Todays image of war.

I once asked a guy what he wanted to do when he finished high school. He told me he wanted to go into the marines. When I asked him exactly why, he answered bluntly “Because I want to do like in the game Call of Duty.”

The image we perceive today about war is completely wrong. Big businesses like the American movie industry, the Gaming industry and grim war novels. None of them perceive war like it was real. When looking at movies and comparing them to Tim O`Briens novel, they seem like fiction. Even though O`Brien states that none of the things in the book are real, they are more real than what we see on television. They are more real than the  so called “pride” and “bravery” we see in the games thousands of boys play. I swear that in war, there is not going to be any epic slow motion running through a fire storm.

Call of duty sounds a lot like the quote on the propaganda poster to the left, “The call to duty.” The game follows soldiers from different country, but mainly British and American in fights during WW2. It is not displayed as a serious game, but a rather brutal and violent game where the purpose is only to kill the enemy as quick as possible. What is this? What is the purpose of this? We all played war games when we were kids, but should we continue even when we are old enough to understand what it really means?

Sadly, this sells, and the gaming industry earns millions of dollars every year on this industry. I guess you cannot take away people`s right to play video games, but we all sort of lose sight of reality. The bitter truth is still not there. I wonder what happens when one of those boys eventually join the army, and discover that it`s not a game anymore, no rewind buttons, no extra lives.

It`s very, very simple why the movie franchise does this. Very few people enjoy movies that leave them feeling hollow and sad. War movies, about real war stories usually have a rather tragic ending. That is how O`Brien says you can tell the difference of a true story and a real one. The very real ones leave with a deep feeling in the gut, something that just tells you that “this is real, this is no joke”. The author really put me back on track when it comes to war, to at least try to understand it. I just wish the boys who want to go to war knew the same.

-Johanne