Militainment

I wasn't surprised when I read Roger Stahl's "Have You Played the War on Terror?". I learned a lot of new things, sure, but it didn't surprise me. I've always understood that the military and entertainment have always been intertwined, i.e. "militainment". As we discussed in class, military-based video game franchises like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty having massive and extremely loyal fanbases. This is ESPECIALLY true with the latter; according to an article on Eurogamer.net, there are 40 million monthly active players across all of the Call of Duty titles, and more than 1.6 billion hours of online gameplay have been logged in Modern Warfare 3, the latest game in the series. These numbers are massive within the video game industry.

However, the idea of militainment also extends to movies. The military generally supports films that have them featured in the storyline, seeing them as a positive example of public relations. For example, the majority of Michael Bay's movies feature strong military support. For his Transformers film series - of which I am not personally a fan, but will serve this post - military soldiers from four different bases served as extras, and authentic uniforms were provided for the other actors. Military vehicles were also loaned for the series, such as the Decepticon Starscream assuming the form of an F-22 Raptor fighter jet.

The reason I am specifically mentioning Transformers is that the military was featured extensively enough through each of the films, actually helping the Autobots fight the Decepticons, that several critics accused the series of being essentially one loud, expensive military recruitment commercial. I disagree. The presence of the military adds realism - which you could probably use when the stars of your movie are giant talking alien robots - and they are not the focus of the film. In contrast, Act of Valor, an action movie starring active duty Navy SEALS, was admittedly made with the intention of attracting new recruits, as discussed in this article for The New York Times. I am not criticizing the film at all - I haven't even seen it - but critics did note the undeniably jingoistic tone that underscores the film, which sets it apart from most other war movies. Installments in this genre generally carry strong anti-war messages and instead explore the psychological impact combat has on soldiers, some examples off the top of my head being Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Jarhead and Brothers.