were some scenes in Top Gun that I would bet John Travolta really enjoyed.
Old 01-28-15, 12:31 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Bluelitespecial
Look up any celebrities who have said they hate the movie. I think Bryan Adams said he didn't want to make any of the music for it because he thought it was a gung ho war flick.
I was just joking about the quality of the film.

Thank God Kenny Loggins will whore himself out for anything!
Old 01-28-15, 12:51 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

I tried Googling "Top Gun Hate" and it asked "Did you mean Top Gun hat?"

"Liberals hate top gun" just gives me a bunch of results about liberals hating guns. I did find the citationless Bryan Adams statement on Wikipedia. I think you might be imagining some kind of overall liberal hate for the film.
Old 01-28-15, 01:27 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

People have mentioned hating the movie here, Anthony Edwards has voiced his opinion on hating the movie all these years later. I mention it here because I think of AS and Top Gun in a similar way. Because they are both Pro America, Pro Military movies, and that's why some people hate them.

Last edited by Bluelitespecial; 01-28-15 at 01:58 PM.
Old 01-28-15, 02:26 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by hanshotfirst1138
. Watching Rambo didn't make me a fascist.
I remember when people on the left were genuinely fearful of films like that and the effect they'd have on audiences. These include RED DAWN, TOP GUN and HEARTBREAK RIDGE. Thank God for SALVADOR, PLATOON, and WALL STREET. Those films saved Hollywood from the warmongers and gave the left some box-office hits. Of course, when I finally saw RAMBO (rented it on video--didn't want to support it at the box-office), I realized it was just a harmless fantasy in which we got to re-fight the Vietnam War and this time win it. Without actually sending any troops to, y'know, actually re-fight it. So when RAMBO III came out, I had no qualms about rushing out to see it. Little did I know that our aid to the mujahadeen in Afghanistan during that period would have a tragic blowback 13 years later. Don't know that I can blame RAMBO III for that, though.

Last edited by Ash Ketchum; 01-28-15 at 03:44 PM.
Old 01-28-15, 02:32 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

The film should have been polled as people leave the theater to see how many who watched it believed that Iraq had WMD and were responsible for the Sep 11th attacks.
Old 01-28-15, 02:54 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Brack
So his idiocy gets a pass? Again with championing mediocrity. It's ironic you say he "doesn't know any better" yet believe he didn't call them all savages that he killed, which is a complete and utter lie. I guess we have a different definition of the word savages.

Keep in mind we invaded Iraq under false pretenses. So calling them "savages" the same people where we destroyed their country is laughable to say the least. So yeah, it takes away a lot of what he did in Iraq, since we should have never been there to begin with. It had nothing to do with 9/11. I always knew the war was a joke from day one when Collin Powell was at the UN with yellow powder. It's a shame some kid in his early 20s at the time knew it was all bs, and yet this movie wants to justify our existence in Iraq.
Go watch the Bill O'Reilly interview...he specifically distinguishes between the Iraqi soldiers he had to kill and the Iraqi people in general in the use of the word 'savages'.

There's NOTHING in American Sniper, the movie, that attempts to justify the war. The film isn't about that at all. If you saw that, you're simply reading something into it that isn't there.

I don't think Chris Kyle was a saint, but I do think he was a hero.
Old 01-28-15, 03:19 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Brack
focusing on this one guy's efforts as "courageous" is an insult to the concept of courage.
Old 01-28-15, 04:39 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Ash Ketchum
I remember when people on the left were genuinely fearful of films like that and the effect they'd have on audiences. These include RED DAWN, TOP GUN and HEARTBREAK RIDGE. Thank God for SALVADOR, PLATOON, and WALL STREET. Those films saved Hollywood from the warmongers and gave the left some box-office hits.
True, it's not like Red Dawn, Top Gun etc fed into a pervasive jingoistic attitude that allowed Americans to pretend Vietnam was just a fluke, with eventual negative consequences for the country.

Of course, when I finally saw RAMBO (rented it on video--didn't want to support it at the box-office), I realized it was just a harmless fantasy in which we got to re-fight the Vietnam War and this time win it.
Question inspired by your avatar -- how do you feel about anime where the Japanese refight WWII and win, such as Mahouka where the hero goes around blowing up Chinese cities?
Old 01-28-15, 05:06 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by stvn1974
The film should have been polled as people leave the theater to see how many who watched it believed that Iraq had WMD and were responsible for the Sep 11th attacks.
Well, if the opinions of those who say that the majority of AS audience are drooling, Rebel-flag-waving, concealed-weapon-toting, racist, illiterate inbreds are true, then it's doubtful that the pollsters would have survived the beatdown in order to compile the data.

(Unless the pollsters were camo'ed in Duck Dynasty outfits)
Old 01-28-15, 05:08 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Sean O'Hara
Question inspired by your avatar -- how do you feel about anime where the Japanese refight WWII and win, such as Mahouka where the hero goes around blowing up Chinese cities?
Do they relive the actual 'glorious victories' such as Nanking?
Old 01-28-15, 08:44 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Sean O'Hara
True, it's not like Red Dawn, Top Gun etc fed into a pervasive jingoistic attitude that allowed Americans to pretend Vietnam was just a fluke, with eventual negative consequences for the country.
Jingoism in films about the military is hardly a new thing though. John Wayne made that kind of stuff on a constant basis. Hell, simplistic good-bad guy designations are nothing new. How many Westerns had marauding evil red-skinned Indians slaughtering noble white people? Is this morally defensible? Of course not. Is it anything new? Hardly. Countless war films have the bad guys as evil and faceless when the real story is a lot more complicated. Films like that preach to the converted in any case though. I don't think Rush Limbaugh listeners are going to go and see a Michael Moore documentary any more than left-wingers are going to go and see Red Dawn or Top Gun. In both cases, they're drawing a specific crowd for box office dollars. They tap into attitudes and zeitgeist for money more than anything else. I wasn't alive then, I can't speak for what they did or didn't "feed into," but I can say that I'd never use them as an educational tool any more than I would American Sniper. The fact that I have an interest in seeing the film or even if I wind up liking it doesn't mean I'll agree with its political viewpoints or be influenced by what they say. I would hope that people watching movies about any subject would distinguish between fiction, even fact-based fiction, and reality. I grew up in a super-conservative family and my viewpoints don't necessarily lean that way as an adult (how I ever came to change them, I'm not entirely sure, but that's not the point).

Question inspired by your avatar -- how do you feel about anime where the Japanese refight WWII and win, such as Mahouka where the hero goes around blowing up Chinese cities?
Again, it's probably a cultural commonality. Just as countless Westerns have evil Indians, Zulu has evil dark-skinned savages, kung-fu films about invading Mongols, or Japanese films which depict the Chinese as evil, it's not a new phenomenon. I agree with your point that it taps into negative stereotypes and cultural attitudes, and you are right that many people are right to criticize it and point out any falsehoods it depicts.

Is Jin-Roh any good?
Old 01-28-15, 08:48 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Bluelitespecial
I will never understand why a liberal can complain all day long about it being a movie that doesn't fit their anti war views. If you don't like it go watch an Oliver Stone movie, or that Matt Damon movie Green Zone. Also watching AS exemplifies American Exceptionalism, when our leaders have done everything they can to make Americans feel shameful of our country. It came along at the right time. This is also why liberals hate Top Gun.
Actually you're mistaken. Most liberals love Top Gun because of how it helped advance the gay agenda.

Old 01-28-15, 10:41 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Old 01-28-15, 11:09 PM
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If I could figure out how to embed, I would post that Tarantino video from Sleep With Me.
Old 02-13-15, 11:36 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Bluelitespecial
People have mentioned hating the movie here, Anthony Edwards has voiced his opinion on hating the movie all these years later. I mention it here because I think of AS and Top Gun in a similar way. Because they are both Pro America, Pro Military movies, and that's why some people hate them.
See that's what people don't understand. Anti-military is ALSO Pro-American.
Anti-military is also, not for most people anti-soldier.

A pro-military movie is no more Pro-American than movies that are anti-war.

But pro-military people try to use that bullshit all the time that if you are anti-war or anti-military you are anti-American.
Old 02-13-15, 11:40 PM
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Re: Why is American Sniper such a hit?

Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt
Go watch the Bill O'Reilly interview...he specifically distinguishes between the Iraqi soldiers he had to kill and the Iraqi people in general in the use of the word 'savages'.

There's NOTHING in American Sniper, the movie, that attempts to justify the war. The film isn't about that at all. If you saw that, you're simply reading something into it that isn't there.

I don't think Chris Kyle was a saint, but I do think he was a hero.
The real Chris Kyle was no hero. He put himself into a no win situation and the situation itself does not change the fact that he is a mass murderer who admitted he had fun killing people.

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