By guest author Ross Caputi. This is the last in a series discussing the implications of the new film, American Sniper.
Editor: see the review of American Sniper by Rolling Stone.
In the most recent segment of my review of American Sniper, I argue that there is an inherent moral dilemma that neither Chris nor the film’s enthusiasts. Specifically, Chris must either suppress legitimate armed resistance and defend an invading army, or violate his orders. This moral dilemma never once occurred to Chris Kyle. And the backlash that I’m sure this suggestion will generate attests to the war culture in our country that prevents us from seeing ourselves as Iraqis do, as the aggressor.
American Sniper illustrates well a major problem with veteran narrations about their war experience—they are often told through an emotionally charged, ideological filter that reflects the misinformation told to them by their leaders. And as a society we do nothing to correct these inaccurate accounts of America’s wars. Instead, we eat them up, celebrate them as truth, and feed them to the next generation of Americans who are doomed to make the same mistakes Chris and I made.
Partly, this dilemma comes from a general confusion stemming from the assumption that supporting the troops means not challenging their perceptions about the objectives of their mission, of who they were fighting against, and why. But I think also, as a society, we want veterans to tell us heroic, bitter-sweet stories about sacrifice and bravery. Voices like Chris Kyle’s emerge and are embraced because they tell us exactly what we want to hear. They merely reaffirm preexisting beliefs about the benevolence of American wars and the righteousness of American armed service people. That’s why American Sniper has been so successful. It reassures us of what we want to believe about Iraq and about our veterans, and Chris Kyle’s combat credentials make it believable.
At the end of the day, it’s the Chris Kyles whom we embrace as heroes, not the Chelsea Mannings. We will surely suffer for this as a society, but probably not before we make other societies suffer first.
Author’s bio: Ross Caputi is a former Marine who participated in the 2nd Siege of Fallujah. Today he is on the Board of Directors of the Islah Reparations Project. He is also the Director of the documentary film Fear Not the Path of Truth: a veteran’s journey after Fallujah Ross holds an MA in Linguistics and he is working on an MA in English Studies at Fitchburg State University. Read his blog here.