Watching the movie Jarhead was never on my list of things to do. I happened to be tuned to HBO when it came on tonight and was too lazy to channel surf and find something else. After the first 5 minutes of the movie, when Jake Gyllenhaal's character is asked why he's even in the marines and he says "I got lost on my way to college", I was hooked.
Desert Storm. I was twelve years old. I knew it was happening, didn't understand it, and didn't care to. I feel horrible admitting to such apathy, regardless of the fact that I was just a child at the time.
To this day, if you ask me what my political views are, I can't tell you if I'm Liberal, Conservative, or what. I don't even know what "left wing" and "right wing" mean. Ignorant? Yes...but just on the terminology. If asked about my stance on specific subjects, I can clearly and concisely tell you where I stand. I just don't know the name of my particular stance. Is that wrong? I don't read the paper, I don't watch the news. I do check the headlines daily when I log into my e-mail and if I find there is something important going on, I will check it out.
I chose to not pay attention to the news when I was a child because I found it either boring, or depressing. Now I find that the majority of reports are just fluff used to fill the time when there's no pressing disaster to keep everyone's attention.
Despite the fact that I choose not to get wrapped up in the news, I can honestly say that I am no longer apathetic. I care what's going on in my world, and what impact my actions have. I just don't care that they may have found Elvis living in Wisconsin, or that Michael Jackson might be converting to Islam. Honestly!!
When I came of age to vote, the first couple of times, I just voted the way my parents voted, because I did not at all know what I was voting for. As I became more enlightened, I began researching the different parties, what they stood for, what changes they proposed to make, etc. I began making informed decisions.
I was going to blog tonight simply to provide anyone interested with a review of the movie. Instead, I found myself curiously moved by the fact that this movie meant something to me. Perhaps I'm growing up after all.
...and for anyone who is interested: the movie is fantastic! mild nudity, but if you're a Jake Gyllenhaal fan that shouldn't be a problem LOL!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Great entry! i'll definitely come back here from time to time to check what you're writing. You can also feed your blog into facebook automatically and it'll appear as a facebook entry as soon as you post something on the blog. I don't use my blog much, mine is http://stefanchirila.blogspot.com
i mostly post things on my art web site if anything, here http://chirilas.deviantart.com there you can also see the pictures i'm shooting (one of the few activities i do a lot and am actually proud of).
Now as for Jarhead, i've seen it myself. it is great, as far as it goes explaining things from the point of view of an American kid who goes to fight in this war that doesn't mean much to him anyway. I wonder how many of him there actually are in the war we are in right now or the ones that were. Most youth probably see it as a sort-of playing xbox360 with a controler that looks and sounds veeeery real ... and hey if you point it at someone and you push the trigger, blood comes out of people. But yeah. I find war disgusting, yet strangely enough I am fascinated by the social and cultural side of WWII but thats something else. Yeah i'll stop bugging you now. Nice blog entry, fun to read, keep up the good work :)
Post a Comment