Boots Creator Says US Pentagon’s Criticism Boosted the Show

The creator of the hit queer Netflix series Boots Andy Parker says that the Pentagon condemning his show for clout by calling it "woke garbage" has only brought more eyes to the show.

via: Q News

The Netflix drama follows a closeted gay teenager from Louisiana who impulsively enlists in the U.S. Marine Corps. The coming of age series is set in the 1990s, when being openly gay in the U.S. military was still illegal.

Boots stars Miles Heizer as Cameron Cope and is inspired by the real life experiences of former US Marine Greg Cope White via his memoir, The Pink Marine.

After the show released this month, a US media outlet contacted the Pentagon for its thoughts on the show. A spokesperson responded with a messy statement describing Netflix’s shows as “woke garbage” with an “ideological agenda”.

While Boots has been very well-received, the Pentagon’s statement was not. Boots‘ audience on Netflix doubled in its second week of release, per Vanity Fair.

“I guess we have to give some credit to the Pentagon there, don’t we?” creator Andy Parker told the publication.

“I would be very surprised if the Pentagon actually watched the show. The premise itself instigates or incites some kind of reaction or assumptions.

“What I would invite people to do is to watch the show, and see how they feel about the questions the show is trying to provoke.

“I certainly never set out to make anything that was propaganda and I really reject the idea that it is.

“The fact that we seem to be situated between these two different sides is evidence of how the show wants to approach these really thorny, interesting questions.

“[Boots] is trying to navigate this in a nuanced way that isn’t so overtly strident in its attacks or in its politics. I think it’s after something more subtle.

“There’s politics involved in all of these questions—what’s happening to trans people now, and the policies that are being inflicted on trans service members now.

“What our show shines the light on is, what is the cost of that? What’s the cost to the people who are affected by those policies?

“What is the cost to the institution itself, when they have to inflict that on service members who want to serve honorably and with dignity?”

‘This is a path I could have gone on’

Andy Parker told Vanity Fair as “a closeted gay high school kid” he was in a similar situation to Cameron, “running away from himself” and considering joining the military.

“I had invited a Marine Corps recruiter to my house to talk with my parents about why I should go join the Marines,” Parker told Vanity Fair.

“I was very actively seeking that. There was a personal connection to the idea of a gay kid running off to join the Marines and not really understanding what that was going to do for him, or where that was going to ultimately lead him.

“It felt like this was the road not taken. This is a path I could have gone on. How would I have done?”

Will there be a season 2 of Boots?

There’s no official word from Netflix yet on whether Boots will get a second season, but the cast are keen to return.

“I would do literally anything for Season 2,” Miles Heizer told Decider.

“So, yeah, I’m hoping. I’m glad it ends on a little bit of a cliffhanger… Simultaneously, it’s a very powerful ending to see this beautiful camaraderie and then this harsh reality of what they actually signed up for hits them.

“I think that would be very interesting to explore in Season 2, especially for Cameron, who really was just running away from his family and wanted to be with his best friend.

“Suddenly realizing this is a very serious decision.”

Boots is streaming on Netflix.