Live data from Hacker News

Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

worldbeyondwar.org

111–120 of 577 posts

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think Hollywood is lot less subtle now at trying to push political propaganda I think the past efforts were pretty blatant. I think we just know more about how they operate and so it becomes easier to see. > wokeism Would love to know what this means.

> Would love to know what this means. You saying you’re completely baffled by this term, or asking for the poster’s particular meaning? I’d draw a parallel to “White supremacy”. Given the wild range of applications for the term, you need to get a sense of what any one wielder really means. But it’d be quite obtuse to reply “what’s White supremacy?”

[deleted]

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#112

Once this was pointed out, I can't unsee it. It's kind of ruined movies that involves the military or military equipment for me, since it can be really obvious when creators toe the line for the military. When I see military equipment my gut reaction is to anticipate the other shoe dropping, and to look for shoehorned hero worship or some good-versus-evil plot point.

As we age these tells pile up and if we don't change the world around us we drown in tropes and cliches that are pushed by carpet baggers. So many different things that can't be unseen.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#113
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Americans love that stuff though, it’s not necessarily propaganda forced down our throats. We’d still want to see the badass, all American commando on a 100 kill streak.

Not just Americans. See 'Wolf Warrior', and 'Wolf Warrior 2', currently the second highest-grossing Chinese movie.

"China bad" is one of the primary goals of western propaganda.

Start looking out for any online discussion involving anti-Asian racism / attacks, the housing crisis, etc. and you'll see posts like "but what about the CPP?" and "aren't Asians the most racist against blacks?"

https://twitter.com/alanrmacleod/status/1474350856476762115?...

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#114
post #35
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

one difference is that authoritarian regimes have been known to infuse everything with state propaganda, whereas almost nobody expects this from western democracies, showing just how much more subtle and even effective the latter can be.

>whereas almost nobody expects this from western democracies Are you joking? Ever since 9/11 the US has been pumping out propaganda disguised as entertainment like gangbusters! It's really obvious when you go and watch reruns of old copaganda shows from 03 to 06, and then there's "24". Of course there's also blatant ra-ra Military propaganda like J.A.G. and NCIS It's not surprising to see outright propaganda from the…

What you wrote is true, but it's astonishing how people tolerate having an industrial production of propaganda (since WW2) in what should be a democracy.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#115

Once this was pointed out, I can't unsee it. It's kind of ruined movies that involves the military or military equipment for me, since it can be really obvious when creators toe the line for the military. When I see military equipment my gut reaction is to anticipate the other shoe dropping, and to look for shoehorned hero worship or some good-versus-evil plot point.

Americans love that stuff though, it’s not necessarily propaganda forced down our throats. We’d still want to see the badass, all American commando on a 100 kill streak.

I'm not sure about others, but I'm reading this comment with an implied /s

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#116
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Hollywood is lot less subtle now at trying to push political propaganda than it was ever then, except that wokeism is the theme of the day. In some instances it has completely taken over the plot, like in the last season of Fargo, to the point of becoming some sort of unwatcheable catechism.

> I think Hollywood is lot less subtle now at trying to push political propaganda I think the past efforts were pretty blatant. I think we just know more about how they operate and so it becomes easier to see. > wokeism Would love to know what this means.

> Would love to know what this means.

It is a headstone marking the semantic battlefield where competing definitions killed the possibility of clear communication, and now it means nothing.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#117
post #77

In France, the french secret services (DGSE) worked hand-in-hand with the production of a TV show called The Bureau ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4063800 ). The services were supposedly lacking diverse resources for both operators, admins and field agents of diverse backgrounds. This series drew a very strong, credible and positive narrative that led to a massive number of people knocking at the doors of the DGSE to…

There is no evidence the show was designed as an advertisement for the DGSE. This is simply a happy side-effect of it being popular...

I see a big difference with using movies as propaganda to influence the planet's opinions.

At the same time, one has to be blind to not see that any cinema industry has a political agenda, I mean, just watch the average Netflix production and it is striking.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#118

This method of propaganda was described by Chomsky in Manufacturing Consent already in 1988: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent

Chomsky is very good! It does not matter if you agree with his political stance or not, the fact based argumentation mixed with political rhetoric is a masterpiece of cerebral political writing, and a very good snapshot of some aspects of modern US history.

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#119

See also this discussion on " The [erstwhile] Indianisation of China " by Hu Shih, a Chinese academic: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0009445514534119 > [Hu Shih] was among the first contributors for radical ideological change and modernity in China. His article on the 'Indianization of China' presented a scathing criticism of Indian influence on China that inhibited the blooming of 'indigenous modernity',…

So what culture is trying to dominate here, as in which culture puts forth the war movies?

War, Capitalism, ownership and control?

Re: Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

#120
post #3

Kinda of like what Putin does with LitRPG now? (I am probably on some kind of list now)

Putin and LitRPG? Can you elaborate?

Gonna second this question - my sibling comment was tongue in cheek but belied a genuine curiosity.
Post reply on HN