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Running head: JARHEAD AND THE GULF WAR Jarhead and the Gulf War March 22, 2009 Jarhead and the Gulf War Introduction Jarhead (2005) is a military-war movie about the Gulf War events. The plot is based on Anthony Swofford's best seller, a Desert Storm memoir of the same name. The plotting is quite simple but at the same time powerful, telling the story about Anthony "Staff" Swofford, enlisted in the Marines in 1980 s, and with the beginning of the Gulf War Anthony Swofford is sent to Saudi Arabia with his unit for Desert Shield. Jarhead (2005) is one in the long list of the Gulf War-related movies, rich in action, blood, burned bodies, violence, desperateness and hope. This paper examines Jarhead movie from a professional historians viewpoint, finding out whether the primary sources agree with the film and the secondary sources. In this research paper the researcher claims that most critics agree that when it comes to historical accuracy, it is a real burden to Hollywood, and Jarhead (2005) directed by Sam Mendes, is no exception to the rule.
Jarhead and the Gulf War It has always been very difficult to make films about war events. The vast majority of such films are ambitious, bold, rousing and frightening. While watching the film, the viewer obviously comes to the same conclusion. Sam Mendes wanted to involve the viewers into the frightening and devastating atmosphere of the Gulf War events, but, if compared to the primary sources about the Gulf War, the film presents completely different picture. Although Jarhead movie is based on Anthony Swofford's unforgettable experiences in the Marine corps, the film has too many faults to be considered the one with historical accuracy. Sam Mendes obviously tried to impress the audience with plenty of visual effects, but seemingly he was too preoccupied with special effects and failed to make the film realistic.
The film has also aroused a lot of controversy and became a subject of heated debates. While some critics considered the film to be one of the most interesting discoveries of the year, the others claimed that Jarhead (2005) directed by Sam Mendes is a shameless and disgraceful offence, as this movies has nothing to do with real war operations. According to their opinion, the Jarhead film is a disgraceful attack on the dignity and honor of all current and former Marines. (Davids, 2005) Jarhead (2005) has hardly managed to introduce the audience positive qualities or any positive image of the United States Marines, but, instead, produced an impression that all Marines are cynical, outrageous soldiers with the near-monster status. Both critics and real participants of the Gulf War almost unanimously agree that the Jarhead (2005) movie misleads the audience, amplifying all the negative actions of the Marines, at the expense of the whole. (Davids, 2005) Sam Mendes shows the life of the Marines, who were send to a foreign country and had to wait for a battle with an enemy, spending their days and waiting for a fight they never get to enter.
The director of the movie obviously wanted to show the inner side of the military life and to reveal what is normally kept in secret and is hidden from the eyes of civilian population. Although some film critics consider that the tone of the movie is totally in keeping with Swofford's book, it is far from true ("Jarhead" Movie Review, 2009). The "Jarhead" Movie represents the Marines as weak people, morally degraded soldiers who forgot about the dignity, honor and other things that are high in the list in the United States Army. Instead, the Marines are shown as psychos, who degrade in useless fighting, cruelty, violence, and insanity. No wonder that the "Jarhead" Movie has met very negative attitude from the militaries, especially from those who were taking part in the Gulf War. The "Jarhead" Movie is not historically accurate.
Also, many movie details can be easily put into doubts. For example, one can hardly imagine that a Marine could be really shot or killed by his fellow during the training with no reason. Also, both the historians and the Marines could hardly image the soldiers dancing around a bonfire, celebrating the end of the Gulf war, firing the rifles into the sky. The sniper team, where Swofford was, also could hardly be completely forgot and abandoned on the battlefield, at least, not during the real military operations in the real Gulf War but only in a directors desire to produce an impression to naive audience. Most of the historical sources about the Gulf War events state that the wild scenes show in the "Jarhead" Movie would never happen in the real time.
During the Gulf War there was no place or time for brutality and useless violence, as the Marines had to act as a unit to gain a victory and to survive. The scene with the marines and sexual antics just in front of astonished reporters could never happened during the real Gulf War. There were no place for perversion or deviance. Not in the real Gulf War. The Marine Corps Public Affairs also completely disagree with the Marines representation in this movie, stating in their official memo that the movie's script is an inaccurate portrayal of Marines in general and does not provide a reasonable interpretation of military life. (How Accurate Is Jarhead? What one Marine makes of the Gulf War movie. , 2005) According to the publicly available data from the primary and the secondary sources, the real Marine Corps operations were far away from what Sam Mendes made of them (Admire, 1991).
During the Gulf War events, Marines contributed to one of the most successful assaults in the modern warfare. (1991: Operation Desert Storm) As it is claimed by the U. S. marine Corps website, the Marines undertook all efforts to oust Iraq's army. With their incredible tactics, over 8, 000 Marines stormed the shores of Kuwait, demonstrating bravery and precise amphibious tactics. The veterans remember their own experiences during that war, stating that every day in the Gulf War they woke up with the inner struggle, making conscious efforts to stay a human and not to lose morality (Engelhart & Foran, 1992).
Numerous primary sources mention veterans memoirs, stating that it was really difficult to watch good people turning bad and to see them doing crazy things they otherwise never would have even dared to do, if they would have never had to tak part in that war. However, as the veterans remember, there were not as many cynical and outrageous soldiers as Sam Mendes in the "Jarhead" Movie wanted to show. Instead, the soldiers undertook all efforts to remain human and to stop their mental slide into darkness. According to B. D.
Tucker (Annapolis, MD), the veteran of the Gulf War and a former infantry platoon commander with 1 st Bn, 6 th Marines (1 / 6), who lived relatively close to the place, where Swofford's unit 2 / 7 was located, the events represented both in the film and the original book, were far from truth (JARHEAD: THE BOOK & MOVIE, 2005). Both the director of the film and the author failed to conduct comprehensive research, resulting in inaccurate reporting of events, locations and dates. The veteran also claims that a pervasively cynical attitude exhibited by the rank and file might virtually exist, but in reality the Marines displayed courage and integrity (JARHEAD: THE BOOK & MOVIE, 2005). Most of the sources agree that the director failed to bring historical accuracy in the film. There was no live ammunition used in training exercises, and, as it is claimed by one of the real participants of that war, the only time [the Marines] used live ammunition or grenades was on the firing line. Live ammunition with machine guns fixed WAS used in WWII and in the Korean War era. (JARHEAD: THE BOOK & MOVIE, 2005).
Most of them treat the Jarhead movie as anti-American, portraying the U. S. Marines as amoral mercenaries and at worst virtually criminal gangsters capable of any atrocity, (JARHEAD: THE BOOK & MOVIE, 2005) making this film basically anti-military, nihilistic and anti-American, diminishing and destroying the positive image of the United States Army. Conclusion In conclusion it should be said that the director of the Jarhead movie obvious wanted to shock the civilian audience by revealing the dark sides of the Gulf War kept in secret.
Sam Mendes wanted to show what had happened to the soldiers during Desert Shield/Desert Storm and how they coped with it, adjusting to endless waiting and spending time in the desert sands. However, the film lacks realism, and both the primary and secondary sources present a completely different picture of what had really happened during the Gulf War and Desert Storm events, finding the portrayal of the Marines in the Jarhead movie highly offensive, having nothing in common with reality. References "Jarhead" Movie Review. (2009). Retrieved March 21, 2009, from web 1991: Operation Desert Storm. (n. d. ). Retrieved March 21, 2009, from 2008 U.
S. MARINE CORPS: web Admire, J. H. (1991, August). The 3 d Marines in Desert Shield. Marine Corps Gazette (75), pp. 81 - 84. Davids, J. (2005, December 1).
The Informed Constituent (Albany, NY) - Jarhead -- movie disgraces marines. Retrieved March 21, 2009, from web Engelhart, T. , & Foran, P. (1992). Sword in the sand: US Marines in the Gulf War. Hong Kong: Concord. How Accurate Is Jarhead? What one Marine makes of the Gulf War movie. (2005, November 9).
Retrieved March 21, 2009, from 2009 Washington Post. Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC: web JARHEAD: THE BOOK & MOVIE. (2005, November 13). Retrieved March 21, 2009, from web Schubert, F. , & Kraus, T. (2000, August 1). The Whirlwind War: The United States Army in Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM. Retrieved March 21, 2009, from CMH Online: web
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Research essay sample on Running Head Jarhead And The Gulf War
