Representations of the Iraq War in American Sniper

This study investigates portrayals of the Iraq war in American Sniper. The war film encapsulates Hollywood’s sensationalist rhetoric following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In an effort to prime public opinion for armed intervention, and lay the groundwork for policies that were bound to encroach upon civil liberties, Hollywood sought to foster the perception of Muslims as benighted, unruly savages, and promote a narrative that obfuscates the boundaries between patriotism and support for military action. Like many films of its ilk, American Sniper echoes a discourse that conflates mainstream Muslims with radical extremists, and decries Americans who call into question the moral legitimacy of the unprecedented measures the Bush Administration introduced in the wake of 9/11. This article draws upon the premise that when the United States emerged as a dominant superpower in the aftermath of World War II, supplanting the once mighty and far-flung French and British empires, a diverse cohort of novelists, journalists and anthropologists sought to resurrect essentialist tropes and perpetuate reductive clichés about Muslims. The film American Sniper is replete with familiar misconceptions and derogatory stereotypes, which aim to instill fear, sow distrust and lend credence to a deeprooted discursive tradition that has for long presented the Other through a warped lens.