Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 232 posts

Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows

#101

Post by openasocket »

paganel wrote: post #14
arethuza wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wasn't Iraq rather overshadowed by the subsequent events in Afghanistan which does have some superb movies (Kajaki, Restrepo, Korengal, Bitter Lake....).

All due respect to those movies (3 of them which appear to be documentaries) but they have not had the same cultural impact as a movie like Apocalypse Now had back in its time. It's a shame, I'd rather a director like Nolan had made a movie about Iraq or Afghanistan instead of Dunkirk, the same as Coppola had made Apocalypse Now just a couple of years after he had directed the first two Godfather movies. That way you…

To be fair, Apocalypse Now didn't come out until 1979, four years after the war's end and twenty four years after the war's start. Though 15 years after official US involvement. So, depending on how you count it, we still have some time :)

Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows

#102

Post by specializeded »

bjourne wrote: post #48
specializeded wrote: post #5

So in exchange for production support, DOD and IC reserve the right to back out if certain topics are broached, or if they’re represented in a way they don’t approve of. The movies and tv shows come to them, and they’re subsequently influenced as part of the deal. Am I reading this correctly? They’ve really tried to make it scary but I’m left feeling “well, yeah I guess that makes sense, sucks tho I guess”...

These orgs are supposedly there to serve the interests of the American people. It's none of their fucking business how movie writers decides to portray them. History reeeeally seriously tells us that it is a big deal when the state is able to influence the media in a pro-military fashion.

I mean, agreed and understood.

This is bad in the sense pro-military influence & "rub my back I'll rub yours" is bad in general, but I'm not seeing the directed efforts that would justify the tone or title of the article. It smells like clickbait, and now I smell like military apologism from saying so!

Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows

#104

Post by morsch »

wil421 wrote: post #90
lotsofpulp wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ludicrous propaganda of military jet fly overs, national anthem spectacles, huge flags, and people in the military standing on the side of the field at private for profit sports game in a stadium paid for by taxpayers for the team owner's benefit is hilarious.

Right it's outrageous the military gets to attend for profit games and for America to show its pride. It's not like they don't do the same exact things in other Countries... We should just have military parades and drive our missiles and tanks around D.C. Just look how Russia and North Korea do it.

This kind of nationalistic-militaristic crossover with sports is not a thing anywhere in Europe, as far as I know. It's super cringey. Same category as having kids in school recite the pledge of allegiance every day. Just really weird.

Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows

#105

Post by fudged71 »

gumby wrote: post #61

The money and involvement have had quite an effect. Just look at the percentage of combat films Hollywood makes and compare to 30 years ago. To go by Hollywood the country is on a war footing. And don't forget other entertainment industries like sports. The Pentagon paid millions of dollars a year just for cross promotion with NFL football (not for recruitment advertising): "honor our troops" and the like. On the oth…

I haven't watched a single current-day military movie since 9/11. I just assume it is all propaganda in some way or another.

Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows

#106

Post by Someone1234 »

wil421 wrote: post #90
lotsofpulp wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ludicrous propaganda of military jet fly overs, national anthem spectacles, huge flags, and people in the military standing on the side of the field at private for profit sports game in a stadium paid for by taxpayers for the team owner's benefit is hilarious.

Right it's outrageous the military gets to attend for profit games and for America to show its pride. It's not like they don't do the same exact things in other Countries... We should just have military parades and drive our missiles and tanks around D.C. Just look how Russia and North Korea do it.

You're really defending the US by comparing it to NK and Russia? That's a very low bar indeed.

Also, a lot of other countries don't have such extreme levels of jingoism, certainly not in Europe we don't. World War II taught us where such extreme patriotism leads. Trump is a natural and direct result of jingoism; but yet it continues.

Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows

#107

Post by compuguy »

neurotech1 wrote: post #58
autokad wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah exactly. also you didn't need a freedom of information act to know this. I remember generals / DOD officials talking about it in a TV interviews (1996 independence day, 2007 transformers). directors are overly focused on realism for better or for worse, so a lot also goes to providing stock footage for inspiration, advice, and fact checking like 'is this aircraft meant for the role its portrayed in the movie'. e…

In Top Gun (1986) the studio reimbursed the US Navy for flight time during filming. $7,800/Hr for the F-14 in 1986. The tech advisor was recently retired Radm. Pete "Viper" Pettigrew, a TOPGUN instructor who shot down a MiG over Vietnam. He was paid for his technical advisor role by the studio. One key change at the Navy's request is Maverick dating a civilian instructor, not a women in the Navy, as that is against N…

Independence Day was released in 1996, not 1986.

Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows

#108

Post by Udik »

rasz wrote: post #47
paganel wrote: post #3

As a movie buff this doesn't surprise me at all. I'm still waiting for THE movie about the US intervention in Iraq, the same kind of movies that Apocalypse Now, "The Deer Hunter" and even Rambo I were for the Vietnam war. I think my wait will be in vain.

Syriana and The Kingdom criticize US politics in the region, but they mostly concentrate on Saudi Arabia or UAE.

If you dare to even mention the role of Israel in that context the movie won't even see the light of day.

And now watch my comment quickly fade to white...

Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows

#109

Post by neurotech1 »

compuguy wrote: post #107
neurotech1 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Top Gun (1986) the studio reimbursed the US Navy for flight time during filming. $7,800/Hr for the F-14 in 1986. The tech advisor was recently retired Radm. Pete "Viper" Pettigrew, a TOPGUN instructor who shot down a MiG over Vietnam. He was paid for his technical advisor role by the studio. One key change at the Navy's request is Maverick dating a civilian instructor, not a women in the Navy, as that is against N…

Independence Day was released in 1996, not 1986.

Thanks. Fixed the typo.

Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows

#110

Post by fwdpropaganda »

jerrylives wrote: post #91
fwdpropaganda wrote: post #51

Finally! I've been saying for years "The largest propaganda machine in the world is Hollywood." People usually just roll their eyes.

Probably because your take is old as fuck and people know, dude. You're not special.

No, you're wrong. People don't roll their eyes because "people know". If you think people generally agree with this view you might be out of touch. So in this respect, I am a bit special ;-)
Post reply on HN