Movie Mom

Movie Mom

Doonesbury Honors Our Military and Veterans

posted by Nell Minow

toggle.jpegNo one in the mainstream media has done a better job of portraying the valor of our military and the challenges they face during and after their service than Garry Trudeau. His Doonesbury comic strips, especially those about the wounded veteran Toggle, show tremendous dedication and understanding. B.D., a football player who served in Vietnam, appeared in the very first strip, 40 years ago. He returned to combat in Iraq and was injured there. A one-dimensional character almost never seen without his football helmet became a fully-realized and sympathetic figure who had to find a way to deal with his feelings about the loss of his leg when his daughter was frightened by his withholding and anger. In a thoughtful interview in the current Rolling Stone, Trudeau talks about that story.

I literally blasted B.D. out of his life of settled complacency. Exposed to sudden, brutal loss, B.D. became vulnerable in a way that was unfamiliar and frightening to him. He had to change to survive, to rebuild his resilience and create a new normal for himself.

A Washington Post article by Gene Weingarten provides a rare glimpse into the visits the famously private Garry Trudeau makes to veterans hospitals and his other contacts with the people who serve in the military. Trudeau also established the Sandbox blog for military and their families to share their experiences.
if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget(’4219b29c-51c3-4695-b16d-c72c1fe3c75c’);Get the Doonesbury’s The Sandbox: Military Blog widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)



You Might Also Like...
Previous Posts

Disney Lets Merida Be Merida After All
Did the folks at Disney even watch "Brave?"  One of the great strengths of Pixar's first movie starring a female character (and its first originally written by a woman, Brenda Chapman, though she was replaced by a male director) was that its feisty heroine, Merida, looked like a real girl and not a

posted 8:00:52am May. 18, 2013 | read full post »

Want to Know What James Franco Thinks of "The Great Gatsby?"
I'm interested in James Franco's take on "The Great Gatsby" because of what this polymath who attended two grad schools at once has to say about the challenges of adapting great writing to the screen and the differing goals and audience expectations of a book now viewed as a classic and a movie. Th

posted 8:00:42am May. 17, 2013 | read full post »

Interview: Directors/Writer/Star of "Desperate Acts of Magic"
Magic is in the air.  And on the screen.  Two big-budget films with some of Hollywood's biggest stars playing magicians are being released within a few months of each other.  In March, we had the silly comedy The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, with Steve Carell and Jim Carrey.  Coming up is the en

posted 8:00:21am May. 17, 2013 | read full post »

Star Trek: Into Darkness
This time, there's crying in "Star Trek."  And some very significant time on Earth as well.  This story is in the most literal sense, close to home. Writer-director J.J. Abrams, who rebooted Gene Roddenberry's original "Star Trek" saga with a rousing 2009 origin story prequel now takes us clos

posted 9:36:25am May. 16, 2013 | read full post »

Interview: Candace Cameron Bure of "Finding Normal"
It was great to catch up with Candace Cameron Bure to hear about her new film, "Finding Normal," premiering this week on GMC-TV.  She plays a brilliant type-A surgeon who is completely focused on status and her career until she gets stuck in a small town and sees a different way of life. What i

posted 8:00:14am May. 16, 2013 | read full post »

Advertisement
Comments Post the First Comment »
post a comment

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.





Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.