Comparative Essay
In the film Lone Survivor, by Peter Berg and in the Science Fiction book Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach both are two disparate work that explore the theme of motivation. Both can have different motivational context to the audience or reader. Both of these stories can be relatable. Lone Survivor is based on a war in another where liberty is jeopardized. In Ecotopia is based on some parts of the U.S becoming its own country.
In the film Lone Survivor is about an operation that had gone wrong. Marcus Luttrell who was on that operation was the only survivor. He was the medic and secondary sniper of the four-man team. The operation was called operation Red Wings. In Ecotopia a reporter named William Weston who traveled to collect information on Ecotopia. To try and witness with his own eyes what’s this country is all about. But he’s skeptical about things when he arrived and notices different things about his whereabouts.
William Weston had been really captivating of Ecotopia’s economy. Society of Ecotopia had not been working as much as other hard-working countries. According to the novel “Ecotopian’s adopted a 20-hour work week” (Callenbach 43.) This is impairing the country’s economy. The people are losing jobs. “There was a drop in Gross National Product in more than a third” (Callenbach 43.) The cause of this substandard event is the lack of hours of work, due to that there were no options but to distinguish. Soon society would live more in survival mode than a working environment.
Marcus Lutrell is a Navy Seal, who is now ex-navy seal due to his injuries on duty. The injuries that caused Marcus to retire was after Operation Red wing. There’s a saying or a ballad for frog men, and a piece of it went like this “Anything in life that is worth doing, it is worth overdoing moderation is cowards” (Petty Officer Shane Patton.) Marcus was the only survivor out of nineteen commandos that was on this operation. Operation Red Wing was an operation to capture a militia man. When the mission was a-go the plan was to drop a four-man team of seals into the mountains of Afghanistan. The four men were Marcus, Axe, Danny, and Mike. Their objective was to gather intel of the militant man. Then capture the militant man at night. The mission didn’t go too well because the team’s coms weren’t working too well in the mountains of Afghanistan. Coms are communications to base. This was taken place in 2005 where warfare technology wasn’t as advanced. The mission went sideways when the four-man team were confronted by sheep herders. They were two kids and one elderly man. The seals couldn’t detain them because they didn’t have any signs of weapons nor danger. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT that our U.S military follow. The Seals had let them go, after an hour or two the team was engaged by the militia in a fire fight. Or known as a gun fight.
Both of these film and novel are similar to each other because both are collecting information. William Weston was collecting information on Ecotopia and rectifying it on his own. Marcus Lutrell and his team were collecting information to stop the things that the militia leader and his militants were doing. Both are different in their own ways. But also, the same in one way. Both are in different countries possibly trying to make a difference. Although, different because William’s intentions were to only collect information.
Work Cited
Rich, Motoko. “Lone Survivor – Marcus Luttrell – Navy Seal.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Aug. 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/books/09seal.html.
“Lone Survivor.” Lone Survivor Quotes, www.quotes.net/movies/lone_survivor_131150.
“Ecotopia – Fiction by Ernest Callenbach.” Liberation Lit, 18 Nov. 2009, liblit.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/ecotopia-fiction-by-ernest-callenbach/.