The new G.I. Joe movie comes out on Friday. I haven’t seen a preview, but I’ve watched a couple of the trailers, leafed through some of the book and comic tie-ins at the store, and checked out the website.
I keep wondering: Is G.I. Joe still an American? He used to be, back in the day. Maybe the movie will make clear that the 21st-century version is also a “real American hero,” as the tagline once put it. But this is far from obvious. The old logo was red, white, and blue. Now the dominant image is black. Nobody wears green Army uniforms. Instead, the good guys appear to put on silver-plated robocop armor. Joe and his friends look like celluloid heroes without a country.
Hollywood hasn’t totally given up on movies about martial courage. It just sets them in comic-book fantasy flicks, where questions of nationality and patriotism have little perch. Films about the Marines in Fallujah? Forget it, unless they’re raping women and shooting children. The concept of military courage isn’t dead, but its brightest displays are in movies such as 300, whose ancient setting is about as distant from our own world as possible.
Perhaps Hollywood thinks a moratorium on American patriotism is necessary in order to attract an international audience. But it would be nice if the studios and producers thought they might play a role in the public diplomacy of creating goodwill abroad. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra looks like a load of fun. It may also be another missed opportunity.
UPDATE: The movie doesn’t come out this Friday, but next Friday–i.e., August 7. Mea culpa.