Reality Is Unrealistic. Journalist Report as a Source of Narrative about War in HBO’s Miniseries “Generation Kill” Cover Image

Reality is unrealistic. Dziennikarska relacja jako źródło narracji o wojnie w miniserialu HBO „Generation Kill”
Reality Is Unrealistic. Journalist Report as a Source of Narrative about War in HBO’s Miniseries “Generation Kill”

Author(s): Paweł Płaneta
Subject(s): Politics, Media studies, Military history, Theory of Communication, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010)
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: mediatization; war; journalist report; documentary; TV fiction;

Summary/Abstract: The popular HBO mini- series “Generation Kill” is a successful attempt to develop a new formula of narrative fiction founded on the journalistic report – a hybrid, quasi- documentary narrative based on “explanatory” as well as “participatory” modes. The radically realistic audiovisual representation of the events was thus constructed. The creators of the series – deriving from the reportage of Evan Wright – raised important social issues. We are dealing with an interesting perspective on the generation of “disposable children”, young Americans shaped by the global pop culture; young marines operating in Iraq of 2003 are ‘elite killers’, ‘devil dogs’ of the USA, disillusioned to the world of politics and war. The series also shows the chaos of war, during which even the most powerful military machine in the world, the US military – in some cases – fails. Despite its critical sound, the series does not impress of didactic moralizing tone. Both HBO and Wright’s book are characterized by a complete lack of political correctness, which gives way to realism of the characters and events.

  • Issue Year: 2016
  • Issue No: 1 (225)
  • Page Range: 135 - 149
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish