The Cormac McCarthy Apology Society
Posted by TFG on January 30th, 2008
I don my mantle once more and wade in over at Dick Stanley’s joint. Dick has the best of me since he’s got the article in question, while I’m kind of dancing in the dark, but at the end of the day, I don’t think it’s fair to use some kind of vet stereotype, perputated lo these many years by Hollywood, as an argument against McCarthy’s book or the film that flows from it. It’s a singularly useless prism to deploy, in this case, in my opinion.
January 30th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
You might be right. But if you were a Vietnam combat veteran, like I am, you might see it differently. The stereotype has been aggravating for three decades now. I think it was the Kojak show back in the 80s where when there was a particularly gruesome murder in the storyline, Kojak’s first remark was something like, “OK, let’s round up all the Vietnam vets for questioning.” If I had the movie article, I’d link to it. The reviewer, Marc Leepson, is a longtime arts critic for VVA magazine, and a combat vet who has suffered under this stuff for years, as well as his primary audience, and so he’s sensitive to it. As I am. Perhaps too sensitive to it, I’ll grant you.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
And I’m not a veteran of any form, so I’m exceedingly uncomfortable even making a comment, period, since that is the acknowledged hook. As the founder and president of the CMAS, though, I had to say something.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Always fun to chat with you, Scott.