13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

                                                      

Directed by Michael Bay, 13 hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, is based off a book which was then based off the true conflicts in Benghazi. 

SPOILER WARNING! 

             The movie starts with introducing the setting, "The opening text states that there were over 200 American outposts in Libya until 2012. Following the 2011 civil war, the deposition and execution of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Benghazi became one of the most violent places in the world, forcing the United States to pull their outposts out of there, all except for one called The Annex, which is protected by a team of CIA contractors, the Global Response Staff (G.R.S.)." 

                       (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4172430/synopsis?ref_=ttpl_pl_syn)

Focusing on a team of 6 soldiers placed in this highly dangerous part of the world, it allows for the audience to grow to care about the dynamic between these men. It even highlights each of the men calling home, by doing this, it creates a sense of sympathy from the viewer to the character. However, in showing this brutality towards characters the audience cares for, does this mean it is an anti-war film or rather a glorification of brutality with the US coming out strong at the end?

  

  

The movie introduces the dynamic and set up of the situation at hand, then it moves to present a new security issue. A US ambassador comes to Libya to speak, and his compound needs to be protected. The security detail at hand for the ambassador is presented as a bunch of "newbies" and when the team of 6 goes to check it out they immediately find it lacking The "newbies" ignore the team's warnings about the lack of protection and the audience can then predict from this point that this is where the main issue will happen. 

It ends up with the ambassador's compound being brutally attacked, with the main team of 6 fighting the restrictions placed on them to go assist as time runs out for the ambassador and his protection team. After the team finally goes over and salvages what they can, the fight moves to their own top secret compound. Scenes of countless attacks and counter attacks later, the team makes it out alive but not unharmed. The movie ends with a sense of the US prevailing over all and coming out from the battle strong. However, due to the fact that this is a war movie it does not end completely "happily ever after", but rather it also shows the loss of life and destroyed mental states of the people involved. 

After I personally watched the movie, walking out of theater my mind was reeling with emotion but also with the thought that, "wow this was based off true events." That, I believe, is the power of the movie, the fact that it had a lasting image in my mind even now weeks after I've seen it. 

Besides this, looking at the movie from an analytical standpoint, it does present the middle east as the enemy without giving much info about the true conflict of their country and the issues at hand for the civilians there. However, what I found intriguing in what they DID show, was that there were civilians going about their daily lives watching television while the brutality happens around them and they seem completely desensitized to any of it. That itself was powerful to us, the audience, because we were all shocked and disturbed by the violence. Then we were shocked to see how normalized violence is there that the civilians are unaffected by it. It causes the audience to compare that lifestyle to their own, which I did.  

Overall, the movie did a good job of providing that patriotic spirit while showing the troubles of another country. However, I do not find that the violence shown in 13 Hours is a well enough deterrent towards violence in general, but rather it shows that US violent force is necessary although there are repercussions. This is more understandable because the movie was meant as entertainment rather than a documentary of what truly occurred on a factual basis. Moving on towards future outlooks on entertainment, a viewer should keep in mind the medium, genre, and the emotions that come from it. Thinking about how entertainment affects you makes you more alert to how your mind is being controlled by the media. 

Violence presented in the media has an everlasting control on the mind of the subject viewing it, whether it's presented as negative or positive is where the issue comes to play.
13 hours presents violence from the US as necessary, while violence from the people of Libya is negative.

It's all about the presentation of the facts. 

Hour of Torture

  

The clock is ticking down, anxiety builds as the viewer roots for protagonist federal agent Jack Bauer to get the vital information needed to take out a nuclear threat and save millions of lives. “24” was a hit show on the Fox network with a plot aligned around Jack Bauer and the C.T.U (counter-terrorism unit). Each season is based on the 24 hours of one day, and each episode is one hour of action, drama, and political thriller.  The show covers Bauer fighting to neutralize threats such as; terrorist plots, presidential assassination, nuclear threats, sleeper cells, and much more that Bauer often reluctantly finds himself dealing with. A main tactic Bauer uses in neutralizing threats is torture, regardless of the risks in the show to his life or his job. He validates his use of torture by claiming the information to be crucial to the safety of civilian lives. The show's validation of torture creates a misconception in the minds of the audience about torture itself allowing for a more desensitized reaction.




Bauer’s use of torture is regarded as excessive 
even within the show, but due to the fact that it manages to be justified somehow in the plot, it allows both the characters and the viewers to “accept” it as a necessary evil. Some of the torture done in the show includes, bone breaking, electrocution, chemical injections, as well as various mental forms. As a personal fan of the show, I found the various forms of torture to be cringe worthy indeed, however with the clock ticking down on every episode, I also found myself pining for that crucial information as well. However, looking at the show from an objective standpoint, it completely desensitizes the audience to the true horrors of torture in many ways. 

Torture is presented as a necessary action in order to save lives and therefore is justified. Torture is also normalized through the fact that it occurs so frequently in each of the episodes that the audience grows used to this form of information gathering. Ultimately, torture is desensitized through both the justification and the increased occurrences. In addition, characters of the show often “recover” from torture immediately showing no mental duress. This lack of the real negative consequences of torture being presented in the show adds to the whole concept of torture being a necessity in information seeking by the government. The show even goes further and leaves the legal aspect behind when in one instance Bauer quits his job and leaves his associates in order to commit an illegal act of torture which was then validated by the show in his gain of crucial information. Leaving the legality of torture behind, “24” moves toward the morals of the situation, if hurting this one life could save millions, why not? 

Due to all these aspects of desensitizing and moralizing torture, I believe that, although entertaining, it creates a negative perception of torture. Viewers of the show are going to be more willing to accept the use of torture in information seeking by the government because they are falsely presented to true nature of it and the repercussions. This misconception is a detriment to the mindset of society however, “24” is not the only outlet that causes this. Violent video games, movies, and music all contribute to this mass desensitization in society today. However, this does not mean the children of the future are doomed to live in a violently corrupt world because this misconception can be remedied with education on the real life situations that involve these acts of violence.