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Feb. 17th, 2010 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
exsequarFirstly: I'm feeling better. Thank you for your kind words and warmth - I am so lucky to have you all. ♥
Secondly: WINCON!!! I know it's like a million years away, but I just realized that I DON'T HAVE ROOMIES! :O Sooooo...anyone out there going to Wincon in Chicago who doesn't have roommates yet? Or has a room with a space available? I wanna sleep with you! :D
Thirdly: I'm almost finished with Generation Kill. One episode to go. I assume that episode will be a doozy, so it's possible the following opinions could change. It's certainly been interesting and eye-opening, horrifying and delightful by turns. I of course love Brad and Nate and Ray and Poke and Rolling Stone and DOC BRYAN (<333), and they make everything pretty worthwhile. But while I adore those characters and will probably start mainlining fic (Nate and Brad are just MADE for AUs), I can't say that the series has captured my heart? I don't see myself doing rewatches, anyway. It's too hard for me when I hate several of the major characters and am furious/shocked at pretty much every order they're given. I have very little tolerance for stupidity or blind, selfish ambition. It's just - how does the system let such fucked up, incompetent people through? How are they put in CHARGE of people? The whole thing makes me deeply frustrated and angry and I don't think I can take repeat doses of that. I don't care what screwed up past Captain America has - fact is, he's a terrible leader and a danger to his men, and should never been given a gun, much less put in a position of command. And that's just one example.
*deep breath* So - yeah. I find it kind of impossible to get around those issues. And the fact that this is all now? That this is what our troops are going through, what the Iraqi people have been subjected to for years? It makes me sick to my stomach. It's just too close to home. And I haven't even mentioned how the modern American/military notion of "masculinity" makes me really, really uncomfortable.
Don't get me wrong - I'm glad I've watched it. I'm glad I know Nate's serious little face, and Brad's enormous intelligent eyes, and Poke's hate-on for the white man's "burden", and Ray's delightful inappropriateness, and Bryan's complete intolerance of incompetence (PREACH IT BB). I love these boys and I'm glad they are in my life. ♥ Furthermore, the series gave me an insider perspective on something that's very current and relevant. It didn't change my opinions so much as inform them, which is just as important. So - glad for the experience, but not appropriating it as a fandom in the way I did Band of Brothers. (I don't think! I could eat my words, but I doubt it.)
Talk to me about your perspectives on it! (Reminder: don't spoil me for the last ep, though I'll be watching that tonight.) What am I missing?
Secondly: WINCON!!! I know it's like a million years away, but I just realized that I DON'T HAVE ROOMIES! :O Sooooo...anyone out there going to Wincon in Chicago who doesn't have roommates yet? Or has a room with a space available? I wanna sleep with you! :D
Thirdly: I'm almost finished with Generation Kill. One episode to go. I assume that episode will be a doozy, so it's possible the following opinions could change. It's certainly been interesting and eye-opening, horrifying and delightful by turns. I of course love Brad and Nate and Ray and Poke and Rolling Stone and DOC BRYAN (<333), and they make everything pretty worthwhile. But while I adore those characters and will probably start mainlining fic (Nate and Brad are just MADE for AUs), I can't say that the series has captured my heart? I don't see myself doing rewatches, anyway. It's too hard for me when I hate several of the major characters and am furious/shocked at pretty much every order they're given. I have very little tolerance for stupidity or blind, selfish ambition. It's just - how does the system let such fucked up, incompetent people through? How are they put in CHARGE of people? The whole thing makes me deeply frustrated and angry and I don't think I can take repeat doses of that. I don't care what screwed up past Captain America has - fact is, he's a terrible leader and a danger to his men, and should never been given a gun, much less put in a position of command. And that's just one example.
*deep breath* So - yeah. I find it kind of impossible to get around those issues. And the fact that this is all now? That this is what our troops are going through, what the Iraqi people have been subjected to for years? It makes me sick to my stomach. It's just too close to home. And I haven't even mentioned how the modern American/military notion of "masculinity" makes me really, really uncomfortable.
Don't get me wrong - I'm glad I've watched it. I'm glad I know Nate's serious little face, and Brad's enormous intelligent eyes, and Poke's hate-on for the white man's "burden", and Ray's delightful inappropriateness, and Bryan's complete intolerance of incompetence (PREACH IT BB). I love these boys and I'm glad they are in my life. ♥ Furthermore, the series gave me an insider perspective on something that's very current and relevant. It didn't change my opinions so much as inform them, which is just as important. So - glad for the experience, but not appropriating it as a fandom in the way I did Band of Brothers. (I don't think! I could eat my words, but I doubt it.)
Talk to me about your perspectives on it! (Reminder: don't spoil me for the last ep, though I'll be watching that tonight.) What am I missing?
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Date: 2010-02-17 06:21 pm (UTC)This might be a little rambly since I just woke up, but the realism is one of the things I really like about the show. The funny thing is, I usually think I like BoB a lot more than GenKill, but then I go and watch an episode of GenKill and sit there chinhandsing going "gosh, this is just so good". I do partially agree with what you're saying, because it is tough to watch and I probably couldn't watch GenKill over and over and over like I do with BoB - but I'm doing a rewatch right now and still loving it. Maybe I can stomach incompetence a bit easier, but reading through a lot of the related information (the After Action report, terminology, interviews, parts of the GenKill book) also helped me to understand more about the show, especially the mindset of some of the Marines. Oh, and watching it with the commentary on! The commentary for part 4 is A++ because it has PJ and Askars.
I got into GenKill before BoB, though, and the thing is that you really, really cannot compare the two of them. I mean, you can obviously like one and not like the other, that's cool, but I really dislike it when people are like "if you like one then you will definitely like the other!" because the atmosphere, timing, and nearly everything about the two shows are completely different. I'm glad you gave it a shot, though! I think it gives great insight into the Iraq war, if nothing else, and I'd definitely check out some of the related information (did you hear about that one time the real Nate Fick swore at the President? ♥), but at least now you know what all of us are talking about. :D
no subject
Date: 2010-02-17 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-18 07:47 am (UTC)Thisssss. If I had a dollar for every time I saw someone say this I would have a lot of dollars.
Also Stafford & Christeson are my BROTP, man.