The Soldier-Celebrity in "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk"

This article examines Ben Fountain's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, critiquing support-the-troops rhetoric as a regulatory mechanism for veterans. Fountain considers the satirical apotheosis of support-the-troops rhetoric: the celebrity-soldier. Through the lens of celebrity studies, this piece argues that such rhetoric masks civilian anxieties about soldiers. By transforming them from "heroes" into "celebrities," the rhetoric meant to reintegrate veterans instead controls and displaces them, which can lead to a traumatic expulsion from the nation.