VIDEO comparison to The Sniper

                       Black Hawk Down Video Clip

Out of all three texts that I’ve used to show tragedy and dehumanization in war, the video displays tragedies of war and the dehumanization involved in war most strongly. This is because with the video, there is clear and strong evidence of tragedies of war. This is basically shown throughout the entire video clip, but most importantly dehumanization is shown in a dramatic fashion. In this video clip of the movie “Black Hawk Down”, there is a battle between US Army and Somalian Guerrillas. This battle is generally tragic in the sense that it kills both US and Somalians. Also you can see how many others are affected by this conflict. Civilians and the soldiers themselves suffer through the destruction that the gun battles bring forth. I believe that the stronger theme that is played in this video is dehumanization. In one part of the clip, two US soldiers are in a helicopter and 50 or 60 Somalians surround them and start shooting at the two soldiers. Even after the soldiers die, they all rip the clothes of the soldiers and throw rocks at the dead bodies. This shows how atrocious people can be in war, and how they dehumanize their enemies. The Guerillas mortify the US soldiers into inhuman creatures. This way they can kill and get revenge on the soldiers without feeling any guilt upon doing so. It is similar to the theme in “The Sniper”. In the story it also gives us a message that war is tragic and can be dehumanizing. There are also some differences in the themes. In the story there is also a theme of brother fighting against brother. This is not seen in the video unless, you comprehend that the US soldiers and the Somalians are supposed to be brothers. This isn’t the strongest them in this video but can be considered a theme if that is the way you think of it. After watching this video, I take in how extreme the dehumanizing involved in war can be. The part where rocks are thrown at the dead soldiers shows how people in war think of their enemies as “things” that deserve no respect and should be killed at all costs. In conclusion I believe that the theme of “The Sniper” and the theme from the video clip have a similar theme, and is shown very strongly in the video.