“Webster’s defines strong as having great physical power, as having moral or intellectual power, as striking or superior of its kind. But with all due respect to Webster, there’s strong, and then there’s Army strong.”
This quote is taken from this Army recruiting ad that has been seen on TV and online…
However, the character Jones from the play entitled The Ghosts May Laugh, has quite the opposite opinion…
“A lie, the lie! A lie we have been told ever since we were born. A lie we were told in school, in church, by our parents, by the newspapers. All day, every day…That even if you die here there will be something afterwards. But that’s not true. It’s just what your all hiding behind. You see there’s nothing special about us. Nothing that makes us better than the animals around us…”
Clearly, according to Jones, there’s strong, and that’s it.
The Army recruiting ad is one of the most powerful ads out there. It makes almost any normal person feeling small, insignificant, cowardly, or even ill equipped for life. The commercial is provides a plethora of images showing off the newest technology the Army has to kill its enemies, shows the soldiers using it, and how important and strong they are. The technology looks so perfect, new, and tempting. Altogether, it’s an exhausting two and a half minutes. Jones would arguably disagree with the entire commercial, especially with the technology shown.
“…we use that slight gain in understanding and awareness to think up new ways to kill each other, or to order other people to kill because we’ve all bought the lie that there is something we can go to after all of this – because we’re special, we’re chosen.”
Both the Army and Marines have a strong hold on the media as a means of recruitment. They use this as a median to convince people, usually kids coming in to their own, that they are insignificant and there’s only one way to become a real person: To Be Army Strong.
The Ghosts May Laugh – Stuart D. Lee via Secondary Worlds
I definitely think that the Army recruiting ad can be misleading. I would have to say that the message could make someone feel empowered or weak depending on the person. I think that the ad portrays Army soldiers as being above the rest and invincible. Obviously we know that that is not true but it’s a good thing to portray when trying to recruit. The ad leaves out many aspects of the military that are less appealing to the public. I would have to disagree though; I don’t believe that the ad is saying that you are insignificant if you are not “Army Strong.” I think it’s more to inspire and intrigue people to join. In the play “The Ghosts May Laugh” we definitely see a different side of the Army life. We see war, PTSD, death; many of the things that they Army wouldn’t care to discuss when trying to get people to join. The play shows that no matter how strong you think you are, when you’re in war everyone is equal no matter how much strength they have. To be in the military you definitely have to have a lot of strengths such as physical and emotional strength to deal with being in a war zone. The Army is going to try and presents themselves in the most positive light because they want recruitment. It’s up to the individuals to decide if they feel the Army is right for them.
Comment by Krystal — October 24, 2009 @ 3:19 pm |
I actually compared the Army recruiting ad and the passage from The Ghosts May Laugh for our ENG 384 midterm. I like the quote about how we as human beings use this slight gain in understanding and awareness to think of new ways to kill each other. I agree that the Army is quite misleading in their efforts to gain recruits. They show clips of helicopters, tanks, and other technoligical creations. I too think that these are quite magnificent and then I thought of that quote in The Ghosts May Laugh. I then think to myself what is the basic purpose of these things? I realize that all these things really are designed to do is to kill. Someone joining the Army would not necessarily think about this. They would just think how “cool” they look. Jones would just say they are just another way to kill another human being. Its a good point that there are many things the Army does not discuss and why would they? They only want to talk about the good things the Army can offer them. If they showed clips of dead bodies lying on the ground after a bomb went off I don’t think that would appeal to many recruits.
Comment by joshpoel — October 27, 2009 @ 5:00 pm |
These two pieces are actually what I wrote my midterm paper on. The more I started writing, the more differences appeared. It is interesting to see how the mediums have dissimilar effects on the viewer and the reader. In the ad, its like all Americans today believe that the soldiers fighting for them are best thing on God’s earth, no matter what. And if you don’t agree with that, it somehow makes you an untrue American. It gives this aura off because it can use that imagery and music. But when we can only read Jones’ words on paper, the impact of his message doesn’t hit us until he’s finishing up what he’s saying. Plus to grasp Jones’ message, you have to have half a brain. There is obviously a lot more complexity to it than the superior-complex images the ad feeds on national TV. I think it rather ridiculous that to recruit, the US Army makes a commercial to make the soldiers look strong, smart, and able at all times. A lot of Americans live ‘the lie’, when it comes to political realms, war issues, and international relations.
Comment by smbae — October 27, 2009 @ 6:10 pm |
I see the Army recruiting ad as way of using the media to reach your target audience. Of course they are going to polish their image to make it seem as appealing as possible. During WWII we used recruitment posters to get across the message to sign up for military service. Now granted they also had the draft enacted as well but recruitment posters were a huge part of the war effort. How are the ad’s of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps any different then ad’s used to recruit the same demographic to a prospective University? You are going to point out your College’s or branch of services best qualities in order to attract the right individual. What a lot of people don’t take into consideration is that America’s armed forces is a strictly volunteer service. We no longer have the draft, we are not obligated to serve. If the branch’s of service need to use media such as this to meet their requirement’s, I am all for it. I don’t think anybody would like to see the draft brought back because of the inability to sustain an all volunteer military.
Comment by pitschwm — October 29, 2009 @ 2:39 pm |
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