i toss and turn; i can't sleep at night
Apr. 15th, 2009 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novembersmithSo, the following entry is bound to be entirely self-indulgent and rambling. I doubt it will make much sense. I just finished watching Generation Kill for the second time. For those not in the know, Generation Kill is an HBO mini-series based on Evan Wright's book on the Iraq War, and the First Battalion Recon Marines who were there at the start of it. This is not at all my typical fare. I am not a military buff. Any yet, and yet. I am not entirely sure what prompted me to watch this series--a flist of a flist had a fic posted, and I got intrigued by the small but passionate fandom. Plus, not to be entirely shallow, but the actors are, in my humble opinion, painfully gorgeous. But as I think many of us know, you don't actually have to watch/read the source material to enjoy a fandom. But I did anyway, and by the end of the first episode, I was irrevocably hooked.
To anyone that happens to read this: watch Generation Kill. It's worth your while. It is in some ways a story of every war, of the men that make up an army, of the chain of command and the fuck-ups therein. Of how decent men struggle with incompetency, with reconciling humanity and sanity and common sense with the orders passed down. You watch this and are absolutely jaw-droppingly horrified that some of these people are exaggerated, but real. Leaders and screw-ups and psycho-nutjobs. It's an age-old story. It's about the ways war doesn't change, and the ways it does. It's about disconnect and technology and the media, about America and its relationship to the world.
It's not an easy story. It's raw and gritty and real, disgusting and horrific. It's not for the faint of heart or easily-offended. If it's been cleaned up for public consumption at all, it's only had the most cursory wipe-down. There's gore and homophobia and racism, sexism and ignorance. You can't just call these characters heroes, though you can't say they're all not, either. The thing is, fucked up and human and proud and despairing, you fall in love with these men. They are rough and ragged, they are disgusting and hilarious, they make you laugh and make you cringe and make you stroke the screen in horror and dismay and outrage, for the things they do and the things done to them. It's about the fraternity of soldiers. Even the whiskey tango screwbys like Trombley, you feel strangely protective of at times. He's our psycho. And he's the psycho of the modern generation, that treats war like Grand Theft Auto, that complains he hasn't gotten to kill anyone yet. But for every complete fucknut like him, you get the guys that shoot him sideways looks of dismay and do their best to keep him under control. You get men that rescue babies and break down when civilian casualties occur, that take the fall and disobey orders if it means they keep their men alive another day.
This show is a sucker punch. I could go on and on about Sgt. Brad Colbert and Lt. Nate Fick, who are absolutely amazing. I've just ordered Nate's book (the real Nate's book, that is) along with the actual GK story, and I can't wait to read them. But for me, the character that encapsulated the whole show was Ray Person, a crazy hyperactive wiseass, the whiskey tango (read: white trash, in military lingo) driver of the lead vehicle of Bravo Company. He makes fun of everyone, including himself, relentlessly and tirelessly. He's ridiculously quotable. He sings Avril Lavigne and Soft Cell. He's the class clown, the one that cracks jokes to distract everyone, and himself, from the sheer fucking madness of being a marine in a poorly managed, poorly supplied war. Ray never shuts up, until he does. The final episode, "The Bomb in the Garden," you watch huddled into yourself. When it ends you have no idea what to do with yourself, where to go next.
I don't know that I want to get into the politics of it, but I remember the outbreak of the Iraq War, and thinking that it was hard to know what was right and wrong when I knew I didn't have all the information and likely never would. This show? It gave me a different perspective. On war, on modern soldiers, on history. But aside from those topics, which I doubt I'm remotely equal to discussing on anything but a superficial level, Generation Kill is also a stunningly amazing piece of film. Watch it for the cinematography, the shots of wide empty sky and sand and the men caught between, for the grit and the dust and the crackle of night vision. For the actors, for the subtle quirks and small smiles, for the bravado and chauvinism and dumb bravery they capture. There's no soundtrack other than that the men provide, singing "King of the Road" and "Hot in Here" to themselves as they're sent back and forth. That, and the song at the end, played over the final scene. It's powerful, and painful, and amazing.
And if all that's not enough? The show's also slashy as hell. So get you hence, gentle readers. It's pretty fucking ninja.
To anyone that happens to read this: watch Generation Kill. It's worth your while. It is in some ways a story of every war, of the men that make up an army, of the chain of command and the fuck-ups therein. Of how decent men struggle with incompetency, with reconciling humanity and sanity and common sense with the orders passed down. You watch this and are absolutely jaw-droppingly horrified that some of these people are exaggerated, but real. Leaders and screw-ups and psycho-nutjobs. It's an age-old story. It's about the ways war doesn't change, and the ways it does. It's about disconnect and technology and the media, about America and its relationship to the world.
It's not an easy story. It's raw and gritty and real, disgusting and horrific. It's not for the faint of heart or easily-offended. If it's been cleaned up for public consumption at all, it's only had the most cursory wipe-down. There's gore and homophobia and racism, sexism and ignorance. You can't just call these characters heroes, though you can't say they're all not, either. The thing is, fucked up and human and proud and despairing, you fall in love with these men. They are rough and ragged, they are disgusting and hilarious, they make you laugh and make you cringe and make you stroke the screen in horror and dismay and outrage, for the things they do and the things done to them. It's about the fraternity of soldiers. Even the whiskey tango screwbys like Trombley, you feel strangely protective of at times. He's our psycho. And he's the psycho of the modern generation, that treats war like Grand Theft Auto, that complains he hasn't gotten to kill anyone yet. But for every complete fucknut like him, you get the guys that shoot him sideways looks of dismay and do their best to keep him under control. You get men that rescue babies and break down when civilian casualties occur, that take the fall and disobey orders if it means they keep their men alive another day.
This show is a sucker punch. I could go on and on about Sgt. Brad Colbert and Lt. Nate Fick, who are absolutely amazing. I've just ordered Nate's book (the real Nate's book, that is) along with the actual GK story, and I can't wait to read them. But for me, the character that encapsulated the whole show was Ray Person, a crazy hyperactive wiseass, the whiskey tango (read: white trash, in military lingo) driver of the lead vehicle of Bravo Company. He makes fun of everyone, including himself, relentlessly and tirelessly. He's ridiculously quotable. He sings Avril Lavigne and Soft Cell. He's the class clown, the one that cracks jokes to distract everyone, and himself, from the sheer fucking madness of being a marine in a poorly managed, poorly supplied war. Ray never shuts up, until he does. The final episode, "The Bomb in the Garden," you watch huddled into yourself. When it ends you have no idea what to do with yourself, where to go next.
I don't know that I want to get into the politics of it, but I remember the outbreak of the Iraq War, and thinking that it was hard to know what was right and wrong when I knew I didn't have all the information and likely never would. This show? It gave me a different perspective. On war, on modern soldiers, on history. But aside from those topics, which I doubt I'm remotely equal to discussing on anything but a superficial level, Generation Kill is also a stunningly amazing piece of film. Watch it for the cinematography, the shots of wide empty sky and sand and the men caught between, for the grit and the dust and the crackle of night vision. For the actors, for the subtle quirks and small smiles, for the bravado and chauvinism and dumb bravery they capture. There's no soundtrack other than that the men provide, singing "King of the Road" and "Hot in Here" to themselves as they're sent back and forth. That, and the song at the end, played over the final scene. It's powerful, and painful, and amazing.
And if all that's not enough? The show's also slashy as hell. So get you hence, gentle readers. It's pretty fucking ninja.
