*This post may contain spoilers. If you want to watch the movie without being spoiled, I suggest you go watch it then come back to read this post.*
American Sniper is an American film based on the autobiography of Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL sniper. Chris Kyle served four tours in Iraq, had two children and a wife, and died in 2013. The movie was nominated for several Oscars and other movie awards. It won the Oscar for Best Achievement in Sound Editing.
This film has had lots of controversy surrounding it. Some say it is a pro-war propaganda film. It's also been said to be very racist against Arabs, and historically inaccurate. I watched this film because of the controversy and because I can't judge a film, book, TV show, song, etc. without experiencing it myself.
Having watched the movie, I can now judge it for myself. This movie was... a movie. I am very anti-war and anti-violence (for the most part). I am not against America and I'm not against freedom. I'm not pro-terrorist, but I am pro-Arab (I guess). So, let's discuss this violent war movie that is racist against Arabs, shall we?
At the beginning of the movie, there was this whole sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs metaphor, that I didn't like. I thought it was dumb, and a bad excuse for violence. It's not really that important to the story so I'll just skip that because this is already going to be long enough.
The story of "American hero" Chris Kyle is not itself bad. The way the story is told in the movie is bad. I guess that's how propaganda works.
The movie is very, very violent. It's over-violent, in my opinion. The story could be told just as well, if not more enjoyably if the violence was taken down several notches. I can handle a lot of violence. One of my favorite series of all time is the Hunger Games, but it was really hard for me to watch this movie. Part of it was because I knew this was real (ish).
That's how I could tell that this was some sort of propaganda. They weren't using the violence to tell the story, they were using it to convince you that their story is the right story.
Along the same lines, there was excessive swearing. I have no idea why. It was basically just constant swearing. Sometimes it felt that every other word was a derivative of the f bomb. Again, I can handle swearing, I swear occasionally myself, but this was over doing. It made me a bit uncomfortable.
Throughout the movie, Chris Kyle was called a "hero", a "badass". He killed over 160 people. Personally, I don't find this heroic or badass. I find it troubling. If a normal person killed that many people, they would be a psychotic serial killer.
At one point in the movie, when he was home, a veteran came up to him and said Chris saved his life, he's very grateful, yada yada. He even told Chris Kyle's son that his dad was a hero and all that jazz. By this scene, I was already fed up with Chris Kyle and the movie, but this scene irked me. the way Chris handled the whole encounter angered me. He was so cold and it seemed like he didn't care that he saved this guy's life. It was frustrating.
Every. Single. Arab. In this whole gosh darn movie was evil. EVIL. They actually used that word. Every Iraqi in the film was an "evil savage". There was a scene when they took over an Iraqi family's home and the father said "Tonight everyone is welcome at my table." I was like, "Finally! A scene that portrays Arabs as I know them: welcoming, kind, generous." NOPE. During dinner, Chris notices something suspicious, searches the house, what does he find? A giant effing stash of weapons. And we all thought this Arab was different, but no. All Arabs hoard weapons and plan to kill Americans. Good to know.
The beginning of the movie started with the Adaan aka the call to prayer. I hear it every day, four or five times a day. It was obvious they weren't using it to include the culture in this movie, it felt like they were using it as like a cult gathering song and that pissed me off.
Finally, there was a scene where on of his friends say that he bought a ring (for his girlfriend, he was gonna propose). Chris Kyle asked if he bought it from Iraq; his friend said yes. Chris then says something along the lines of "How do you know that's not a blood diamond?" (A blood diamond is a diamond sold to fund an armed conflict, rebel group, or war.) This made me mad because at this point in US history, many blood diamonds were sold in the US. Some are still even sold in the US. So even if he had bought the ring in the US IT STILL COULD HAVE BEEN A BLOOD DIAMOND.
This entire movie pissed me off. From the way they pronounced Arab names, to the graphic, unnecessary violence, to the scenes between Chris and his wife. From the beginning to the end, it was not enjoyable to watch.
The worst part, in my opinion, is how this movie affected people.
There's been a lot of tension going back and forth, including celebrities. Seth Rogan said the movie reminded him of Nazi propaganda (he later said it just reminded him of a movie because of the sniper aspects). My friend, who watched it with me, said it reminded her of the film they show at the reaping in the Hunger Games.
People have been using this movie as proof that America is the greatest country in the world because we fight for freedom. I love America, I do. It's given me great opportunities, and my family great opportunities. I'm lucky to be from America because so many people want to be there. However, America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.
In a class on social injustice I took we watched a clip from the TV series "The Newsroom" you can watch it here. It talked about how America is not the greatest country in the world.
American Sniper is exactly the reason we need things like AFS. Things like American Sniper fuel comments like "anywhere but Egypt" and "are you sure she'll be safe there". Things like AFS fuel things like "Egypt and the Arabic language are two of the greatest things that ever happened to me."
If you've seen the movie, let me know what you thought of it. If you haven't seen the movie, tell me what you think of this in general.
I will have another post for you soon about Egypt and happier topics.
Until then, learn something today.
Byeeeee
Corie.
American Sniper is an American film based on the autobiography of Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL sniper. Chris Kyle served four tours in Iraq, had two children and a wife, and died in 2013. The movie was nominated for several Oscars and other movie awards. It won the Oscar for Best Achievement in Sound Editing.
This film has had lots of controversy surrounding it. Some say it is a pro-war propaganda film. It's also been said to be very racist against Arabs, and historically inaccurate. I watched this film because of the controversy and because I can't judge a film, book, TV show, song, etc. without experiencing it myself.
Having watched the movie, I can now judge it for myself. This movie was... a movie. I am very anti-war and anti-violence (for the most part). I am not against America and I'm not against freedom. I'm not pro-terrorist, but I am pro-Arab (I guess). So, let's discuss this violent war movie that is racist against Arabs, shall we?
At the beginning of the movie, there was this whole sheep, wolves, and sheep dogs metaphor, that I didn't like. I thought it was dumb, and a bad excuse for violence. It's not really that important to the story so I'll just skip that because this is already going to be long enough.
The story of "American hero" Chris Kyle is not itself bad. The way the story is told in the movie is bad. I guess that's how propaganda works.
The movie is very, very violent. It's over-violent, in my opinion. The story could be told just as well, if not more enjoyably if the violence was taken down several notches. I can handle a lot of violence. One of my favorite series of all time is the Hunger Games, but it was really hard for me to watch this movie. Part of it was because I knew this was real (ish).
That's how I could tell that this was some sort of propaganda. They weren't using the violence to tell the story, they were using it to convince you that their story is the right story.
Along the same lines, there was excessive swearing. I have no idea why. It was basically just constant swearing. Sometimes it felt that every other word was a derivative of the f bomb. Again, I can handle swearing, I swear occasionally myself, but this was over doing. It made me a bit uncomfortable.
Throughout the movie, Chris Kyle was called a "hero", a "badass". He killed over 160 people. Personally, I don't find this heroic or badass. I find it troubling. If a normal person killed that many people, they would be a psychotic serial killer.
At one point in the movie, when he was home, a veteran came up to him and said Chris saved his life, he's very grateful, yada yada. He even told Chris Kyle's son that his dad was a hero and all that jazz. By this scene, I was already fed up with Chris Kyle and the movie, but this scene irked me. the way Chris handled the whole encounter angered me. He was so cold and it seemed like he didn't care that he saved this guy's life. It was frustrating.
Every. Single. Arab. In this whole gosh darn movie was evil. EVIL. They actually used that word. Every Iraqi in the film was an "evil savage". There was a scene when they took over an Iraqi family's home and the father said "Tonight everyone is welcome at my table." I was like, "Finally! A scene that portrays Arabs as I know them: welcoming, kind, generous." NOPE. During dinner, Chris notices something suspicious, searches the house, what does he find? A giant effing stash of weapons. And we all thought this Arab was different, but no. All Arabs hoard weapons and plan to kill Americans. Good to know.
The beginning of the movie started with the Adaan aka the call to prayer. I hear it every day, four or five times a day. It was obvious they weren't using it to include the culture in this movie, it felt like they were using it as like a cult gathering song and that pissed me off.
Finally, there was a scene where on of his friends say that he bought a ring (for his girlfriend, he was gonna propose). Chris Kyle asked if he bought it from Iraq; his friend said yes. Chris then says something along the lines of "How do you know that's not a blood diamond?" (A blood diamond is a diamond sold to fund an armed conflict, rebel group, or war.) This made me mad because at this point in US history, many blood diamonds were sold in the US. Some are still even sold in the US. So even if he had bought the ring in the US IT STILL COULD HAVE BEEN A BLOOD DIAMOND.
This entire movie pissed me off. From the way they pronounced Arab names, to the graphic, unnecessary violence, to the scenes between Chris and his wife. From the beginning to the end, it was not enjoyable to watch.
The worst part, in my opinion, is how this movie affected people.
There's been a lot of tension going back and forth, including celebrities. Seth Rogan said the movie reminded him of Nazi propaganda (he later said it just reminded him of a movie because of the sniper aspects). My friend, who watched it with me, said it reminded her of the film they show at the reaping in the Hunger Games.
People have been using this movie as proof that America is the greatest country in the world because we fight for freedom. I love America, I do. It's given me great opportunities, and my family great opportunities. I'm lucky to be from America because so many people want to be there. However, America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.
In a class on social injustice I took we watched a clip from the TV series "The Newsroom" you can watch it here. It talked about how America is not the greatest country in the world.
American Sniper is exactly the reason we need things like AFS. Things like American Sniper fuel comments like "anywhere but Egypt" and "are you sure she'll be safe there". Things like AFS fuel things like "Egypt and the Arabic language are two of the greatest things that ever happened to me."
If you've seen the movie, let me know what you thought of it. If you haven't seen the movie, tell me what you think of this in general.
I will have another post for you soon about Egypt and happier topics.
Until then, learn something today.
Byeeeee
Corie.
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