Ever since is was announced that there was going to be a live action G.I. Joe movie, there has been a lot of discussion running rampant over the web about who the villains will be (for a while there it was rumored that COBRA would NOT be the bad guys… but that has thankfully since been refuted), then the bad news (in my opinion anyway) that Mummy and Van Helsing director Stephen Sommers would be directing it… all the way down to my assertion that G.I. Joe won’t please anyone when it comes out cause a lot of people are looking for a hard core war action film… and I’m sorry… but with the Toy Company wanting kids to see this sucker… it won’t rate any worse than a PG-13.
But now there is new controversy afoot. G.I. Joe… whose tag line has been “A Real American Hero”, reportedly, will not be an “American” organization in the upcoming movie. Rather, it will be a multi-national organization from countries (including America) banding together to fight the terrorist organization of COBRA.
Fox News (I have to laugh when ever I say those two words together) report OUTRAGE! over this turn of events. They say this:
Paramount has confirmed that in the movie, the name G.I. Joe will become an acronym for “Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity” — an international, coed task force charged with defeating bad guys. It will no longer stand for government issued, as in issued by the American government.
The word is that in the current political climate, they’re afraid that a heroic U.S. soldier won’t fly. Joe’s transformation, however, isn’t sitting well with diehard fans and military types. “I find it outrageous that they’d want to drop everything American” from the character, said conservative blogger Warner Todd Huston, who wrote about the rumors this week on Newsbusters.org and his own blog. “That’s nuts.”
The article goes on and on about how this is a slap in the face to America yadda yadda yadda typical Fox rhetoric. But the plain obvious fact of the matter is making Joe a multinational team makes PERFECT sense… and for several reasons, no one should be getting their panties in a twist over this:
1) Even in the 80’s cartoon the team was not made up of just Americans
2) In 2007 it is BETTER for the American image to show them working together with others, instead of portraying themselves as the world police.
3) No doubt the team will still be LEAD by an American (Duke)
4) Terrorism today is not an American problem… it is a world problem… and the US isn’t the only country doing its best to fight it (some would argue they are… some would argue they’re causing it… both extremes are wrong)
5) A multi-national force is also a more accurate reflection of how the US and other countries fight global terror (It’s not the the US that has troops in Afghanistan and Iraq you know).
6) I’d hate to break this to you kiddies…. but G.I. Joe isn’t real. Some people are bitching and belly aching as if G.I. Joe is an actual branch of the US Military, and somehow by portraying them as anything but purely american is a slap in the face to the US forces. These same people still probably believe in the easter bunny.
7) A multi-national team gives far more flexibility, diversity and scope to the movie… thus making it a potentially better film… and broaden it’s appeal to non-american audiences.
8) An American lead Multi National heroic G.I. Joe team reflects well on America.
So can everyone just calm down, take a deep breath and unhook the heroin machine for a minute? A G.I. Joe movie is MUCH better served being a multi-national team… and I submit to you that a multi-national G.I. Joe team is also a better reflection on the US.
But really at the end of the day… who cares? All American or Multi-National… this movie is still probably going to suck.
