MovieChat Forums > The Pacific (2010) Discussion > Snafu; a wasted character

Snafu; a wasted character

posted 11 years ago by jd-276
34 replies | jump to latest

I found Snafu intensely annoying. It's like he was permanently stoned. I suspect that the character is supposed to be so disturbed by war that he has become psychopathic in the way he handles people but the way he was played just got it all wrong.

By the end of the second last episode, the actor who played him had got so into the drawl I could no longer decipher what he was saying.

The trouble is that some people out there are going to think he's really cool when he's actually really sick. Had Rami Malek not got so into himself, Snafu would have been a real feature of the series. But I don't believe that people talked like that back then and Malek's acting style is all wrong for the period. Someone should have stepped on this early on. There was just too much swagger and that's likely to appeal to people for all the wrong reasons.

From what I can tell, Snafu is mad. He's been driven mad by the stress of battle. He's not cool. He's sadistic and immensely self-centred. I can see this could have worked if it had been handled correctly but it was one of the few failures of the series for me.

This is in no way intended to reflect on the real person.

[–] birdncookie 11 years ago

I think you missed the whole point, read "With the Old Breed"

[–] jd-276 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 book...time has rather caught up with me these past few weeks.

[–] mistamajestyk 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 10 years ago

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 10 years ago

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 9 years ago

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 him--Remy 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 11 years ago

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.

[–] Reminisce_PartOne 11 years ago

sounded like he was autistic or had Downes syndrome

Reported. And you sound like just another ignorant, naïve, closed minded, uneducated, oblivious person in your knowledge or more appropriately lack thereof of autism. I am autistic. Paddy Considine is autistic. Daryl Hannah is autistic. Gary Numan is autistic. Clay Marzo is autistic. Jessica-Jane Applegate is autistic. Yeah it is true that a symptom of autism is delayed speech but 'ey lets have a look at what the emphasised word there is shall we? Yeah we shall (rhetorical question). The emphasised word is... *drum roll* delayed. It's not about the drawl or the accent or any o' that $hit it's about the delayed speech. His speech was not delayed. It did not take him longer to say things. He did not stutter. He did not sound like he was autistic and I think you will find yourself very easily inflicting offense by using conditions such as autism or downs syndrome in such general terms as not more than a tool or a prop for you to use for the purpose of comparison or in the context of a simile. Once again I reiterate - you are reported. And I shall report you again if you respond to me without recanting what you said about autism and downs syndrome. Recant or get reported again.

[–] perk-467-99412 10 years ago

This post made me laugh.

[–] TheBigWank 9 years ago

What fücking ballbag

[–] Roguesta (4) 5 years ago

New Orleanians don't have Southern accents.

[–] tomislav-stanceric 11 years ago

At first Snafu was also very annoying to me, always being an *beep* and never leting anyone get too close too him. I guess a lot of people have this issue, until you get to know someone better.
But later on I could see that he is not a bad guy, as he was getting a bit better in his relationship towards Sledge. Also I think he felt sorry for the whole incident with the wet granades, because he started it all in the first place.

When I firt watched Pacific, it was recently after watching his performance in comedy series "War at home" where his charather is gay. This was very awkward for me, because I couldn't switch him from gay teenager, to tough, *beep* marine.

[–] Reminisce_PartOne 11 years ago

By the end of the second last episode, the actor who played him had got so into the drawl I could no longer decipher what he was saying.

Are you not aware that the real Snafu had this problem? Apparently it was quite hard for people to tell what he was saying. Hey that's life man, some people it is hard to tell what they're saying. Suck it up.

Then I go on to read that you say you don't believe people talked like that back then? ..okay, so out of the millions of Americans back then, you don't think that even one person might have talked like that? Were you there? And again I reiterate - apparently he spoke kinda' like that. From what I've read I actually get the idea that Rami perhaps didn't speak enough like Snafu in the other way, meaning that I get the idea that Snafu was even harder to understand in real life, and Rami sounded like Rami like how he usually sounds, not quite like a considerably indecipherable Louisianan I didn't think.

[–] jd-276 11 years ago

Are you not aware that the real Snafu had this problem? Apparently it was quite hard for people to tell what he was saying. Hey that's life man, some people it is hard to tell what they're saying. Suck it up.

Now that I have read the book, I know that he could be hard to understand. I had not read the book when I wrote the original post. But since I am not from them United States, I am not aware of every regional accent and I don't need moral advice - like "suck it up" - from you.

[–] blackwolf7 10 years ago

Couldn't stand the character. He was an unlikeable douche and I was waiting for the whole series for him to die to much disappointment.

[–] nickm2 10 years ago

I would say he was more a 'posterboy for PTSD' than a garden variety a-hole.

Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!?

[–] shwen 9 years ago

i don't get the point of having his character in the series.

he began as a supposed tough guy then suddenly transformed into an emotional sidekick of new recruit.

[–] kbarada 9 years ago

Everyone needs to read this link below if you want to really know about Merriell A Shelton: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=67861972

I've read through all of these posts and here is what everyone is missing. I was born and raised on the upper Gulf Coast (Alabama to Louisiana) and I knew immediately that Snafu was of Cajun origin in both his talk and looks, especially after seeing a picture of the real Merriell A Shelton. He does not have a Southern drawl. He is of Cajun descent and that is a totally different accent from a traditional New Orleans drawl.

I can see why Sledge and SNAFU became friends in one respect and that is Mobile Alabama has a fairly strong Cajun influence, especially back in the 1930s and 1940s. If you are from Mobile, then you know about New Orleans and it's people and customs and vice versa. I know this because I lived in Mobile for many years. I had Cajun kids in my classrooms. If anything, Sledge didn't anywhere near speak with the old Mobile southern drawl...not even close!

To my ear, SNAFU tried to get into the Cajun manner of speaking and came close from time to time. My point is that he was not trying to be OTT with a southern drawl. Cajuns just naturally chop their words. He did come much closer than Sledge did in portraying the correct manner of speaking.

Some of this may be hard to understand if you are not from the upper Gulf Coast.

[–] degree7 (821) 5 years ago

To my ear, SNAFU tried to get into the Cajun manner of speaking and came close from time to time. My point is that he was not trying to be OTT with a southern drawl. Cajuns just naturally chop their words. He did come much closer than Sledge did in portraying the correct manner of speaking.

To me, the actor who played Doc Roe in Band of Brothers did a more convincing job at portraying the Cajun accent than the one in The Pacific did. And that actor was also from the UK.

[–] Rocky15 (509) 4 years ago

He was probably an oddball and an outcast before the war, and his experiences during war no doubt twisted his mind even more.

I thought the performance was fine for the character.