Sometimes timing is everything. In late September, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gathered hundreds of generals and admirals from around the world at a Marine Corps base in Virginia and declared the “end of the woke era in the military.” He vowed to review and in practice, to revoke any standards introduced since the 1990s, including policies promoting “inclusion and diversity.” In effect, those policies protected the rights of LGBTQ people, women, and other marginalized groups.
That promise marks a sharp reversal. In the early 1990s, homosexuality in the U.S. military was still considered a criminal offense and grounds for discharge. Then, President Bill Clinton introduced the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, which allowed gay service members to serve as long as they kept their sexual orientation private. President Barack Obama later repealed DADT, allowing LGBTQ soldiers to serve openly and recognizing their families. Those progressive steps now appear to be over. Transgender people have again been barred from service, and the military seems intent on restoring its “traditional warrior ethos.”
“Boots” – trailer
(Courtesy of Netflix)
It’s against this backdrop that Netflix released "Boots", a series about Coop, a sweet, somewhat lost young gay man who enlists in the Marines because he “needs a change.” The show follows his struggles through the harsh demands of boot camp while hiding his sexuality from his superiors and peers.
The Pentagon’s spokesperson wasted no time offering an unsolicited review, calling the series “the woke trash Netflix makes for its audience.” Ironically, the insult proved to be great publicity. Within days, Boots had jumped from obscurity to the top of Netflix’s global streaming charts—thanks, in no small part, to the Pentagon’s free promotion.
But if we’re being honest, the buzz surrounding "Boots" has more to do with the controversy than with its quality. The story of Cameron Coop, played by Miles Heizer of "13 Reasons Why," is touching enough: after a childhood of bullying and social alienation, he joins the Marines hoping to reinvent himself and gain the respect he’s been denied. Tempted by a Marine Corps recruitment campaign promising that friends who enlist together will serve together, Coop signs up alongside his best friend Ray, convinced boot camp will be “like summer camp”, only tougher.
What he finds instead are the genre’s familiar tropes: hyper-masculine posturing, screaming drill sergeants, shared showers filled with tense glances, and the constant fear of being outed. Yet, had the Pentagon spokesperson actually watched the entire series, she might have realized Boots doubles as a kind of recruitment ad.
In the end, the show turns an awkward, fragile young gay man into what the Marines define as a “real man.” Coop suppresses his sexuality and engages in internal dialogues with an imagined version of himself, the one who remains unapologetically gay, before ultimately choosing to embrace the military’s rigid ideals. His coming-of-age takes him out of one bubble only to trap him in another.
Based on Greg Cope White’s memoir "The Pink Marine," the show could have delivered a powerful statement. Adaptations of real-life stories often come with a built-in message or agenda, but "Boots" seems determined not to offend anyone. It teeters between a hymn to male camaraderie and a timid critique of the military’s treatment of gay recruits.
The series is also one of the last projects involving legendary producer Norman Lear, who served in the military himself and was a friend of Cope White. Lear, best known for socially conscious sitcoms such as "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons," infused "Boots' with moments of awkward humor that don’t always fit smoothly into its otherwise somber tone.
The U.S. military remains one of the country’s last institutions seen as a place where all Americans are equal once they don the uniform. The ceremonies, the flag, the uniform—all create an illusion of unity. The question of who deserves to wear those uniforms is, in essence, a question of belonging, with implications that reach far beyond the barracks.
"Boots" had a rare opportunity to say something meaningful about that. Instead, it opts for safety over subversion, leaving viewers with yet another familiar narrative about a young gay man enduring military boot camp. For those seeking a real drama with a message, reality outside the screen may offer far more than this well-behaved Netflix production.