Why does an effeminate homosexual join the United States Marine Corp? Once he’s exposed to bigotry and abuse, why does he stay? Will the experience make him strong or simply obedient? The USMC, founded in 1775, has participated in every U.S. war. Greg Cope White enlisted in 1979, underwent intense training, and then served for 6 years. He had to remain closeted as it was illegal for gay men to serve. Cope’s memoir, The Pink Marine, inspired the Netflix series Boots. The writers struggle to balance Cope’s love of the military with a critique of its policies.
The show features a likeable cast. Miles Heizer gives Cope compassion and an innocence that contrasts with his fellow recruits. Liam Oh finds the sweetness in Copes’ fair-weather childhood friend. Blake Burt and Brandon Tyler Moore bring layers to the roles of feuding siblings. Kieron Moore and Angus O’Brien give charm to a pair of bullies. Dominic Goodman, Jonathan Nieves and Rico Paris contrast methods of resistance as members targeted by racists. None of the actors pass as teens. Netflix couldn’t objectify them if they did. But they’re charismatic and they commit to the boot camp’s grueling physical training.
The drill instructors begin as cliches. Barking insults and slurs at the recruits to break their spirits. The show protests too much that these tyrants are good people outside the barracks. The most toxic member is dismissed as a bad apple, ignoring the underlying structures that encourage such abuse. There’s a queasy sense that the show is tacitly endorsing their behavior. Suggesting it’s the only way to train an army. It’s telling that the one female Captain (Ana Ayora) is portrayed as a gentle therapist for her angry male counterparts.
Max Parker shines as the primary antagonist, Sergeant Sullivan. He radiates menace and sex appeal. Sullivan immediately clocks Cope as a closet case. He grows determined to either scare the boy off or forge him into a killer. He isolates and humiliates him. Cope grows desperate for slivers of validation, becoming the sub to Sullivan’s dom. The toxic relationship lays bare ugly truths about the military mindset. As Sullivan’s past is revealed, he becomes the shows’ tragic, twisted heart.
Boots has many problems. It can feel like military propaganda. The story pulls its punches. Undercutting tragedy with a food fight or a poop joke. Yet it thoughtfully examines the ways young men are socialized. Heizer can’t sell his transformation into a battle-hardened cynic. Perhaps that’s the point. At the end of the day these are still boys. Most will soon be dead, for reasons they may never understand.
GLAAD reports that LGBTQ+ shows are being cancelled at an alarming rate. Bigots have railed against Boots for acknowledging queer Marines exist. These were reasons enough for me to watch, even though I may not remember it for long.
You can read more of my reviews on The Avocado, Letterboxd and Serializd. My podcast, Rainbow Colored Glasses, can be found here.