Watching Aliens, the part where they all wake up from cryo together and all the ritualized griping is absolutely masking this...
Watching Aliens, the part where they all wake up from cryo together and all the ritualized griping is absolutely masking this ‘Nam vet “we’re only good for war” cameraderie, the whole Soldier of Fortune vibe, I only just get that
Of the franchises that reacted to Reagan, Rambo: First Blood II was “what if we refought ‘Nam but seriously and won”, Aliens was “what if we refought ‘Nam with all our new toys and still lost”
what if we treated Vietnamese people as alien horrors with whom we could never communicate and whose motivations make them utterly incompatible with civilized human existence because god knows that would help us make prudent decisions that would lead to favourable outcomes.
Aliens was like “what if that lapse in our natural dominion presaged our ultimate limits, and was not just a fluke of inattention and amateurism” which is exactly what Reagan invaded Grenada to disprove