Snafu; a wasted character
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jd-276 — 12 years ago(October 30, 2013 08:44 PM)
Have ordered it from Amazon but have not received it yet.
In movie or television terms, I would have thought that the context of the book would not be necessary and it should be able to stand on its own.
I get it that Snafu is a bit of a "different" character. Obviously Sledge was close to him, for any number of good reasons and one of those reasons
might
be that Snafu cares enough for Sledge that he doesn't want his friend to become like him. The scene where Snafu is throwing pebbles into the skull of a dead Japanese machine gunner is the best illustration of this. Sledge decides to extract some gold teeth and Snafu tells him not to do it.
Not above it himself, this is not about hypocrisy but a concern for his friend that he will degenerate once he crosses that line.
This is why I subsequently added the line at the end of my first post, lest anyone think I'm trashing the real Merriel Shelton. War makes friend of the most unlikely of people because they depend for their lives on each other.
The problem I have with Snafu - and I may not have made this point very clearly - is the way he is played. His mannerisms and OTT drawl are indications of hamming rather than a badly drawn character. -
kdimmick — 12 years ago(November 02, 2013 11:38 PM)
The scene where Snafu is throwing pebbles into the skull of a dead Japanese machine gunner is the best illustration of this. Sledge decides to extract some gold teeth and Snafu tells him not to do it.
When you read the book you will see that in real life "SNAFU" was not actually involved in either of these two incidents. -
jd-276 — 12 years ago(November 03, 2013 01:27 AM)
Well, fair enough but I'm referring to the character in the series and why I think he was wasted.
I'm sure there were any number of ways in which the real Snafu endeared himself to Sledge. I just used those for illustrative purposes, as I'm sure the screenwriters did. -
chas437 — 12 years ago(November 12, 2013 09:18 AM)
His mannerisms and OTT drawl are indications of hamming rather than a badly drawn character.
I agree with this. The actor had the right look and mannerisms at times, but at other times, he got out of hand and becomes less than believable. The idea of the character is a good one.
The biggest problem I have with the Pacific is the casting of Sledge. I'm not suggesting that they needed a bold, colorful, over the top guy, the type who populate the cast of 'Band of Brothers'. Its just that Mazzello fails to communicate the intended nature of his character at so many moments in the series.
I'm a civilian, I'm not a trout -
jd-276 — 12 years ago(November 12, 2013 11:59 AM)
Interesting thoughts on Sledge.
What do you think the nature of his character was meant to be? I have not yet read the book but I saw him as being more introspective than most. I found both he and Leckie the most interesting characters.
As you say; the idea of the character of Snafu is good - a bit out of left field, a bit off-beat - but not well acted. -
chas437 — 12 years ago(November 12, 2013 12:24 PM)
I think Sledge is an introspective type, as you say. A reserved person with a strict traditional religious upbringing. He is a person of faith and duty.
This sounds sort of crazy, but I remember posters asking if he was gay or not. Obviously he wasn't in real life, but in the performance given by Mazzello, I can sort of see why people wonder. In the way the character acts around women, its possible to mistake a solemn introspective shyness, for homosexuality. I'm not making a judgment about that.
Perhaps portraying Sledge accurately was a difficult task. I don't think Mazzello was a good choice. The actor who played Leckie was great, as were most the performances.
I'm a civilian, I'm not a trout -
jd-276 — 12 years ago(November 12, 2013 06:14 PM)
This sounds sort of crazy, but I remember posters asking if he was gay or not. Obviously he wasn't in real life, but in the performance given by Mazzello, I can sort of see why people wonder.
You could probably find a similar question on almost
any
IMBD board!
That said, I think you have his character right; quietly and intensely religious, strong sense of duty and probably not one for hi-jinx. What I would say though is that I think a lot of audiences subconsciously expect stereotypical Marines: big guys exuding wholesale amounts of machismo. You and I know that, in real life, people are more varied than that. In wartime you will get a much wider range of people enlisting and they will not necessarily fit the "Marine from Central Casting" image. But that isn't the same as appearing gay. -
chas437 — 12 years ago(November 13, 2013 07:31 AM)
That was a pretty bizarre gripe I had, but I thought a few of the scenes were just a bit awkward. In the scene where they had returned to Pavuvu after weeks of hell on Peleliu, and the USO had nurses giving the soldiers pineapple juice, why did Sledge react the way he did? He was angry, but what is the source of this anger? I still don't really understand it.
There are similar scenes after he returns to Mobile.
I completely agree with what you say about stereotypical casting of Marines. I that sense, I liked most of the casting for this series. We don't get many of the ultra macho, colorful, over the top types. IMO, there are too many of those types in the cast of BoB.
There is one difference to consider though. The guys in the 101st Airborne had been training together for two years before the drop into Normandy, so perhaps they were a little older, and had developed stronger camaraderie. By contrast, most of the Marines who saw combat as early as the summer of 1942, had come directly from basic. There were probably more 17 and 18 year olds.
I'm a civilian, I'm not a trout -
jd-276 — 12 years ago(November 23, 2013 04:29 AM)
Pretty much agree with all of that, including the bit about Band of Brothers (I'm probably the only person here who didn't like that series all that much).
The USO nurses would have seemed so incongruous to Sledge that they probably touched a bit of a raw nerve. While I suppose it was a kindly gesture done in good faith, he's still got battle scenes in his head with people getting killed around him. I've never been in combat but if I try to put myself in his position, I lean towards the same sort of response. The setup just seems trite. How could any of those people be sympathetic when they don't really have any idea of what happened? -
mistamajestyk — 12 years ago(December 11, 2013 05:57 PM)
That's an interesting take on that scene. I reacted more to the part where the officer tells Sledge to move along, and Sledge gives him the icy, hard stare, as if to say, "I've just been through Hell on earth. I'm going to stand here and admire the pretty nurse as long as I want to."
It seemed like Sledge was taken aback by the surreal nature of the scene in front of him, after what he'd just experienced.
As far as Snafu is concerned, I felt that he definitely stood out more amongst the other Marines, but not necessarily because the actor's performance was hammy or overdone. His southern, New Orleans accent didn't bother me, and his awkward mannerisms and sociopathic nature were unsettling.
I suppose every war film has an actor portraying the "psycho soldier", but here he seemed like a good counterpart to Sledge's innocence.
"Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see." -
jd-276 — 12 years ago(December 15, 2013 02:42 AM)
I felt that he definitely stood out more amongst the other Marines, but not necessarily because the actor's performance was hammy or overdone. His southern, New Orleans accent didn't bother me, and his awkward mannerisms and sociopathic nature were unsettling.
I suppose every war film has an actor portraying the "psycho soldier", but here he seemed like a good counterpart to Sledge's innocence.
I figured a few would see him that way and that's fair enough. For what it's worth, I think that was the intention. I didn't have a problem with his accent but I think he over did it. For me it was hammy, as you put it and over done. By the end of the second last episode, I couldn't understand him any more.
But as you also said, his sociopathic nature was definitely unsettling. Unlike all the other marines, he didn't seem to be on edge in battle. Now, that may be an advantage or a disadvantage but it's certainly a pointer to a deep seated problem. -
mistamajestyk — 12 years ago(December 16, 2013 03:24 PM)
Absolutely.
I recently read Sledge's memoir, 'With the Old Breed', and it seems like the producers of The Pacific portrayed Snafu as an amalgamation of several Marines in his book. Sledge describes one man in particular, named Mac, who did some pretty disturbing things that wouldn't have even been possible to recreate in the show, in my opinion.
"Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see." -
jd-276 — 12 years ago(December 16, 2013 11:47 PM)
Yeah, I thought he was probably a mash up of several characters. It also doesn't surprise me that there were things people did which could not be translated into television.
The Snafu character is pretty important to the series because his problems are a subject which is almost never discussed. This is the sort of thing which separates
The Pacific
from so many other movies and series of the genre. It must have been hard to make that character work without offending the real man's family. I'm sure they knew what they meant.
Still haven't got around to reading my copy of Sledge's booktime has rather caught up with me these past few weeks. -
mistamajestyk — 12 years ago(December 17, 2013 04:05 PM)
Once I started reading it, I really couldn't put it down. Sledge's writing is really gripping, and as many people have mentioned, it is a memoir that can be read by a seasoned Marine or a civilian with no military experience, and can be understood equally.
"Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see." -
jd-276 — 12 years ago(December 18, 2013 05:27 PM)
I just read a description of Merriel Shelton as a small and excitable character who was always in some sort of trouble - hence the nickname "Snafu".
He is also described as argumentative and on occasions, almost incapable of speaking intelligible English.
Not what Rami Malek was playing at all, though the drawl has some reason behind it. -
joekinplaya — 12 years ago(April 04, 2014 12:18 PM)
I don't think it has anything to do with admiring pretty nurses. He wasn't admiring them so much as he was confused and irritated that they were there. Then, when the officer says "You've had your look-see, now move along" Sledge gives the officer the same look he gave the nurses.
SNAFU is a difficult character because there's multiple marines that were meant to portray through SNAFU. Shelton was more "real" in certain scenes but essentially, Sledge and Shelton became friends and the exhaustion of war or the memories kept them from talking to each other until Sledge published With the Old Breed decades later. -
partsman — 11 years ago(July 09, 2014 07:25 AM)
I don't think it has anything to do with admiring pretty nurses. He wasn't admiring them so much as he was confused and irritated that they were there. Then, when the officer says "You've had your look-see, now move along" Sledge gives the officer the same look he gave the nurses.
He wasn't admiring them in the way the lieutenant thought he was admiring them. I didn't take it as him being irritated by their presence. I took as him being stunned by their beauty in contrast to the things he a witnessed in battle. From the mud, death and decay of the battlefield to those nurses in their pure white uniforms. Then when he saw the blond he was swept away, almost in awe. The way he admired the flower in the final scene, and then spent the rest of his life studying the wonder and beauty of nature.
The lieutenant took at as just a horny Marine checking out the babes. The look Sledge gave him was not the same. That look was from a battle hardened killer to the clean cut, inexperienced young officer, like don't tread on me !@#hole. And the officer immediately backed down. -
johntex9 — 11 years ago(July 19, 2014 07:59 PM)
Exactly! It was the incongruity of the situation that rattled Sledge. To go from the hell of combat to having a pretty nurse serve lemonade was surreal. Remember that Sledge said "What the hell are they doing here? ". Then to have a REMF Lt. get wise with you was the last straw.
I thought that the guy who played Sledge was outstanding and deserved an Jemmy. -
lvrepoman — 10 years ago(December 17, 2015 05:50 PM)
No, he wasn't very likable, but he did develop and he added so much to the series, including an understanding of how men lost their humanity. The actor who played himRemy Mallick (sp?) was thoroughly deserving of an award. a great portrayal.
"He was running around like a rooster in a barnyard full of ducks."Pat Novak -
Hippo9 — 12 years ago(March 31, 2014 01:55 PM)
The character was miscast.
Rami Malek sounded like he was autistic or had Downes syndrome with his bad over the top southern accent.
They should have cast a real southerner instead of some guy from Los Angeles. He was just wrong for the role and it distracted from the film.