The Intercept recently published a laughable piece for the ages against war movies.
The piece is titled, “IT’S TIME TO WAGE WAR AGAINST WAR MOVIES THAT GLORIFY OUTDATED MODELS OF MASCULINITY,” and is written by Peter Maass. It reads like it’s parody, but unfortunately, the article is very real.
Maass wrote in part:
Who is at fault for the lucrative war chum that Hollywood tosses into our Saturday nights – the movie studios or the movie-goers who love to consume this masculine nonsense? (emphasis added)
I’ll gladly answer that question: both. But first let’s examine the greater power of producers, directors, and actors, because their choices are so influential. It’s not a matter of deciding to zone out for 90 minutes in front of a screen, but of investing large amounts of time and resources into making distorted movies about men at war (such movies are almost never about women). I realize it might be absurd to think that somehow these filmmakers (surprise — they’re mostly men) can be persuaded to reconsider before doing it again. The only thing that might be more ridiculous to imagine is the movie industry turning away from films that objectify women – which, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is apparently happening.
I honestly can’t believe this is real. Maass actually sat down, typed out these words and then posted the story.
Here’s my official response to Maass and anybody who agrees with this garbage. Make sure to crank up the volume because you’re not going to want to miss this.
War movies are awesome. Some are certainly better than others, and some take a darker tone about topics like PTSD, as Maass notes in his article. However, just because a war film doesn’t focus on PTSD doesn’t mean that it’s not awesome.
I’ve seen “12 Strong,” and it was a great movie. I’m sure there are slight differences between the movie and the actual mission. That’s called dramatization. However, anybody who thinks the movie represents toxic masculinity is a moron.
Here’s more reality for the world. The majority of war movies are about men because the overwhelming majority of people in the military are men. How is this even a debate? Should we start changing history so that there can be women rushing the beaches on D-Day? Or, should we go back, reshoot “American Sniper” and have a woman as Chris Kyle?
There’s nothing wrong with watching bad guys get blown away. I want to see the big explosions, the alpha-male mentality, and I want to see terrorists get killed. If that makes me a bad person then so be it. That’s a position I’m more than willing to defend any day of the week.