Do Not Do This Cool Thing: Difference between revisions

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Actually, no, the Colonel is just shown as unabashedly awful in the movie, especially to military viewers. See the Headscratchers entry for details on why.

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Cliffc999

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Revision as of 13:49, 1 June 2016 (view source) Cliffc999 (talk \| contribs) (→‎Comic Books) ← Older edit		Revision as of 13:51, 1 June 2016 (view source) Cliffc999 (talk \| contribs) (Actually, no, the Colonel is just shown as unabashedly awful in the movie, especially to military viewers. See the Headscratchers entry for details on why.) Newer edit →
Line 141: * [[Word of God\|The author]] of the novel ''[[Das Boot]]'' complained that the movie, grim as it was, undermined his anti-war perspective by being too engaging. (This is one of the tiny handful of examples where the ''fans'' disagree with the ''author'', as ''Das Boot'' is generally considered to be one of the most horrific depictions of modern warfare ever committed to film. Nobody ever marched to war due to ''this'' film!) * ''[[Dr. Strangelove]]'' has a strong anti-war, anti-military message . . . but the scenes of Major Kong and his bomber crew are ''pure awesome.'' SAC crews (that is, people who fly bombers) were some of the biggest fans of the movie. * ''[[A Few Good Men]]'' isn't a war film, but it is a military movie that falls victim to this trope on account of issues related to war. The point of the film is to show that even service members who are [[Just Following Orders]] have an obligation to question those orders when they go too far and tries to portray Colonel Jessup as bad in this vein for ordering the Code Red on PFC Santiago. Yet the film falls headfirst into [[Straw Man Has a Point]]. While Jessup is wrong for lying about the incident and leaving Downey and Dawson to take the fall, when he finally does confess, he gives a very good argument in defense of his actions. He explains how the purpose of militaries is to fight wars, and they need to be as prepared and ready as possible to fight them, and how Santiago was hindering this preparation. The credibility of his argument is given a huge boost by the fact that he's a naval academy graduate, a Vietnam veteran, a highly decorated senior officer, and just comes off as an all-around [[Colonel Badass\|badass]] (the fact that he's played by [[Jack Nicholson]] ''definitely'' helps), so he probably knows what's he's doing in this matter. The film's argument is hurt by how it ''tries'' to portray Santiago as a sympathetic character on account of his having a heart condition; it ultimately fails because it reveals him to be a screw-up and a burden on his unit. ''Plus'' the message is further hurt by trying to portray [[Lt Col]] Markinson as a sympathetic character who opposes Jessup's actions, feels incredibly guilty over Santiago's death, and appears to want to try to rectify this mistake, yet he loses a ton (if not all) of that sympathy {{spoiler\|when he's [[Driven to Suicide]] before testifying in court}} hence, [[What the Hell, Hero?\|clearly failing to rectify it]]. * ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' drove director [[Stanley Kubrick]] crazy because of this trope. He wanted to make his idea of an objective anti-war film. He got viewers enjoying things like the [[Sociopathic Soldier\|helicopter door gunner]] [[Obligatory War Crime Scene\|shooting civilians]]. However, unlike the other war films on this page, the film's battle scenes don't get too elaborate, but rather, this trope comes into play because of the attitudes of the characters; they're quite positive for a war movie, especially for a Vietnam one. The door gunner is shown shooting civilians and clearly enjoying it, which is supposed to be horrible, yet because he's enjoying it and making funny comments about it, the audience ends up enjoying it as well. Additionally, none of the Marines in the film are ever really shown lamenting the fact that they're at war or in Vietnam. Even when characters are killed, not too much drama is made of their deaths, such as when Cowboy's squad is shown standing over the body of two killed Marines, and Cowboy just comments on how one of them was [[A Date with Rosie Palms\|a chronic masturbator]]. Joker responds to being informed about the severity of the Tet Offensive with [[Mood Whiplash\|a humorous comment]]. Rafterman laments being stuck in the rear and wants to see combat and is incredibly happy when he gets his first kill. This trope also applies to the boot camp segment of the film as well as the Vietnam segment. While it's not meant to be an attack on the US military, it is intended to show how people have to become dehumanized in order to be effectively trained for war, and in the {{spoiler\|case of Leonard, is so bad he ends up going insane and committing a [[Murder-Suicide]]}}. Despite this, the film is hugely popular among the US military largely because of the [[Badass]] [[Drill Sergeant Nasty\|Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]]. Line 153 ⟶ 152: * Even at the end of the sequel, when a recruiter jokes about a newborn male infant as being "new meat for the grinder." * ''[[Iron Man (film)\|Iron Man]]'' has Tony Stark develop a conscience and an anti-war sentiment after he witnesses the atrocities indirectly caused by his inventions. In the second movie, the propaganda proliferated by military defense contractors is condemned. However, Iron Man and all his high-tech gear are just straight-up awesome, and they are by-products of the weapons development industry. == Films -- Gangster ==