Seeds & Applesauce: What do a Detroit born Iraqi, a relgious sniper, and a London, Ontario born actor turned reservist all have in common? Answer to follow.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

What do a Detroit born Iraqi, a relgious sniper, and a London, Ontario born actor turned reservist all have in common? Answer to follow.

I have to admit that my embedded cynicism towards television that was driven out of my undergrad and the nature of being a critical media student has subsided of late due to the fact that currently TV is actually pretty good.

Though I couldn’t tell you what’s on during the weekend, because of my constant weekend getaways to boozeland, Monday through Thursday has opened up a new can of viewing pleasure that for a few years now I had fallen off of. Sure last spring I was into 24, how could you not be, Bauer is the shit. But other the American James Bond and Soccer Saturday there wern’t nearly the hours spent in front of the TV that have presented themselves now as a working stiff.

Monday I check out Arrested Development after the cult like motivation I received from people like Francisco and Paige. Wednesday I’m watching LOST cause that shits all fuked up. Thursday I dunno, there’s always something on, on Thursday. BUT TUESDAY…TUESDAY is what I want to talk about today, because scheduled on the HISTORY NETWORK ON TUESDAY’s is Steven Bochco’s new real life dramatization of the trials and tribulations of war in Iraq, entitled Over There .

Over There, to me, is a fantastic fictional work, driving the concerns of so many that come out of wearing the modern military uniform and tearing at the lines which are driven between soldier and human. Often intellectual debates about politics, culture, the nature of their role, and the invested emotion from Iraqi’s in the war comes through during the program. The combination of drama, both physical action and compassionate dialogue, have driven me to an odd primetime addiction not seen since Marjuan got away with that nuke. Being the balanced man that I am however, I naturally did not want my opinion to be left uncriticized as compared to the masses.

So I checked out IMDB and the user comments towards Over There. I stumbled across a plethora of jaded CNN loving veterans picking apart at the weee details that would otherwise be reserved for film buffs who notice Brad Pitt wearing a different watch in two parts of the same scene of Fight Club.

Iraqi vet comments laded the user page attacking the dramatization of inner solider unit life. And to be fair to those who actually have subjected themselves to the loss of agency in the shadow of an omnipresent flag, I will provide you with some of the intellectual excerpts and well delivered points that came from the bulk of the reviews.

“Steven Bochco's "Over There" is to Operation Iraqi Freedom what "Lost In Space" was to the Apollo program. As an OIF vet, and an officer with 24 years experience in uniform I watched the pilot episode on FX and was appalled. I watched the whole thing and gave it a chance, but It was garbage, totally unbelievable with implausible situations, characters, and dialog. Who is the military consultant on this show? Michael Moore?”

While the above vet chose filmic pairings to justify his dislike, I much more prefer the related sentiments my sarcastic side can pull out from the following juicey gun monkey.

“It is SO evident that no one associated with this show ever spent a day in any kind of uniform service. The mistakes have largely been covered but here are some of the most glaring errors (he goes on to point out errors in technical training, weapon usage, and vehicle misuse)…On the positive side, you do get to see a fairly accurate depiction of a .50 cal round impacting a human torso. Also, good job of showing females in a rifle squad fouling up terribly. Just about every one I have ever been around would look pretty much like the two weak, emotional wrecks on the TV show”.

Now if I were to judge my viewing preferences based on the shallow minded, gun spoutings of this sexist superhero I might not watch the show again. But in turn, I feel as though I should pistol whip the guy who made this comment, force him to sit and watch the opinions and thoughts that come out of the personality contrast that is Over There. While he is correct in saying they may use the wrong helicopter to drop troops into a firefight, the conversations that are driven out of a small multicultural American task force working their mindset through what on many fronts is an illegitimate war is the worth in watching the show.

The show inspires one to find further coverage of Iraq, and put s a critical mind into the representation of images and a compassion towards the individuals who are in the middle of a fight dictated to them by puppet show control system that is the American administration. Morality versus patriotism, religion versus faith, self versus soldier are all thematic properties of which this show generates for the viewer. I recommend a watch or two, if nothing more to see how powerful that .50 cal is. Yankee twhaaaat!