[SE]

Coppola makes his film like the Americans make war- in this sense, it is the best possible testimonial- with the same immoderation, the same excess of means, the same monstrous candor . . . and the same success. The war as entrenchment, as technological and psychedelic fantasy, the war as a succession of special effects, the war became film even before being filmed. The war abolishes itself in it's technological test, and for Americans it was primarily that: a test site, a gigantic territory in which to test their arms, their methods, their power.

-Jean Baudrillard

appearing in Simulacra and Simulation