A week ago, the Pentagon issued a statement decrying the new Netflix series “Boots” as ‘woke garbage’.
That has proven to be one hell of a ringing endorsement for the series, which subsequently shot up the charts and has landed in the No. 2 position this past week.
The military-themed comedy-drama, the final TV series of late sitcom legend Norman Lear, is based on Greg Cope White’s memoir “The Pink Marine” and follows a closeted gay teen U.S. Marine Corps recruit in the 1990s.
Speaking with Vanity Fair, series creator Andy Parker expressed his gratitude to the Department of Defense, saying: “I guess we have to give some credit to the Pentagon there, don’t we?”.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson bashed the show in a statement last week, saying the Trump administration is all about “restoring the warrior ethos” to the U.S. military and that “we will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix whose leadership consistently produces and feeds woke garbage to their audience and children.”
The outrage seemed wildly out of place as the series, which has received quite good reviews overall, has been criticised for being too upbeat, sentimental, apolitical and being overly generous in its attitude towards the military.
Parker tells the outlet the series isn’t a “queer fantasia of sexcapade and homoerotic fantasy” nor is it a “polemical screed against the military – this really scathing takedown”. He explains the goal for the series and says he’d be surprised if Wilson had actually seen it:
“I certainly never set out to make anything that was propaganda and I really reject the idea that it is. The fact that we seem to be situated between these two different sides is evidence of how the show wants to approach these really thorny, interesting questions. [Boots] is trying to navigate this in a nuanced way that isn’t so overtly strident in its attacks or in its politics. I think it’s after something more subtle.
I would be very surprised if the Pentagon actually watched the show. The premise itself instigates or incites some kind of reaction or assumptions. What I would invite people to do is to watch the show, and see how they feel about the questions the show is trying to provoke. [This is] more about the human experience of what it feels like for these guys in this particular time and place to go through this experience.”
“Boots” is available worldwide on Netflix.
