Chris Kyle. I’ll never forget your name. I’ll never forget your service. Interestingly enough, though, it’s probably not for the reason you think.
The nation has been in an uproar over the film American Sniper and there are only two sides you can be on.
On one hand, you LOVED the film. You’re a patriot. You love this country. Chris Kyle is a hero, no “if”s, “and”s or “but”s about it. You read the book. You entered the theater an average American and emerged an even better one.
Then, there’s the other side. You didn’t enjoy the movie. You think Chris Kyle is a racist monster. How could he kill all of those people? This film is like Nazi propaganda. How could this film be made in our time? You entered the theater an average American and came out questioning your citizenship.
I honestly don’t think either side is quite as crazy as we’re making them out to be.
What did I think of American Sniper? Well, I’m glad you asked.
I thought it was average. It was a pretty good war movie, which is what Clint Eastwood was going for, but I’m not pulled to either side of the aisle. I guess I’m in the middle.
Maybe there aren’t just two sides.
What got all of this started anyway? It’s 2015, so naturally it was a celebrity on Twitter.
Seth Rogen (who actually entered the theater 100 percent Canadian) tweeted that American Sniper reminded him of a film that’s actually shown in the film Inglorious Basterds. So meta.
Immediately people responded, upset that Seth Rogen so obviously just compared an American hero to a Nazi. How dare he? He’s a terrible American (but still actually Canadian, I promise). He doesn’t even have dual citizenship!
Let’s analyze this a bit more. The film shown in Inglorious Basterds that Rogen references is a Nazi propaganda film called Stolz der Nation. In Inglorious Basterds, the bit of the film shown features a German sniper killing Allied soldiers. American Sniper shows an American sniper killing terrorists. I can kind of see how Rogen might be reminded of Stolz der Nation while watching American Sniper and I’m really not at all upset by that.
Black-and-white striped shirts remind me of jail, cheese reminds me of Wisconsin and cheaters remind me of the New England Patriots. I’m sorry if anyone takes offense to the way I connect things, but I’m really not all that sorry.
After a threat from none other than Superman (a.k.a. Dean Cain), Rogen decided to clear up his statement a bit, tweeting, “I wasn’t comparing the two [films]. Big difference between comparing and reminding. Apples remind me of oranges. Can’t compare them, though.”
That clears that up then. At least, it would in a perfect world. People are still going to dislike Rogen for a tweet and praise anyone that attacked him after. That’s just the America we live in today.
Both sides should just chill out. Movies can be powerful and moving for all sorts of reasons, but don’t let something so trivial divide a whole nation. I don’t want to have to explain to my grandchildren how an American civil war started over a statement of less than 141 characters made by a 100 percent authentic Canadian was taken out of context.
Can you imagine the side-eye I would get from their hologram avatars?
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