Don't support the troops
movies In any political climate, the phrase "support the troops" gets thrown around by both sides as a non-partisan football. Regardless of any disagreements people may have about a war, a President, or a political issue, it is important that the country "supports the troops". Yet, in movies, this isn't the case.
While watching the impressive District 9 a few weekends ago, I got to thinking about this very issue about the military in films. What struck me is that in a movie like District 9, the audience did not like the portrayed military. We're expected to cheer when the politicians get their comeuppance, but the audience also cheered when the military got theirs. Is this simply because the audience wants the hero to win more than the military? Perhaps.
But examine the role of the military in the film. Bureaucrats order the military to evict, move, and eventually hunt down aliens and one lone humanoid. These are their orders. Now, the audience is justified in hating those that ordered the military to do these things, and the audience does, but the military gets caught in the fray. When the fighting intensifies near the end of the film, and members of the military are killed, people applauded.
In our political climate, this should not be the case. These men aren't acting that far outside their orders. These military men are fighting pawns of the political kings. We can hate the kings, we can hate the war, but we aren't supposed to hate the military. In the film and real life Judgement at Nuremberg, the defendants of Nazi war crimes claimed that they were only following orders, and shouldn't be held accountable for their actions as a result. The ultimate verdict found that a defense of superior orders isn't a valid defense, and the people should have acted against orders on moral grounds.
In Vietnam, some peace advocates actively hated the military, spitting on them and shouting profanity at uniformed officers. The extent that this happens today, amidst two unpopular wars supported by less than half the country, is much less. If people don't support the war, they shouldn't support the troops. The film audience knows this.
