13 Hours of Unintended Consequences
Originally published in January 2016. Movie seen at Teaneck Cinemas in Hackensack, NJ.
13 HOURS OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
After visiting an old friend buried in Hackensack, NJ, I decided to take in a matinee at Teaneck Cinemas: 13 Hours. It's very clear that Michael Bay will have a handful of unintended consequences once this film lodges itself into Hollywood history. The Left will complain that it perpetuates conspiracy theories and promotes propaganda, while the Right will criticize that it does not go far enough.
Michael Bay has already stated that the movie is apolitical. Unfortunately for Mr. Bay, all art is political, whether the artist intends it to be or not.
Oscar Wilde noted in his preface to the Picture of Dorian Gray that all art is "useless" if the artist intends on using art for an agenda. Art's purpose for Wilde is for art's sake.
Mythology, which most people don't really understand, is another art form that will shed light on 13 Hours. Most people believe mythology is nothing more than fake stories, due to the Scientific Revolution's overuse of the dichotomy of myth vs. fact. In actuality, mythology is nothing more than a culture's reflection on universal mysteries, including cultural values.
Oftentimes, cultures must create legends and myths in order to understand their own history and identity. For example, in the infamous picture of the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere stretched the truth about the event in order to rally the colonies behind the cause of Independence by creating a villain of British soldiers who really were not fully at fault. Texans have created legends around the Alamo and its heroes like Davy Crockett and Sam Houston in order to remember and understand themselves as Texans separate from both Mexico and the United States. Shakespeare did all of this in his history plays, usurping history in order to satirize or rally English society.
In Tim O'Brien's essay "How to Tell a True War Story" from his collection The Things They Carried, he notes the importance of the use of fiction--the imaginary, not the fake or false stories--to bring the truth to light when the truth is inefficient enough for the truth. To explain this, let's briefly look at high school math: real vs. imaginary numbers. If you remember that unit, real numbers exist on the real plane while imaginary numbers exist (yes, they exist) on the imaginary plane. We don't call them fake numbers--we call them imaginary numbers. And the use of the imaginary is important not only in math, but in storytelling, especially nonfiction storytelling. When we look at the Iliad and the Odyssey, the historical and the mythological converge in order to bring into focus the meanings of being Italian and Greek, respectively. Truth is in the telling, just like it is in telling stories (real and imaginary) or telling history--both in historical accuracy as well as literary/emotional truths.
Movies mythologize history through the story. One can criticize this by calling it lying, perpetuating conspiracy theories, or complaining that the whole is not being told. But when art is done right, when mythology is done right, it is the story that is used as a vehicle, and the purpose falls upon itself to simply tell the story.
The Right and Left can argue over the details, but a true storyteller tries to be as accurate as possible. Based on Michael Bay's previous works like Transformers, Pearl Harbor, and Armageddon, it is very clear that Michael Bay adheres to a discipline of accuracy in his storytelling. We must also understand that as an American that the story will be different if it had been told from the point of view of a Libyan national or even an Islamic terrorist.
All in all, the story told in 13 Hours surely will have unintended consequences if Michael Bay truly was seeking an apolitical story. Assuming all the details are true, as Michael Bay's discipline to accuracy would attest, the Obama administration, represented by the Chief (David Constable), is not portrayed as particularly heroic and in fact is depicted as downright incompetent. And while Hillary's name is never mentioned, her absence could be metaphorically symbolic depending on the audience.
In the end, 13 Hours leaves more questions than answers. Why was Chris Stevens even in Benghazi during the 11th anniversary of 9/11? Why did the state departing have radio silence when it was well aware of the attack? Where did the story of the protest over a video originate? And while it showed HOW four Americans died, it never answered WHY they died.
Whatever your political persuasion, this story should make you wonder these questions, and how ever you feel about two key actors that never appear in the movie--Obama and Hillary--it leaves you begging for answers from them.
~Michael DeNobile
13 HOURS OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Michael Bay has already stated that the movie is apolitical. Unfortunately for Mr. Bay, all art is political, whether the artist intends it to be or not.
Oscar Wilde noted in his preface to the Picture of Dorian Gray that all art is "useless" if the artist intends on using art for an agenda. Art's purpose for Wilde is for art's sake.
Mythology, which most people don't really understand, is another art form that will shed light on 13 Hours. Most people believe mythology is nothing more than fake stories, due to the Scientific Revolution's overuse of the dichotomy of myth vs. fact. In actuality, mythology is nothing more than a culture's reflection on universal mysteries, including cultural values.
Oftentimes, cultures must create legends and myths in order to understand their own history and identity. For example, in the infamous picture of the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere stretched the truth about the event in order to rally the colonies behind the cause of Independence by creating a villain of British soldiers who really were not fully at fault. Texans have created legends around the Alamo and its heroes like Davy Crockett and Sam Houston in order to remember and understand themselves as Texans separate from both Mexico and the United States. Shakespeare did all of this in his history plays, usurping history in order to satirize or rally English society.
In Tim O'Brien's essay "How to Tell a True War Story" from his collection The Things They Carried, he notes the importance of the use of fiction--the imaginary, not the fake or false stories--to bring the truth to light when the truth is inefficient enough for the truth. To explain this, let's briefly look at high school math: real vs. imaginary numbers. If you remember that unit, real numbers exist on the real plane while imaginary numbers exist (yes, they exist) on the imaginary plane. We don't call them fake numbers--we call them imaginary numbers. And the use of the imaginary is important not only in math, but in storytelling, especially nonfiction storytelling. When we look at the Iliad and the Odyssey, the historical and the mythological converge in order to bring into focus the meanings of being Italian and Greek, respectively. Truth is in the telling, just like it is in telling stories (real and imaginary) or telling history--both in historical accuracy as well as literary/emotional truths.
Movies mythologize history through the story. One can criticize this by calling it lying, perpetuating conspiracy theories, or complaining that the whole is not being told. But when art is done right, when mythology is done right, it is the story that is used as a vehicle, and the purpose falls upon itself to simply tell the story.
The Right and Left can argue over the details, but a true storyteller tries to be as accurate as possible. Based on Michael Bay's previous works like Transformers, Pearl Harbor, and Armageddon, it is very clear that Michael Bay adheres to a discipline of accuracy in his storytelling. We must also understand that as an American that the story will be different if it had been told from the point of view of a Libyan national or even an Islamic terrorist.
All in all, the story told in 13 Hours surely will have unintended consequences if Michael Bay truly was seeking an apolitical story. Assuming all the details are true, as Michael Bay's discipline to accuracy would attest, the Obama administration, represented by the Chief (David Constable), is not portrayed as particularly heroic and in fact is depicted as downright incompetent. And while Hillary's name is never mentioned, her absence could be metaphorically symbolic depending on the audience.
In the end, 13 Hours leaves more questions than answers. Why was Chris Stevens even in Benghazi during the 11th anniversary of 9/11? Why did the state departing have radio silence when it was well aware of the attack? Where did the story of the protest over a video originate? And while it showed HOW four Americans died, it never answered WHY they died.
Whatever your political persuasion, this story should make you wonder these questions, and how ever you feel about two key actors that never appear in the movie--Obama and Hillary--it leaves you begging for answers from them.
~Michael DeNobile
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