American Sniper/American Liar? The Story Behind the Most Successful War Movie of All Time

Soldier Memoirs: Why do so many have the same plot? (Interview with Dr. Deborah De Muijnck (University of Gießen))

This is the full interview with Dr. Deborah de Muijnck (University of Gießen), my first guest on this podcast. We talked about the typical structure of soldier memoirs, trauma and PTSD in combat, and how we shape our own life story with so-called "cultural models of narrative identity." If you want to learn more about Deborah's projects, you can follow her on Instagram (@deborahdemu) or on her website: www.uni-giessen.de/en/faculties/ggkgcsc/about-us/docs/research-profiles/team-profiles/demuijcnk 00:00 - 10:54: Introduction: How did Deborah find her research topic? 10:55 - 13:29: No female soldier memoirs? 13:30 - 16:39: The corpus for Deborah's project 16:40 - 23:57: The 5 models of soldier autobiographies 23:58 - 31:14: Why do they all follow the same structures? 31:15 - 40:50: The portrayal of the enemy and techniques to justify actions in combat 40:51 - 48:47: The portrayal of PTSD in books and films 48:48 - 54:29: Why one memoir wasn't included 54:30 - 59:56: Which model is the most interesting? 59:57 - 01:08:50: Deborah's book and her next projects 01:08:51 - 01:11:48: Mental health in academia & outro

American Sniper/American Liar? The Story Behind the Most Successful War Movie of All Time

American Sniper (2014) made half a billion dollars at the box office - more than all the other films about the War on Terror that came before combined. But the story this film is based upon paints a quite different picture of Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in American history. How did a film turn a controversial person into the ideal war hero? And how do we critically reflect on the genre of soldier autobiographies as a whole? A special thank you to Dr. Deborah de Muijnck (University of Gießen), who was my first ever guest on this new podcast. If you want to learn more about Deborah's projects, you can follow her on Instagram (@deborahdemu) or on her website: www.uni-giessen.de/en/faculties/ggkgcsc/about-us/docs/research-profiles/team-profiles/demuijcnk 00:00 - 04:05: Intro 04:06 - 09:24: Religion and Othering 09:25 - 13:14: How do soldiers justify their actions in war? 13:15 - 17:27: The lie about weapons of mass destruction - can we actually believe soldiers' memoirs? 17:28 - 18:55: After Iraq: Chris Kyle becomes a celebrity and dies a tragic death 18:56 - 22:56: The typical structure of soldier memoirs 22:57 - 26:27: The structure of American Sniper - the autobiography 26:28 - 33:27: Why do soldier memoirs follow the same structures? 33:28 - 35:53: American Sniper - a controversial bestseller 35:53 - 39:29: Book vs film: two very different Chris Kyles 39:30 - 42:30: Conclusion: How American Sniper influences our memory of the Iraq War