Killer Elite War

In The New Yorker article by Nancy Franklin, she points out that Evan Wright’s original articles were part of a magazine series title “The Killer Elite.” I agree that this title seems more apt than “Generation Kill.” The “Elite” signify a special group of Marines trained to kill without guilt. Other comments that the series lost its zip as it experienced various media – newspaper print, book printing, and television miniseries – seem to hold true. The interview with Wright and the real Marines made one thing clear that didn’t seem to come through in the miniseries. And, that is that the Marines shown with Wright are very intelligent men who take their work quite seriously and obviously feel its effects in very different and individual ways; all the while masking any feelings that might break through that buffered demeanor. I wonder whether this kind of war can be filmed and viewed as entertainment or edutainment. It is impressive that most of the blogs I read with comments from actual Marines touted the show as being true to the reality of the desert war circumstances and situations. Being in the military is truly one of those dirty jobs that somebody has to do. And that’s too bad.