So... I saw American Sniper.
Yes, this aspiring pacifist saw American Sniper. I should probably also admit that more often than not, I enjoy films and tv series that have been based around war and violence. And I completely understand and acknowledge how these things don't mesh.
Many others have weighed in on the film from all sides and unfortunately it has become fodder for arguments. Offensive statements made to each side concerning ones patriotism, support for the solders, and defense of freedom. Unfortunately, as with many difficult conversations everyone seems to be talking past one another (Steven Zeitchik writes a great piece I recommend to all considering going to see the film concerning this).
What follows is my attempt to talk about the thing behind the thing - not addressing when or why war should occur but rather the humanity that lay behind it all.
As mentioned from the onset, I watch my fair share of war films. Like many, the gateway for the story is the action that gets me. But also like many, action for action's sake only goes so far. The films that last and engage larger numbers tap into some thing more. Take for instance Saving Private Ryan, it's opening scene is one of the most graphic depictions of D-Day the world has seen on the screen. It was and is shocking but what made that story so compelling was the relationships between the soldiers themselves that unfold.
Most can recognize that material things can only fulfill so much and that at the end of life, most will have desired depth in relationships over their possessions. I would suggest the same applies with enacting violence. It is as if, somehow engrained in our humanity we know that violence does not resolve or sustain. We desire to live peaceably, we desire for our children to live free of fear. Somehow we know it is our relationships and knowing each other that can make any of that possible.
Almost like clockwork, there comes a time each year where I have to have very interesting and difficult conversations with the youth that I work with as they consider their future. For various reasons some are drawn towards serving in the military. My conversations with them often occur after they have met with the recruiters and I can sense many have made up their minds whether or not they will enlist. The recruiters have done an excellent job in selling the many benefits joining the military has - to which I have very few arguments against. It is in these moments that I attempt to turn the discussion with my students to think about one thing - especially those debating serving in branches where there is more direct combat - and that is: the act of taking another's life and how that will change them.
I ask them to think long and hard as to what that reality might mean to them because everyone will handle that differently.
The tragic reality of war is that for it to occur, there is a need for there to be an other. To win, to perform the acts necessary there must be a disconnect that occurs that demonizes a group or people. Without this disconnect, the average person is unable to justify what they might be doing. The military, in many ways, has perfected how to 'turn on' that disconnect.
Many soldiers have forgotten the humanity of the enemy while simultaneously a heighten connection to their fellow soldiers has occurred. I've seen this displayed in most of the youth once they have returned from their first deployments. As shown in many films, including American Sniper, many soldiers become disenchanted with war and the rational for being there but the brotherhood that was formed during battle has many consider and then often re-deploy because of their desire to protect one another.
While some may deem it necessary for war to occur, little has been done by the military to actually deal with the long-term trauma all soldiers have endured in unpacking and dealing with the actions they just participated in - look no further than to the rise of awareness and effects of PTSD.
In many ways, we must help our soldiers unlearn the other-ness. In many ways, as a society both here in the United States and globally, we must all unlearn our understandings of other-ness and remember at the start of all conflict or struggle the humanity that we all share. That we all desire peace and that shared desire can change how we engage conflicts.
After seeing the American Sniper, Iraqi veteran Brian Turner wrote:
If we saw Iraqis as humans, we’d have to learn how to live in a world far, far more complicated and painful than the difficult, painful one we currently live in. Messy, trauma-filled, beautiful, and altogether human; all of us breathing the oxygen of our time. We’d have to learn something more than how to return home and how to reintegrate our warrior class in America — which, to its credit, is a problem that American Sniper acknowledges. We’d have to let go of our fascination with Odysseus and the hero’s return. We’d have to see everyone — not just Americans (or the ones we agree with politically, anyway) — as the family they’ve always been to us. And we’d to have to, as they say, get back to the world.