Terrorism Lessons from the Movies

I was listening NPR—you know, that liberally biased station that should be shut down—and they said that the terrorists in Iraq had struck again, killing three more people. And that term was there, just as it’s always there: terrorists.

So I began thinking about ways to deal with this term, and whether there were any examples from movies that may help us understand it. As you know, all of life’s lessons can be garnered from film. So this entry is dedicated to that—a look at terrorism from the viewpoint of film.

Let me give two disclaimers here: 1) Filmmakers, and, thus, films are generally fairly liberal. We have to understand that before we begin. If we go to films looking for conservatism, we’re going to have a hard time, as I have already said in a previous blog entry. 2) I have not seen every film, so I can’t reference every mention of terrorism. In fact, I will have to use several of the films I have already reviewed here. I will try not to just rehash, but some of it will come up again.

First, there is X-Men 2, which I just watched again (since writing the review here, in fact). Yes, the bad guys are the U.S. military, or at least the corporation that operates under government and military jurisdiction. The bad guy’s name is Colonel Striker, after all. There’s an interesting reference to the first X-Men film, where the Senator, who is actually Magneto’s friend in disguise, asks Striker how he knows about the X-Men mansion. Colonel Striker says that he learned it from one of the “Liberty Island terrorists,” meaning Magneto.

But wait, terrorists? Who in that battle is actually a terrorist? According to Striker, and almost all of the general population, they’re probably ALL considered terrorists. The point is not that Magneto is a terrorist and the X-Men are good. No, all of them are bad, and therefore, they’re terrorists. Yes, Magneto wants to destroy things and kill all humans, so he’s really bad, but there is really no distinction between him and the X-Men in the mind of most of the human characters in the film. For us there is, sure. The X-Men are the cool good guys who just want to save the day. Watch Wolverine brutally kill those soldiers that are just doing their job, though, and we can’t quite say that. We’re supposed to “support the troops,” right? Not kill them.

Then I began thinking about that 80s movie Red Dawn (1984), starring Patrick Swayze. I liked it when I was a kid, and I really want to see it again, so I will have to look it up. But I was thinking about the plot of it: the Soviets invade and easily take over the U.S., so it’s up to a bunch of kids to start their own army to overthrow the Soviets. How do they do it? They stage ambushes, hide and then attack, and then generally try to kill every Soviet they see. If I’m remembering correctly, that’s what they do. And we call them heroes, patriots, freedom fighters. The actual war was over, though. The military had been defeated. What would the Soviets call those people? Terrorists?

Ok, ok, I know the analogies aren’t perfect—Iraq was ruled by a cruel dictator, and we have a democratically elected government.

But what if we were supporting a revolution in Nicaragua, say, when they had a government that we didn’t like? We didn’t invade, but we funded the “rebels” or terrorists. France, meanwhile, likes the government of Nicaragua and tells us we have to stop supporting this terrorism. We say no, so France invades the U.S. and easily overthrows our government, while all they want to do is to have new elections and have a new government.

Well, I live in Texas, and there would be a lot of Texans who would be exercising their right to bear arms and trying to kill every “Frog” they came across. Would they be freedom fighters, patriots, rebels, or terrorists?

Just some ideas that I’m pondering. Yeah, I know I sound like I’m saying the Iraqis are right for killing U.S. troops, but I really didn’t say anything like that. I don’t want any U.S. troops to die, or anyone else for that matter!! I’m really talking about the word “terrorist,” and how we use it. Our terms are loaded, and we use them as they help us define people, not as they really are.

Movies teach us that much.