Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Terrorist movies (II): ‘Fight Club’?

Responding to our recent discussion of the best movies ever about terrorism, Marine Lt. Col. William Seely, who has been there and done that, writes to suggest another movie that wouldn’t have occurred to me: You blogged the other day about terrorist movies, all of which are great films for teaching about terrorism, so I ...

armor for sara/flickr
armor for sara/flickr
armor for sara/flickr

Responding to our recent discussion of the best movies ever about terrorism, Marine Lt. Col. William Seely, who has been there and done that, writes to suggest another movie that wouldn't have occurred to me:

Responding to our recent discussion of the best movies ever about terrorism, Marine Lt. Col. William Seely, who has been there and done that, writes to suggest another movie that wouldn’t have occurred to me:

You blogged the other day about terrorist movies, all of which are great films for teaching about terrorism, so I thought I would throw one your way: "Fight Club" starring Edward Norton and Brad Pitt (1999)??At the time of its release — the plot was seen as an absurdity in terms of how or why social outcasts could form a group (a fight club) and eventually seek to usher "chaos" through terrorism in order to "reset" the existing social and economic system.  After 9/11,  and the numerous events throughout this past decade–nothing is off the shelf regarding terror plots, methods or procedures. ??I have used the film to teach my Marines about personal motivations, the idea of social outcasts and the consequences, group formation, control, and organization, group cohesion and asymmetric targeting. ??I invite you to watch (or re-watch) it through the lens of a terrorism analyst.? ?Warning — admittedly, the film is a little odd; has a point — the ending is great.  There’s no hiding that.  

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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