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

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

#171

Post by Ajedi32 »

fixermark wrote: post #75
Tactic wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree the article overplays it. Any organization, be it governmental, corporate or private, would probably do the same. If you want their help and they aren't in the business of movie making, are going to probably refuse it if it casts them in a light they don't like. Hollywood is fully capable, I'm certain, of providing mock-ups and stand ins for much of what the military provides. I'm sure when it comes to the bo…

Also, if you're talking Hollywood specifically: To a first approximation, movies that cast the government in a positive light sell better, because Americans think of the government as a reflection of themselves and want to feel good. Exceptions exist, but you rarely hit blockbuster numbers with a downer movie with a downer ending.

> Exceptions exist, but you rarely hit blockbuster numbers with a downer movie with a downer ending.

And that's true regardless of the topic of the film. It doesn't matter whether the movie involves the US military or not.

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

#172

Post by jerrylives »

buttcoinslol wrote: post #149
jerrylives wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it's not. Software is not even in the top ten of US exports

iOS, Android, Facebook, Snapchat, Whatsapp, etc are all software...

Okay. So?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exports_of_the_United_...

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

#173

Post by Chardok »

specializeded wrote: post #99
kstenerud wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The CIA even sabotaged a planned series of documentaries about their predecessor, the OSS, by having assets at CBS develop a rival production to muscle the smaller studio out of the market. Once this was achieved, the Agency pulled the plug on the CBS series too, ensuring that the activities of the OSS remained safe from public scrutiny."

That stood out to me as well, but not in a positive way. Their sole example of the sort of proactive scheming and weaving I was expecting from our spooks, and it happened in the 40s/50s? Again it sounds scary on the face of it, but I'm just not quite feeling it.

Since its entertainment, I can hardly think that "scared" would be an appropriate reaction to take anyways.

Some good things to take from this article though: 1. The integrity of writing and original scripts are being altered to fit a specific message.

2. Propaganda is being inserted into our media with no disclaimer or way to discern it.

3. These institutions are essentially subsidizing film budgets, which seems like an inappropriate use of funds (in my opinion of course)

Of course it isn't anything to be worried about, but it does bring into light how these 3 letter agencies are very aware of their not-so-patriotic actions, and are taking measures to try to erase or distract people.

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

#174

Post by hindsightbias »

youdontknowtho wrote: post #156

I remember back when the bush administration gave the TV show JAG, a show about the navy's judge advocate general's office, detailed descriptions of the military tribunals that they came up with...before the media or congress. Shady, man. The military and IC are the only parts of govt that get to do this weird Public Relations. They shouldn't be able to.

It's not just the military/IC.

The first episode (2010) of Blue Bloods (NYPD show) has Donnie Wahlberg torturing a guy in a ticking-time-bomb-like scenario and then his Capt. father (Tom Selleck) correcting his DA daughters reference to "torture" by seriously saying "you mean Enhanced Interrogation" and how awful it is they can't convict the guy without some other "legal" break in the case.

Even years after Bush & Cheney are gone, "liberal" Hollywood filled with this stuff.

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

#175

Post by ovulator »

purplejacket wrote: post #139

What I really want to know is: How was it that Neo's passport expiration date was 9/11/2001 -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Neo-Passport.png

It was issued on 12 Sep 1991. US passports expire after ten years.

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

#176

Post by Chardok »

austincheney wrote: post #129

I like how the article failed to mention the most obvious example. The military backed out support for the movie Independence Day because they didn't want to feed conspiracy nonsense about hiding aliens at area 51. Clearly this is a propaganda effort to bend the truth into a lie..... right? I also like how the article never mentioned military supported movies that indicate dishonorable conduct like Invisible War and…

"The CIA even sabotaged a planned series of documentaries about their predecessor, the OSS, by having assets at CBS develop a rival production to muscle the smaller studio out of the market. Once this was achieved, the Agency pulled the plug on the CBS series too, ensuring that the activities of the OSS remained safe from public scrutiny."

From the article even documentaries aren't safe. Also from the article, they have censored any reference to military suicides, which is certainly very real and quantifiable.

In my opinion, though, public relations should not be something the military should be actively engaging in. They are not a private entity nor a corporation, so why treat them as such?

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

#177

Post by joemi »

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…

> 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.

But the US has been at war in Iraq/Afghanistan for the past 16 years, so the "war footing" is actually just a fact of life, not something spurred by US military throwing money at Hollywood. There are many many movie-going age people for whom war has been a constant for over half of their lives. Of course there's going to be a lot of war movies now.

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

#178

Post by mi100hael »

> Jon Voight in Transformers — in this scene, just after American troops have been attacked by a Decepticon robot, Pentagon Hollywood liaison Phil Strub inserted the line ‘Bring em home’, granting the military a protective, paternalistic quality, when in reality the DOD does quite the opposite.

So glad the authors were able to stay objective and emotionally removed from the subject /s

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

#179

Post by fixermark »

nerfhammer wrote: post #155
fixermark wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of Bay specifically: Bay is very pro-military and goes out of his way to portray the US military in a positive light. Observe the scene from Battleship where Lt. Col. Gregory Gadson, the director of the U.S. Army's Wounded Warrior Program, was cast to play a double-amputee soldier who, among other things, fist-fights an alien. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMX3v6exVf8

Michael Bay wasn't involved with Battleship, though it has been pointed out that it seems to be an imitation of his style

Wow, major egg on my face; thank you for the clarification!

I've actually been operating under the mistaken belief that Bay directed that movie. It feels incredibly Bay.

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

#180

Post by logfromblammo »

CodeMage wrote: post #145
Animats wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Flag Prayer"? The Pledge of Allegiance? Only US citizens should recite the pledge of allegiance. Non US citizens owe their loyalty to another country. But schools don't do that, because it would mean identifying US citizens.

I would respectfully disagree that US citizens "should" recite the pledge of allegiance every day at school. I understand that you probably meant something along the lines of "it makes no sense for non-US citizens to recite the pledge of allegiance at all", but I'd still like to address the point you happened to write. I'm firmly convinced that no child, citizen or not, should engage in a daily ritual like that, espe…

If you were not already convinced, just one photograph of American schoolchildren doing the "Bellamy salute" to the US flag would probably do so.
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