Larry Wilmore opened Monday’s edition of “The Nightly Show” with a discussion of the divisive reception of Clint Eastwood’s Iraq War drama “American Sniper.”
“American Sniper raises the question, is this guy an asshole or a hero?” Wilmore began. “Some people are angry that ‘American Sniper’ doesn’t accurately criticize the Iraq War.”
“Here, I’ll do it for you,” he said. “It’s bad!”
Later on, Wilmore tried to explore the complex relationship between war and culture in America.
“I do get it: movies can have a powerful effect on how people feel,” he said. “With World War II, movies like ‘Saving Private Ryan’ solidified our feelings about those vets—they were heroes, there was no moral ambiguity.”
“Matt Damon was worth saving, Tom Hanks wasn’t,” he added.
But Wilmore noted that movies about Vietnam questioned the heroism of American troops and the country’s foreign policy at large.
“I guess what it is, I just don’t take movies that seriously,” he concluded. “You know, if I did, every time I got on a motherfuckin’ plane there would be some motherfuckin’ snakes.”
“Which I do,” Wilmore said, “but that serves me right for flying Spirit.”
Watch the clip below, courtesy of Comedy Central:
Pappy Boyington (he of Baa Baa Black Sheep fame) said, “Show me a hero and I’ll show you a bum.”
It’s only when we turn human beings into unqualified heroes that we make ourselves assholes.
“Show me a hero, I’ll prove he’s a bum.” Greg Boyington
Wilmore is funny. Good for him.
In order to be good at anything, one has to be an asshole: just goes with the territory.
Disagree most entirely. I see some people who are actually good at things who are not assholes. Not a lot, but enough to call bs on your assertion.
The movie depicts an idiot who cannot seem to get out of the way of his adopted propaganda in many ways, unlike the book. It basically gives cover for Nazi Germans.
The movie offers no hint that it is the US that is the invader, obliterating a culture that included christians and Jews, fer christ’s sake. Thanks you morons, GWBush and Co., the entire group that were assholes and were actually not good at anything, including security. (Asleep at the switch in many ways on 11Sep01)
Well, at least Kyle is dead @bardi, so you can be happy about that. In the Westboro Baptist Church sense of happy.
Are you insufferable self-righteous types actually surprised to learn that there are snipers in the U.S. military? That there’s a whole genre of books about people who have fought and say things which are uncomfortable for the delicate sensibilities of latté liberals? Would the film only be acceptable if the main character said, “I realize we are are the invaders. We are the enemies of peace in the world.We are the terrorists.”
This is why liberals will NEVER connect with military personnel in a meaningful way: you’re all too busy calling them assholes, mindless killers, bloodthirsty murderers who “cannot seem to get out of…adopted propaganda”. (Unlikely that you read the book, but that’s your business.) You love military folks like Bradley, excuse me, Chelsea Manning because his stated reasons for leaking documents was prefaced by feelings consonant with yours about our Iraqi Expedition. I’ve accepted that none of you people (oh yes, I said it, “you people”!) will ever praise the military, but endlessly showing up to bury them gets a little tiresome.