Thursday, January 12, 2006
IF "JARHEAD" IS A SERIOUS FILM . . .
. . . then why is it being advertised with a web banner that screams: Win a Tank Driving Experience! That strikes me more as the kind of thing you would do promote some jingoist action flick, rather than a "meditation about war".
Bad PR? Or perhaps this is just super-clever post-modern advertising. One of the most noted passages in Anthony Swofford's book that Sam Mendes' film is based on, is after about how anti-war films are indistinguishable from "pro-war" ones, if you want to call them that. The point Swofford made, was that any film about war served as a sort of pornography to soldiers as it showed their grizzly skill in action, and this proved titillating viewing independent of the context. (see here)
So, perhaps the ad men were extra clued in on this and this was only for the select few who understood the deeper context between such an otherwise infantile advertising gimmick?
Somehow though I don't quite believe it . . .
. . . then why is it being advertised with a web banner that screams: Win a Tank Driving Experience! That strikes me more as the kind of thing you would do promote some jingoist action flick, rather than a "meditation about war".
Bad PR? Or perhaps this is just super-clever post-modern advertising. One of the most noted passages in Anthony Swofford's book that Sam Mendes' film is based on, is after about how anti-war films are indistinguishable from "pro-war" ones, if you want to call them that. The point Swofford made, was that any film about war served as a sort of pornography to soldiers as it showed their grizzly skill in action, and this proved titillating viewing independent of the context. (see here)
So, perhaps the ad men were extra clued in on this and this was only for the select few who understood the deeper context between such an otherwise infantile advertising gimmick?
Somehow though I don't quite believe it . . .
Labels: film & television, Iraq
