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
That passport photo wouldn't be accepted today. (light blue background and shadows)
US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
181–190 of 232 posts
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#182"The CIA even helped to make an episode of Top Chef that was hosted at Langley, featuring then-CIA director Leon Panetta who was shown as having to skip dessert to attend to vital business. Was this scene real, or was it a dramatic statement for the cameras?" Wow. Good work on the FOIA retrieval, but I'm utterly out on the hyperbolic speculative tone. The editor undercuts the good journalism being done here when they…
this kind of program, or eg tv specials about the obl assassination, serve as pr in terms of establishing shadowy three letter agency figures as relatable humans. putting faces to them encourages positive default assumptions, versus the frequently critical news media attention directed toward them.
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#183The 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…
I would not call that being on a "war footing." Sure, tax dollars have gone to blow stuff up around the globe but it's day-to-day impact on the vast majority of Americans' lives is negligible. Horrific for many veterans and their families of course but they are a small proportion of the population. It's been a bonanza for military contractors of all sorts as well.
Compare it to pre-vietnam-war activity: no bond drives, no rationing, no sense that there is an existential threat that needs combating and then all involved can go back to the farm and "study war no more." In fact it was hardly a topic in the 2016 elections.
So no, war is simply another background activity conducted by others and visible on the screen. Its most visible influence in daily life is a made up "war on drugs" and a made up "war on terrorism". Neither of which, of course, has anything to do with improving citizens' life expectancy much less quality of life.
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#184Earlier 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.
At least that's honest.
"honoring the troops" in exchange for cash is just gross.
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know: when I was a kid I was taught that the countries that needed these ritualistic pledges of patriotism and flag worship were the totalitarian ones (USSR, GDR, Turkey, Imperial Japan, etc). It was a shock to see my kid have to learn a flag prayer in the USA. And sport is a private sector activity -- why should the government be involved?
"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.
No one should recite the pledge of allegiance. It's a bizarre form of nationalistic indoctrination.
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#186Its not secret, if you want to use the pentagons toys and personnel and facilities then they have to have script approval and will make suggestions if they don't approve. And those suggestions make the film a recruitment tool and propaganda mouthpiece. They request positive depictions of the military, the military solving the problems, etc.
I have also noticed they tend to carry a negative depiction of the other civilian branches of the government especially the CIA, "they made the problem/they tied our hands and now we gotta clean it up" seems a consistent theme.
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
"certainly not in Europe we don't" Jingoism is alive and well in some parts of the UK print media.
True but can the UK be truly considered part of Europe when we are talking about the US?
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#188The 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 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.
Military jet fly-overs cost basically nothing at the margin. Pilots need X hours of air-time a month to stay trained, so it costs very little to do it over public events. It's money that will be spent either way.
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#189Yet no mention of Wag the Dog.
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
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...
It might see, but then you are immediately blacklisted by most major studios. No wonder why you didn't see Penelope Cruz or Javier Bardem for some years in a Hollywood movie.