This post is dedicated to my brother, LTC Floyd R. Harris, United States Army (retired – sort of)
If you have been a life long devotee of science fiction like The Pink Flamingo, you may be familiar with patterns within the genre. One of the mos fascinating insights into American society can be observed by watching the way the American military, soldiers, and former soldiers are treated. The same can be said of the movie/television genre in general, but science fiction is usually ahead of the trend.
At the end of World War II the American Soldier was the hero. He was Apple Pie, Jiltin’ Joe, and John Wayne all thrown into one great big hot dog with a flag and a fire-cracker for garnish. He could do no wrong. This same soldier protected us during the Cold War from the invasion of numerous alien hordes. By the mid-1960s things were taking a more sinister turn. Anti-war paranoia was in full spring. The American Soldier was now evil personified. He was a psychopathic baby killer, an object of paranoia and scorn, Rambo on a rampage.
The only point of light in this grim hatred of the American Soldier was the swaggering, macho, heroic James T. Kirk, who personified every great myth of American legend.
Warping into the 1970s when films were a nightmare from hell, one memorable portrayal of the military was George Peppard’s cardboard stiff character in Damnation Alley. We blew ourselves into evolutionary oblivion with the Planet of the Apes series. Then George Lucus and Steven Spielberg single handedly saved the movies. But, the Force was not with the military, and the Empire was evil.
Glen Larson, who helped produce Star Trek Classic, wasn’t finished with the image of the American Soldier. Ronald Reagan was elected POTUS and a month later Thomas Sullivan Magnum single handedly began reforming the image of the former baby-killing Vietnam Vets. (sigh). Tom Selleck’s Republican leanings, Glen Larson, and Donald P. Bellisario began to reform the vile image of the American Soldier. Magnum, P. I. was a reflection of Ronald Reagan’s Republican spirit.
Donald P. Bellisario continues his positive treatment of the American Soldier.
Jean Luc Picard’s diplomat-soldier was not James T. Kirk. Compared to Kirk, Picard was a Metrosexual opting for the nuances of diplomacy rather than a swift punch to the jaw. It was the perfect show for the Clinton Era, going off air in 1994.
Babylon 5 debuted in 1993. Arguably one of the finest, most cerebral science fiction series ever created for television, the American Soldier was good, bad, ugly, bad, and then through redeemed through Bruce Boxleiner’s heroic character.
In 1994 Roland Emmerich brought us Stargate and Col. Jack O’Neil, who was basically just another version of James T. Kirk. Two years later Emmerich’s Independence Day with the President of the US as a swaggering Gulf War fighter jock and Will Smith as a swaggering fighter jock who save the day alongside an derelict former Vietnam War fighter jock who redeems himself in the end. American Soldiers were suddenly heroic again.
Stargate-SG-1 ruled the television science fiction universe for 10 years beginning in 1997. Jack O’Neil’s world weary, grieving father from the film gave way to a swaggering, macho, heroic James T. Kirk clone. The only difference is O’Neil’s character seems perfectly at home being a three star general. 
Stargate went a long way in re-establishing the American Soldier as a multi-dimensional heroic figure. Which is currently being reflected in the weekly “new” movies on the Science Fiction Channel, be them ever so cheesy, they do tell a tale.
It is almost as if we have come full circle. This past year, indeed this past season, those cheesy sci fi movies that are really rather bad, seem to have more than their full share of American Soldiers.
If what I am seeing in the “new” version of the American Soldier is in keeping with science fiction as harbinger of things to come, the liberals are going to be very disappointed with our world. The American Soldier as seen on NBC’s Sci Fi Channel is a cross between John Wayne, Thomas Magnum, James T. Kirk, and Jack O’Neil. He has the brains of Mr. Spock, the engineering genius of Scotty, and the resourcefulness of MacGyver with just enough James Bond thrown in to make things interesting.
Science fiction seems to be portraying the American Soldier as someone slightly below Superman. If this is the case, we are in for some absolutely fascinating times. If what I am seeing holds true, Barack Obama is in for some very serious trouble, culturally.
It should give one cause to be a bit optomistic about the future of the United States. With heroes like these, coming home to be recognized as such, there is no end as to what they can accomplish.
For this, I think we have one person to thank.
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