Some Thoughts On Jarhead
by Andy Chu ~ September 8th, 2010. Filed under: Uncategorized.I just finished Jardhead and thought it was a really intense film. The miles of sand, constant fear of being attacked, and raining oil all reinforced my beliefs that war is really destructive. It is something that I can never fully comprehend unless I head for the battlefield myself. I have great respect for all the men and women enlisted in the United States military. I can’t praise them enough for all the training they endure and experiences they face. They’re really strong people who protect our country. I honestly don’t know if I would have the mental or physical abilities to do what they do. Like Jake’s character, Swofford, mentioned in the film, I would be “f-ing scared.”
Freud’s theory of the death instinct was evident in the film. The latent aggression inside every marine came out during various points. One example was right before Swofford and the troops were sent off to war, they were being “hyped” up by a violent war film. The US air force was shown bombing and killing a lot of what seem to be Vietnam civilians — and the marines seem to love every minute of it. I certainly agree with Freud that the human instinct to kill is uncontrollable. The jarheads simply wanted to kill just for the thrill or sake of having a kill.
During the movie, I was also intrigued by the scene when the marines were being interviewed. When asked why they fought or how they felt, some of the responses amongst the marines were: honor, to protect/defend, and to “count for something.” The general vibe I felt from them was a lack of hostile feelings. All of the men were in “the Suck” by different means and for different purposes but most of them did not hate the enemy. They had hostile intentions but there wasn’t a moment when I thought that pure hatred towards the enemy (Iraqis) was present. Does anyone agree or think differently about this?
September 10th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
America is a nation of voluntary soldiers. Yes, people may argue otherwise, but we choose to join up or not to join.
As you can see, it wasn’t as comparable to the time of Freud, Clausewitz, Einstein, nor Sun Tzu.
The Gulf War was fought by different soldiers. American soldiers really had no claim in the gulf, and it was evident in the movie. Alot of them questioned their presence. Some even went crazy; emotionally distraught.
Not discrediting Freud, Einstein, or any one else in any way, but I thought that it was an important perspective to see Jarhead through. Alot of Freud’s ideologies held true; such as the desire of people to kill, the desire of the community, and the other dominant tendencies that people have; however I was reminded that in the end, it is still the soldiers that determine the war.
The movie was intense, but it was really good.
September 11th, 2010 at 11:41 am
About the hostile feelings versus hostile intentions question, I think that a lot of the soldiers were blind to who their enemy was in this film. Their were instances when the leaders, like Staff Sgt. Sykes mentioned Saddam as the enemy and the atrocities they were committing, once another superior even showed a horrifying image of a child’s face burned in an attack, but I don’t think there were any emotions against this amongst or within the soldiers themselves. They were just fighting in the ‘suck’ for the sake of fighting, initially thinking it would only last a brief while. One soldier in particular, Chris Kruger, was openly skeptical about the war, saying it was just a war for oil. So I agree with you that there were little hostile feelings and more hostile intentions.
September 13th, 2010 at 12:28 am
I definitely agree with you that all the marines shared hostile intentions but yet it didn’t seem as though they had hostile feelings towards the enemies. On camera they were kind of forced to say what they had because they were threatened by Staff Sergeant Sykes. He told them to say things like they were happy to be there and they were allowed to say that they couldn’t wait to mess with the Iraqis but yet when Chris Kruger was asked the question, how does he feel about Iraqis, he didn’t reply. The main characters in the film joined the Marines because they had no where else to go or because they wanted to fight, defend their country or simply because they just wanted to use their rifle to kill something. They didn’t join the marines because of their hostile feelings or hatred towards the enemies.
September 13th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
First and foremost a rebuttal@William: yes, America has an army comprised of voluntary soldiers. However, the social structure of the country has herded the poor and otherwise disillusioned population of the country into the armed forces. Take for example the incentives of college tuition waivers, who would that really benefit? There is also the want of joining the army for the “direction” or “purpose” that it could give. For this purpose I’ll leave open ended, as I could easily argue that anything could give purpose or direction, and that a man chooses, a slave obeys.
That being said, I would say that hostile feelings as well as hostile intentions are not inherent in an individual, or rather that they would never manifest unless given a directive to. Swofford was straight out of college, and I sincerely doubt that his goal in life at that time was to see pink mist erupting out of a human head, or even a watermelon, but yet he says that “he was hooked”. It’s easy to justify a concept like sure, I’ll kill that person because we’re in a war, or because that person is shooting at me, I need to shoot back. It isn’t easy to understand why I’m following this order, it isn’t easy to understand why the United States and dozens of other “coalition forces” decided to fight Iraq. Oil, sure, that could be a reason, but that’s like saying 9/11 is the reason we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Sure, that’s a reason, sure the shoe fits, but it’s always best to see reasons of war from all angles. Take for example the opium production of Afghanistan. Prior to 9/11, the US backed Taliban has been an exporter of opium, until unexpectedly, the Taliban had a reversal and burned their opium crops. Then 9/11 happened. Now Afghanistan is once again one of the largest opium producing countries.
But I digress. Facts like these aren’t given to a soldier. Propaganda is, the pink mist, the kill, the comraderie, showing Apocolypse Now just before being shipped out, it’s to get the soldier “hooked”, but moreover, subservient. Swofford is bought into it, at least for a time, until the realities of life stateside hit him. He joins the army to find purpose, perhaps one of many of his generation to find some kind of purpose in life, but he tells us “we are all still in the desert”. What can a person take away from a war that didn’t need him, a proxy war where the US didn’t “directly” have a “reason” for staging?
September 13th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
I agree with Andy’s post. Through out the movie we are never shown any ill feelings from any of the soldiers towards Iraqi people. It’s interesting how they had all these aggressive feelings and desire to kill but it was not directed to anyone nor brought upon by any specific reason, other than people’s aggressive nature. It seems like the Marines were all brainwashed into glorifying what they were doing and training to do. They were even warned not to say anything that would make the whole war seem like a bad thing, the Marines complained of this censorship but most agreed and followed what they were told.
It seems like once in the position of war, the underlining feelings of aggression within all of us come out and overtake us. The way the movie left off always made me feel that once these feelings come out they cannot be repressed again. So even though they had no hostile feelings towards the “enemy” the aggressive feelings were already exposed and had to be directed towards a target, in the movies case the Iraqi people.
September 15th, 2010 at 8:52 am
I would also have to agree with Andy about the hostile feelings toward the enemies. In my opinion I felt that the soldiers were brainwashed into this hostile aggression to kill. I also understand that once they entered the Marines they are in another universe not equal to reality or govern by its law. For example when the lady went to interview them they were told what to say instead of letting them talk freely.
One scene that many already talked about and I also enjoyed was the war movie playing. I felt that this scene playing the movie was the brainwashing part of the soldiers as well. The expression on their faces, the words they yell, “kill them”. Even though its a movie I think this is part of the hostile aggressive feelings that they develop for they can kill the enemy without thinking.
Now after seeing the movie. I feel like soldiers are man made robot, hostile, rampage humans ( if we can call them humans afterwards). But I do also feel for them. They are out there not me. I don’t and might never understand how it feels to be in a war wondering if this could be your last day on earth. So I believe they are brave no matter what situation brought them there.
September 24th, 2010 at 11:17 am
I agree with this post for the most part. I think it was fascinating that even though men don’t want to go to war generally, they were actually disappointed that they never got to fight. It exemplifies the very crux of the human spirit- we like to have to earn, to have to work toward something. We like to receive credit for what we have worked for. One could apply this theory to anything, not just war.
I also appreciated the way, in order to motivate them, the generals got them going, so to speak, by showing pictures of the damage Saddam Hussein caused. It inspired them to want to protect people, it gave them courage, and forced them to feel their purpose, rather than just feel that they have to be there for some reason. It is psychologically beneficial to feel that what you are working for is important.