http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/08/g4-hurt-locker-reality-show.html
Is putting a camera crew with a dangerous unit in Afghanistan a good thing? I don't think that war should provide a lot of entertainment value to people especially while that war is still going on. War movies have been big moneymakers for Hollywood for many years. I don't think that is a bad thing because they can provide entertainment and a good insight into our history, but they are still just movies. Even movies based on true stories do not contain the complete truth. I don't want this to take away from the seriousness of these wars more than it already has been. At times it seems easy to forget that the wars are going on because depending on the day they are less reported on than they were after they first started. Currently as I am writing this there is not a front page story on either CNN or Fox News about Iraq or Afghanistan. I saw The Hurt Locker, and I did think it was a good movie. However, I didn't find it that entertaining, but I thought it was good because it was very intense. One reason I probably didn't enjoy it as much along with the reason I'm not completely on board with this new show is because I have a cousin that served in Iraq in the Navy on the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD). That movie felt almost too real for me to watch and to think about that one of the people in the movie could have been my cousin. And actually this new show plans to follow Navy EODs in Afghanistan, and there is a chance that my cousin could be deployed to Afghanistan. That means that he could possibly be on that show depending on when filming takes place. Honestly, I think that there is a bigger issue to this. I no longer agree with the foreign policy that is being and has been conducted in the Middle East. I think there is more harm being done than good. I won't go into all of that now though. The show could have positive factors because maybe people will see what is really going on there, and they would think about it more. After seeing The Hurt Locker I thought the troops should be brought home more than I did before seeing it. It was another reason for me to think that because I was given a good visual instead of reading an article on the internet or listening to a reporter just talk about it. It did give insight to what can happen there on a daily basis. The main thing that I could have against this show is that it could demean what American soldiers are and what they're are doing. I completely understand that TV channels are going to put shows on TV that will get ratings and make money. I do not disagree with that philosophy at all; I would just like to see this done for the right reasons. Something like this should not be a gimmick because our troops deserve better than that.
I completely agree. The Hurt Locker was not entertaining, but sobering. Knowing that movies don't come close to the real thing, I cannot begin to imagine what really happens, and this show will not really describe it either. It will be a dramatization without any real substance that might lead to a better understanding of Navy EOD units or life of soldiers. And for G4 to say it is targeting young males with "good old-fashioned blowing stuff up", how much more disrespectful can you get? It isn't like setting off a rocket in a field somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this might be necessary to show the real effects of war. Instead of a reality format, its going to end up being done in a documentary format. There is a reason that our media doesn't want to show the full effects of war as it did in Vietnam. It would push us more to get out of there, and arms contractors don't want that, for it hurts their bottom line. G4 may go along with this, but when one of their own camera crews or staff dies over there, you may see that show yanked to prevent anymore negative coverage.
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