ABSTRACT
In many ways, the wave of “militainment” culture that washed through the polity at the beginning of the new century can be represented by a short film produced by the Pentagon in 2002. Called Enduring Freedom: The Opening Chapter, the 4-minute film slipped itself in among the usual movie previews beginning in September, just as the Bush administration began beating the drums for the invasion of Iraq. In assuming the role of movie trailer, the film suggested that “Enduring Freedom,” the mission name for the US incursion into Afghanistan, was only the “opening chapter” of the coming media event. The purpose of the film was ambiguous, however. Ed Halter of the Village Voice called it part of “the next generation of wartime propaganda” where “technojingoism” meets “jockish, Army of One-type sloganeering.” 1 Indeed, Enduring Freedom freely mixed genres, delivering part recruitment ad, part documentary, part reality show, and part WWII-style propaganda film. Even its makers could not give a clear answer as to its function. According to the film’s producer, Lt. Col. James Kuhn, Enduring Freedom was designed to “powerfully communicate to the American public what the Navy and Marine Corps team is and who we are.” 2 He later elaborated: “The piece doesn’t ask anyone to make a judgment or take an action. It’s just saying, you’re a taxpayer, here’s a meaningful look at the military.” 3 Indeed, the film did not ask its audience to take action-to brace for difficulty, buy war bonds, ration sugar, or even join the military. Like any self-respecting preview, its meaning instead resided in the phrase “the show is on its way.” This could be heard in one on-screen soldier’s words that “It’s not a question of if we go to combat; it’s a question of when.” While taking on some of the features of the spectacle, however, Enduring Freedom sat perched on the cusp of the new interactive war. The film wasted no time in dropping the viewer into the boots of the soldier, as one of the “we” who are destined for combat. Beginning with an enlistee taking the oath of service, the film moved through 9/11 footage and the steely resolve of soldiers moving through their routines. Enduring Freedom swept the viewer up as a
virtual recruit in a military preparing for imminent conflict. As one Marine notes in the video, “When you say send someone into war, they’re not just some robot-these are people just like you.” Though a preview of the war movie to come, the film’s ultimate exhortation is not simply to witness the spectacular military machine in motion, but to virtually hop on board and into the skin of one of those “just like you.”
