So, is Generation Kill anti-war? That’s a tricky question. The basis for the series, the non-fiction book of the same name by Rolling Stone contributor Evan Wright, won an award from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, which isn’t exactly a haven for peaceniks. (Wright wrote the HBO series with Simon and Burns; he gets a consulting-producer credit as well, and the pleasure of seeing his fictional self on screen, played by Lee Tergeson.) That said, the realities the series depicts are often very ugly. (It was filmed in Southern Africa.) According to Burns, Generation Kill — like The Wire before it — is an ambiguous text that invites multiple interpretations. Here’s one: the next time the United States decides to go to war, we’d all better pray that the architects of violence pull their collective head out of their collective ass.
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, Armed Forces, War and Conflict, U.S. Armed Forces Activities, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Marines Activities, Iraq War, David Simon, Ed Burns, Evan Wright, Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, Less