Joe, the GI
So before Star Trek last night– which is great, by the way– they showed the preview for the upc
oming GI Joe movie.
This is an old riff of mine, but it’s worth blogging. The GI Joe franchise (toys, cartoons, video games and movies) is all about a band of elite super-soldiers, each with his or her own set of amazing powers and abilities that the others can’t duplicate. Shooting fire, turning invisible, X-ray vision, ninja powers, flying with jetpacks…. Superhero, impossible stuff.
So what’s the problem? If you read the text of the original “GI Joe” comments, by Dwight Eisenhower, you’ll see it:
But all these agree with me in the selection of a truly heroic figure in this war. He is G.I. Joe. He has braved the dangers of U-boat-infested seas. He has surmounted charges into desperately defended beaches. He has fought his tedious, patient way through the ultimate in fortified zones. His companion has been danger. Death has dogged his footsteps. He and his platoon commanders have given us an example of loyalty, devotion to duty and indomitable courage that will live in our hearts as long as we admire those qualities in men.
In other words, it is the common man, the common soldier, who Eisenhower was celebrating. And, in fact, that’s who the original GI Joe toys honored, as well. To make GI Joe into a super-slick, superhuman fighting machine who is defined by his exceptional nature is to completely and totally miss the point of what Eisenhower was saying, about the real strength of the American war machine.
Freddie, you nailed this one from one or two generations away; good one!
My father served as a platoon sgt. in the 80th Div., 305th Combat Engineers, 3rd Army, Lt. Gen. George Patton, cmdg., he grieved for his losses, fought like hell, and was, from time to time, cold, hungry, and scarred shitless. He told his sons some of the stories, but not all. His company took over 50% casualities. I don’t think he ever understood why he survived and his pals didn’t.Report
You are:
(1) absolutely right, Freddie, and
(2) so not in charge of designing the official League line of action figures. Jetpacks and ninja powers! Jetpacks and ninja powers!Report
Interesting, but Eisenhower was also far more anti-war than is implied by that quote. Here are more Eisenhower quotes:
“Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends. ”
“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. ”
“If the United Nations once admits that international disputes can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the foundation of the organization and our best hope of establishing a world order. ”
“There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs. ”
“When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war. ”
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. “Report
Yes, but it is also to make a lot more money, against which all the rest of these considerations are meaningless. What’s your kid going to want you to buy for Christmas? Brave Everyman From Nebraska #12 or Stormshadow the Ninja?Report
Thank you Freddie and now we all know. And knowing is half the battle.
[Sorry I couldn’t help it :p]Report
“To make GI Joe into a super-slick, superhuman fighting machine who is defined by his exceptional nature is to completely and totally miss the point of what Eisenhower was saying, about the real strength of the American war machine.”
The everyday average man was insufficiently toyetic.
Even when they have a superhero like Spider-man, the quest for product line expansion inevitably leads to specialized variant toys like “Underwater Action Spider-Man” which don’t even make much sense.Report