HBO's "Generation Kill" ? I love it! But..of course, My Perspective is always with the Boys !

[GalleryGod]

Your Thoughts on Evan Hunter's Masterpiece?

[GalleryGod]

1. No HBOers round these parts???

Hmmm?
You're missing a great story.

[MissHoneychurch]

2. Hey there

:hi:

[GalleryGod]

9. Hi,Sweetie!

Hope all is well?
Miss your PMs...madly:evilgrin:

[trumad]

3. Last nights show was brilliant

The guy who plays Godfather is a terrific actor. Glory---Glory---Glory---- is all the dude is looking for---plus his full Bird.

The show is clearly showing how ill prepared we were in going into Iraq. Lack of equipment, etc. The Sargent Major character is one nasty SOB but I love his character.

Yeah----I think this show will not be shy about highlighting all the errors made at the beginning of the war----errors that put us in the bind that we are in today.

[Cosmocat]

4. I missed last night ...

but I already LOVE the godfather ...

GREAT character ...

Also, mark me down as HUGE HBO series guy ... I knew this would be good stuff ...

[dionysus]

6. the stupidest thing they ever did was cancel Deadwood

:(

[Cosmocat]

7. Deadwood ...

Was just flat incredible ...

A wonderful portrayal of how communities were built, IMO ... And, Swearengin was one of the greatest TV characters of all time ...

[dionysus]

13. did you know that the guy that played sy tolliver was curly bill in tombstone?

and they replace it with that garbage surfer show that only lasted a season...

[OwnedByFerrets]

18. Youre so right about that....

LOVED that show.

[VolcanoJen]

24. Totally!!!!!!

Every time that stupid, stupid "John From Cincinnati" show would come on, I'd sneer and say "DEADWOOD IS SUPPOSED TO BE ON RIGHT NOW!!" :grr:

Also, chalk me up as someone who, to this day, misses "Six Feet Under." At least it got an excellent send-off, but I miss those characters so much.

[foo_bar]

26. it was probably a mercy killing

given the artistic spiral into Sopranos season 4+ territory: gratuitous violence without the suspense, overblown story arcs for child actors and bit players, the disappearance of veteran actors as they're expended on proper reactions to gratuitous violence, character development in cryogenic stasis except to show that the bad guy isn't really that bad, sex scenes replaced with women-as-chattel scenes, and the whole HBO management approach to turning a BBC style mini-series into soap opera. So maybe it was for the best.

[GalleryGod]

10. I'm amazed how technical & jargon-jammed the radio traffic has become.

It's not Godfather who jumps out..but, rather the glory hound, Captain America.
He'd gotten "fragged" in my war!

[cliffordu]

14. Yeah, Captian America wouldn't have lasted long...In fact, I know NOTHING

about a tear gas incident concerning a set of showers.......

[alcibiades_mystery]

16. Eat the apple...

[HardWorkingDem]

5. This will be another show ignored because...

the two top people on this show, David Simon and Ed Burns, are not members of Hollywood.

If you like this show, then start watching the five seasons of HBO's The Wire (not only that, NBC's Homicide and HBO's sort of prequel to The Wire, The Corner).

Ed Burns and David Simon are two amazing and interesting people.

[Cosmocat]

8. Yep ...

Burns is great ...

The Sopranos was a brilliant series, but IMO, the Wire and Deadwood were even better ... I wanted to like Homicide, but it never really bit ...

[Mr. Blonde]

11. By its very nature The Wire has to be better

after all it is the single greatest television show ever.

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. The Wire is by far the best show ever to appear on television

By leaps and bounds.

It's the Tiger Woods of television shows.

[cliffordu]

15. Yep - the world heavyweight champion of television shows.

[HardWorkingDem]

19. Yep, Tiger Woods of TV with a dose of Rodney Dangerfield (no respect)..

And that's what gets me about Hollywood - I think they are so pissed a couple of LA boys did not come up with The Wire and are punishing them by shun.

[Eurobabe]

17. Haven't watched it but have 2 episodes TiVO'd

I was afraid it was violent. thoughts?

[HardWorkingDem]

20. Through 3 episodes...

I would have to say it is not overtly or shockingly graphic in manners done for the glorification of violence, but it does have very realistically depicted violence.

Hope that makes sense...

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

21. I think it's fascinating and very disturbing

I get very angry at some of the characters who treat civilians as though they don't matter.

But I have to wonder if this is realistic. I realize that the acts of indiscriminate killing probably are. But I'm referring more to the characters and how they interact with each other.

Are young Americans in today's military really like this? Are Americans in general like this with each other? It seems that every character acts like they are individuals wrapped up in themselves and all that matters. They all walk around with an air of superiority and with chips on their shoulders, putting down everyone else around them. Every soldier seems to demean and put down his buddy. There's continual use of foul language with almost every utterance and references to heterosexual and homosexual sex acts.

Maybe I'm completely out of touch with the young generation. Americans in the old days, even in the military, didn't act like this. Sure there was kidding and teasing and occasional use of bad language, but not on a continual basis. In the old days, Americans were more civil to each other and didn't act like they were superior and that everyone around them was crap with every sentence they uttered.

Are young Americans in the military and in society in general really this sick, this foul, this arrogant? Is their discourse really that devoid of anything interesting, with only constant references to pussy or sick jokes or put downs? Many years ago, I hung out often with guys in the USMC and never encountered anything this extreme. Not even near it. Is this over-the-top or is it normal now?

[MellowDem]

29. I can't speak for in the military...

but as a young person that is how a lot of my friends talk when going out to the bars or hanging out during free time. Considering that in the military, you're with your buddies 24/7, the jocular discourse is probably constant. I'm guessing it's also a way to relieve stress and try and keep positive. When I'm nervous or scared, joking around and being talkative help.

It might be that it's a generational thing, but what you see as "constant put downs" are not taken as such by people my age. It is all just joking and good fun. One of the greatest signs of maturity for people my age is the ability to take a joke and be able to laugh at themselves. In order to have a functional social life, that is a must in this generation. It is a way to build up camaraderie, and should be taken in the same way an older brother might hit around his younger sibling, but it's affectionate. It shows you don't take yourself or life too seriously. It shows you have a lot of confidence in yourself. Personally, I think it allows you to bond more with your friends, but maybe that's just me.

And young Americans really do talk like this, but it does not make them sick, foul, or arrogant. Arrogance has nothing to do with it. On the contrary, my generation hates arrogance. As a way to show their displeasure with it, they'll act arrogantly, all big and bad, but everyone knows it's a joke, a caricature, even a way of showing irony. See how Captain America is hated in the show?

As for the foul language and sick jokes, our generation has been much more exposed to all of these at much younger ages than any previous generation, except for the next one to come along. No one thinks twice about the use of foul language in front of their friends. My friends have been telling some horribly nasty sexual jokes one minute, and the next minute my mom comes in and you'd never think they had sworn in their lives, much less even know what sex is.

The frequent use of homosexual jokes can be a way of showing that one is comfortable with their sexuality. The racial, ethnic, homosexual, religious, etc. jokes are a rejection of political correctness, which my generation generally hates, and a way to diminish real racism, homophobia, etc. by making a big joke out of it. It is also a way to talk about matters everyone thinks about in an open and honest way. We've learned from previous generations that keeping your feelings and thoughts bottled up inside might look good, but increases misunderstanding between people.

That's why my friends will make fun of each other's race, religion, sexuality, you name it, and everyone thinks it's hilarious. We are stating certain truths when we do so. There really are people out there who hate blacks, Muslims, etc., but we take that hate and turn it on it's head by using it with our closest friends. It shows the absurdity of racism, homophobia, etc.

Now, my generation will not act like this in front of everyone. We definitely won't joke like that in front of people we do not know yet, who are not our friends, or people who are not in tune with this generation's culture. And the tactful can spot those who would be offended by such language and will try to diminish it in front of them.

Still, there are exceptions to every rule, and there are those of my generation who are arrogant or take themselves too seriously or are actually homophobic, racist, etc, but you'll see that they are generally shunned by this generation. They have to find enclaves for themselves I suppose. But I have personally ran into very few of these people. Most of the people of my generation I meet who are easily offended by such things do not have a lot of social tact or experience, and therefore misunderstand it.

I'm sure others might have a different experience, but from my own personal experience, this documentary fits exactly how my generation acts.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

30. Maybe it is a generational thing

But it makes me hate these individuals. They seem foul to me through and through, with nothing interesting to say and nothing but one put down after another. That's how it seems to me anyway, although maybe the young generation don't mind it. They just seem like absolutely low class and disgusting people. I don't think making fun of someone's race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion, as you describe, is funny or amusing. I think it's completely twisted.

I spent a lot of time around military people. I was born on a U.S. military base and spent my entire youth on one after another, in the 1950s, as my father was career military. Later, in my twenties during the 1970s, I joined a spelunking group at the El Toro Marine base. I was the only civilian. We spent lots of week-ends together going out into the high Sierra in California and exploring caves and we ended up hanging out and getting drunk. I often went on the base to use their equipment to learn how to rappel in the parachute towers. I heard a lot of joking around and some foul language. There was even some occasional yelling between a woman and a man who had been in a relationship and were constantly arguing at each other among the group of spelunkers. But I never heard the constant barrage of put-downs, foul jokes, disparagement of others and arrogance that I hear in the characters on Generation Kill. In fact, quite a few of the Marines were well read and would discuss a variety of subjects, from science fiction literature to history. And none of them were officers. I'm not saying I don't like the show. I think it's fascinating but I don't like the characters. I don't think they're likable people because of the way they treat each other. It makes me really shake my head at America if this is the way people have become.

Maybe I need to see your point of view, but so far I can't. The way they behave to me seems very foreign to anything I've experienced.

[MellowDem]

33. I can see where you are coming from

Of course they aren't really making fun of each other's race or whatever, no one takes it seriously, otherwise that would be twisted if they meant it. Maybe it's because younger generations have been more exposed to other races and therefore feel more comfortable talking about race, even to the point of joking about it, than previous generations. :shrug:

And this is a TV show, maybe there really isn't a constant barrage of put-downs and whatnot, but those are the only parts the director wants to show because they deemed it more interesting or funny. I read the actual book Generation Kill, and while there are lots of nasty jokes documented by the author, there is also a real sense of brotherhood. So, maybe it's just the director and the limits of TV that present it that way. They don't want to show the parts without witty commentary or jokes, which I'm guessing is a lot of the time.

[bookim40]

22. I'm impressed with the director

I can't remember her name off the top of my head, but to have a female director is pretty chancy but so far so good.

I spent 24 years in the military and the dialog in Generation Kill is spot on. I bet the Marine Corps is having a hissy fit over this series even though it shows the troops in a believable way rather than the typical idealistic way the Corps would want.

Hope the rest of the series is as good as the first three.

Bookim

[VolcanoJen]

23. Haven't watched it yet, because I was concerned it might be wing-nutty

Was my knee-jerk assumption dead wrong? Because if so, I'll start watching them On Demand today (it's my day off!)!

[Cosmocat]

25. Not at all ...

If you take it for what it is ...

A lot of the main characters have a lot of R lines ...

One of the best lous, when they were first broke the border and were running in and passes civilians who were waving to them, one held his baby up, and the Lou, a very good and strong character yelled out "vote republican" ... VERY good character/soldier as portrayed ...

The private who drives his humvee has made a number of off handed liberal bashing remarks that are hillarious in the context of him firing off about 100 other things ... One of the main characters is the embedded Rolling Stone writer and this private has taken the liberal shots at him a number of time - but it is all part of being together where EVERYONE is taking shots at everyone for everything ... The Rolling Stones character gets it, and sees that it is part of them seeing if he has the salt to hang with them, which he does ...

Gotta know that, at least then, most soldiers/marines WERE Rs ...

Saw a bit with the producer/director and some of the actual men in the unit, and they said they just are calling it all for what it was ...

[VolcanoJen]

27. Sold.

Thank you, Cosmocat!

[trumad]

28. It's showing a whole bunch of went wrong early in the war...

The one part where the Iraqis came out all friendly and claimed they can show the Marines where the Republican Guards were---- but they couldn't engage them because Godfather wanted to take the Air field before the Brits.

Before they left, the translator, who's kind of a scumbag, gave the Iraqis a case full of glow sticks so they could light up the area where the bad guys were for US Bombers. The one Marine asked---- how do they know that the guy who they gave the glow sticks to is trust worthy???? He said, what if the guy lights up the houses of people he owes money to?

Great question....in mho.

[HardWorkingDem]

32. Done by David Simon and Ed Burns, not wing nuts at all...

David Simons is a very interesting man, as is Ed Burns. Burns is a retired Baltimore cop and school teacher. Simons is a former news reporter who spent a lot of time on the corners of Baltimore with drug dealers, murders and cops.

Give it a try and then seek out The Wire, The Corner and anything else these guys have crafted.

(On a side note - after reading Simon's book Homicide and then watching the series, he is one of those rare folks that can cast actors exactly like those in the literature he is working from.)

[symbolman]

31. I was pretty bored for most of the first episode..

having been in the military, back in the 70's I've heard young guys like these and myself getting all gritty and jiggy with each other, but it went on for so long with nearly nonexistant plot growth that I almost turned it off..

Caught a bullshit LIE, where the LT says that they may not go IN if Saddam "Let's the Inspectors IN.." rewriting history..

I didn't expect for the story and characters to totally suck up to any potential liberal interpretation, but am still put off by stupid propagandized, psyopped dickless self absorbed little shits preening all happy to find out they're not invincible, then we all get to feel sorry for them, after they've murdered (on request, in some ways it's not their fault, but Cheney, Rove and another wimp Bush) a million innocents..

I'll watch it, but I hate watching stories when I know how they END, and the "war" and every one of these soldiers lives always end the same way - in death, sorrow, remorse, and something that is a No Win for everyone, every time -- WAR is the Goddam Answer.

Boys with Toys, until they're men with wounds that no one cares for, will listen to, or help..

It gets Old.