Star Wars: A New Hype

I get PUMPED up for movies. My friends refer to it as the “TPG Hype Train” and that’s a pretty accurate way to put it considering I am the conductor, the locomotive, and the caboose combined. I love movie hype. I devour it like some type of cinematic cannibal. And with my ferocious hype appetite - nothing has satiated my desires like the hype for the STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS. And now it’s almost here and I find myself wondering - what if it it can’t live up to the hype? Will movie hype and in some ways movie hope be ruined? More importantly - who will I be if that occurs?

I suppose I’m like a lot of “fanboys” as they’re labeled by society in that I grew up in an internet literate world where movie news, trailers, and of course rumors could be shared over the internet at lightning speed. I have fond memories of coming home from school and reading Ain’t It Cool News, Dark Horizons, and whatever weird movie hub AOL was running at the time. As I moved on to work in the film and TV business I found myself getting access to scripts, casting reports, and Hollywood “rumours” which were way juicier than anything I had tasted before. These two foundations of movie excitement were rapidly accelerated by just how easy movie watching became over the last 10 years. When I was 13 I had to either rent a movie or watch it in the theater - now you can download movies, watch them on Netflix, and watch your favorite scenes or trailers on repeat on YouTube.

So now that you know about how I was baptized into movie hype - let’s get back to Star Wars the apex of hype. I get STOKED for Marvel movies, buzzed about indies, and anything that does well at Comic Con - but nothing could prepare me for the 3 year long journey of Star Wars hype. The journey to The Force Awakens began in 2012 when Lucasfilm was purchased by Disney for a seemingly modest 4 Billion dollars. In that announcement they said that episode VII was coming which automatically meant that some classic characters had to return. From there each pieces of news whether it was casting announcements, trailers, rumored spoilers, and early reviews have been dissected over the internet. Here’s some fun nuggets for you - the 3 teaser/trailers that have been released to promote the film have been viewed over 170 million times on the official Star Wars YouTube page alone, the film has generated more pre-sale tickets than any other movie by double the amount, and there even is a computer program that will block you from reading any Star Wars related news until the release date. Yes, it’s safe to say the hype is real here.

If you go back and look at the origins of the word “hype” you find yourself at an interesting crossroads. The word is clearly connected to the latin “hyperbole” meaning “exaggeration and extravagance,” yet there is another more nefarious connection linked to the London criminal underworld of the 1960’s - “to swindle by overcharging or shortchanging.” That part about overcharging is particularly monetary transactions because it implies that hype is connected to business and that is certainly the case now. The hype for Star Wars is not a coincidence. Every second of the marketing for this movie has been calculated in some psychological war-room at the Mouse House. And you know what? I’m ok with it - because for the most part participating in the hype around anything is really damn fun. And you can dive deep into the word meanings, pieces of content, that didn’t deliver, that even life moments that didn’t deliver on hype but I choose to believe that hype is not about swindling or hyperbole but about a very Star War’s esque theme: HOPE.

Ughhh, I hear you groaning a little bit with that connection, but think about it. That’s what hype really is -  the yearning for something that is just totally going to deliver. Sure, it may be calculated but when you sit down for The Force Awakens you’ve been primed to hope and expect something magical. Hype leads us to hope for value, hope for meaning in our art/content, and to believe in the transformative power of art. So I guess that hope is extremely high for The Force Awakens because the hype has been unreal. If it doesn’t deliver, I’m sure I’ll be damaged but I’m sure a new piece of content will come along that is expertly marketed and designed to get me hyped, and... wait for it... give me a new hope.

How American Sniper Lets Veterans Down

I enjoyed "American Sniper" way more than I expected to. Going in I was expecting something along the lines of the hero worship of "Lone Survivor" but what I got was a very well acted character piece with some phenomenal action set-pieces. Yet, for all of its strong performances and epic battle scenes, the film completely misses its chance to be something extraordinary by failing to support the very veterans it seems to praise.

While there's some murkiness around the true "legend" status of Chris Kyle, there is no doubt that he was a fearless warrior when his country needed him the most. In the film, I was put-off by his relentless labeling of the enemy as "savages," but was extremely impressed with how director Clint Eastwood portrayed Kyle's relentless sense of duty to country and support of his brothers in arms. I was also moved by the scenes of Kyle interacting with physically wounded veterans at home, something I admire Kyle for more than his record of confirmed kills. Even now after his death Kyle's foundation lives on in helping veteran's get adjusted to life after deployment. It's tragic then that for someone like Kyle who dedicated his life to others that the people who told his story on film don't seem to share his values when it comes to veterans.

It ultimately comes down to the end of the film. Chris, seemingly adjusted back to life stateside, says goodbye to his family and gets in his truck with Eddie Ray Routh (you never learn his name in the movie), a former marine suffering from PTSD. The way Eastwood shoots this scene makes Routh appear like some kind of psycho villain, not someone suffering. Kyle's wife Taya (Sienna Miller) watches hesitantly as Kyle interacts with Routh, who is portrayed as hyper skinny, dark eyed, and intensely brooding - it's an image that carries so much judgement and no balance - something the rest of the film does so well.  By portraying him as some kind of zombie who viewers know is going to kill the hero - Eastwood seemingly is lumping veteran's into two buckets - the tough heroes who can deal with PTSD like Kyle and the dangerous psychos who can't. 

With over 1,000 PTSD cases being diagnosed a week and too many tragic instances of violent acts committed by veterans, the filmmaker's failing at addressing this issue is a disservice to the brave veterans who are struggling with mental health each day. Not every veteran's story ends up on the silver screen, but every veteran's struggles both stateside and in combat deserve more attention. "American Sniper" had that opportunity to ignite the conversation, and failed, and that is a great disservice to veterans everywhere.

Hollywood's Government Hate

There is a new bad guy in town. It's not islamic terrorists. They're still a little too real for comfort. Aliens don't really make the cut (check out the tepid box office for "Edge of Tomorrow".) Zombies and other ghouls seem content to exist on our television screens not the movie theaters so we're left with a void to fill. Who is so evil that they appear in various forms across almost all of the year's biggest blockbusters? You know them well: they live in fortresses, enforce all the rules though a variety of means, and collect your taxes. That's right folks, the new villain in town: your own government.

The Government as presented in the new Transformers movie.

I first noticed this while viewing the latest Transformers "film." All previous films in the series had the U.S. Government as the heroes with every other scene featuring American badasses using their wits and firepower to kick ass and save the day. That all changed in the latest film, which sees a shadowy secret division of the Government threatening as the primary antagonist of the film. As a fan of the franchise, this change was shocking to me! I wanna see Tyrese and company kicking ass with Optimus, not government agents threatening to kill teenage girls. This change from the government as the hero to the oppressor is jarring but not surprising - after all, government approval ratings are now at a six year low. But still, this was a Michael Bay movie and like Optimus Prime, he is not known for subtlety, so maybe the evil government oppressor was limited to his robot opus?  Of course not.

Everywhere you look on the screen this summer is some type of overlord government who definitely doesn't have the American people's wellbeing as there number one priority. The biggest movie of the year so far is "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" where we see the hero actively turn against the very government he works for when he discovers the surveillance state. In "The Lego Movie" government and big business are interchangeable and they are both designed to crush individuality. "Godzilla" saw the Government covering up monsters and being completely inept at fighting them, a big change from the 1998 version which had the troops defeat the monster.  "X-Men:Days of Future Past " features a corrupt political system that goes onto destroy the world via technology. If you think the current government is bad - just wait until you see what's coming!

It wasn't always this way, was it? Think about "Independence Day" which literally saw the entire world uniting around the American government to save the planet. Even "Men In Black" portrayed the government as badass good guys - so cool in fact that people thought it was rad when they covered up evidence via memory wipe. Don't forget older blockbusters like "Top Gun" which pretty much established the pro-government formula. The kick-ass government film may have worked in the past but these days people don't want it. Everyone seemingly has a gripe with the government now, it's not unique to one party, so why would audiences want to see the oppressors as heroes. The two greatest fictional American spies of the century (Jason Bourne & Jack Bauer) personify NOT following the orders of the Government. You want to see a heroic C.I.A. agent on the big screen - go see "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit," - oh wait, no one (except me apparently) saw that movie*.

Look, I realize this sounds a little paranoid and kind of far off the rails. I'm a big fan of the USA. I had a blast on July 4th and was crestfallen when they got bounced from the World Cup. And if it wasn't clear by me seeing Transformers opening night, I love ra-ra-ra America kicking ass movies. But right now I'm just telling you what I'm seeing on the silver-screen. People want to see Katniss fight "The Capital," they want to see Captain America destroy the government apparatus, and they want Optimus to remind us that freedom is "the right of all sentient beings." And right now, in the eyes of Hollywood, the government is the bad guy impeding on those rights.

American Identity Through The Eyes of Captain America

How do we define American? Are we defined by the food that we eat, our national holidays, and the sports and music that we enjoy? Does our government, outlined in our much heralded constitution make us who we are? Or, is our American identity not rooted in our shared heritage and traditions but on how we live our lives on a daily basis? These are the questions that "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" addresses in a way that is both entertaining, funny, and unexpectedly moving.

I initially went into the film as a fan boy. I think "The Avengers" is pretty much a masterpiece of large scale storytelling and can easily tell you every movie of Marvel's "phase" based storytelling. That being said "Captain American: The Winter Soldier" has stuck with me in ways beyond nerd obsession. It struck me a brilliant metaphor to raging battle about how we define our cultural identity. The first brilliant clue that the movie will be about this comes not from our hero literally running through the symbolic monuments of our history in Washington D.C. but from the convenient checklist that he keeps of important "American" cultural and political forces that he needs to catch up on.

How do you feel about this list? Do you think it defines what it means to be an American? What would you add or remove from this list? One thing that is missing (definitely on purpose) are the attacks of September 11th and the never ending war on terror that we live with now. This doesn't make the list because this war and all that comes with it is the central issue of the film. The core of the film's story is how Captain stands in the tug of war between lean between "freedom" and "fear" as it pertains to protecting the country in the name of "order." When Captain America learns about a wide-reaching intelligence gathering and "defensive" program he memorably says "you hold a gun on everyone's head and call it protection."

This is a bold line (amongst many) that are clearly directed at the current NSA data-mining program and our continued war on terror. Earlier I asked if our government and constitution define us as Americans and the film presents the terrifying question that if it does, what does it mean if our government is diseased and corrupt? Captain America's choice in the film is to fight directly against the government which he believes has lost its way. The film may be a "super-hero" film but its really a super-revolutionary film. Is Edward Snowden our modern day Captain America? They both were born and raised here and pursued a career in intelligence. Like many whistleblowers or people who expose Governmental wrongdoing, both are labeled "traitor" by their bosses when do they so. The film is brave enough to explicitly draw a connection between standing up for your country's ideals even the when cost may be severe. Pretty intense and thought provoking than your stand blockbuster-fare.

It is not all doom, gloom, and paranoia because the film's true political message is that the strength in America lies not in our military power but in the friendships we make and how we treat our neighbors. I'm not talking about socialism. I'm talking about connecting with one another on an real and emotionally true level. Throughout the film Captain America is defined by his loyalty not to his country but to his friends, both old and new. At first, he jokes about having no personal connections or friends and ,in a painful scene with his old lover, he's reminded of what he once had and doesn't have now. Over the course of the story he learns the value of true friendship after his faith in government betrays him.

His relationship with the antagonist,The Winter Soldier is a driving core of the film and the ending choice the two make shows just how powerful a friendship can be. Throughout the film Captain American and Black Widow become true partners not because of their mission but because of their shared grief and past. The Falcon expresses grief at losing friends in war and leads a group of veterans who are looking for a connection in a brutal world. We're only as strong as the people we trust and cherish, a theme echoed in a memorable showdown in a mission control room later in the film.

It's a shame that many people will immediately write off the film as being a "super-hero" film and not see for the bold political warning story it is. The only other film that comes close to examining our current war on terror was "The Dark Knight" but that was before our current NSA reality and that film was focused on anarchy than repression. "Captain America: The Winter Soldiers" is a masterwork that works well as a surface layer blockbuster, but truly excels in what it says about our current political policies and just how much we're defined by our friendships. We may have different definitions of what it means to be American, but I think we all know that sometimes we all need the help of our people, whether they're super-heroes or not.