Hi readers!
This week in our ASTU class, we had an vibrant conversation on the representation of Iraq War and focused particularly on the film American Sniper and a short story in the book Redeployment by Phil Klay. The movie incited me to think about the question of how the film illustrates the differentiation of the good and evil, and I was able to link them with Judith Butler’s precarity theory and Patrick Deer’s essay. Also, I address the question by analyzing Chris Kyle’s public reputation and depiction in the film.
In the post 9/11 American society, Islamic groups are becoming the public target of suspicion and discrimination. Americans began to draw a strict line between the non-Muslims and Muslims, both within the US continent and on the world map. In the lecture, Dr. Luger suggested that the US was looking for a scapegoat for 9/11 trauma, and they picked on specifically Iraq. In the film American Sniper, both the American soldiers and Iraqi insurgents are experiencing losses of family and friends. Although Americans isolate Iraqis and consider them rivalries, they share a similar level of precariousness.
From my experience of watching this movie, the film not only succeeds in echoing the American Patriotism, but also generating the sympathy of and support from the general audiences. In the scene which Chris Kyle shoots the Iraqi sniper, I felt innerly victorious and cheered for the American soldiers. This sentiment of differentiating the good Americans and evil Iraqis starts to build up when the Iraqi insurgents turn the tide, and Chris Kyle are losing his fellow soldiers. However, throughout the movie, the boundary between the good and evil is constantly fluctuating. There are moments when I feel bizarre and uncomfortable with the conversation between the American soldiers. For instance, they are making fun with Chris by calling him “the legend” and appraising him for how many Iraqis he kills. While the rest of the American soldiers seem to make some inappropriate remarks, Chris Kyle, in the film, is portrayed as humble but mentally unstable from the killing. It is an image contrary from the expression in his biography, in which Chris is very fond of killing Iraqis. He was the war hero in every Americans’ hearts, and everyone expect to see his portrayal in the movie being holy and respectable.
In the essay written by Patrick Deer, he suggests that the official documents and public literary works often transmit history and contemporary war events in words that rationalizes the military action of the states. Chris Kyle was inspired to contribute to military action in Iraq War when he saw 9/11 attack on the news. Despite his heroic image of war contributor, he was a perfect product of the media transmission of hostility toward the Islamic groups and a representative example of the masses in the US. I figured that the portrayal of Chris Kyle’s virtuous personality and his public influence together are part of the important factors that produce the sentiment of differentiation, and make the audience incline to the American side.
