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Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

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

#241
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…

“Propaganda” is an early 20th century term that eventually got turned into “public relations”. So yes, it is definitely, 100% propaganda.

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

#242

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.

Hwæt?! I think it's more than just modern Americans who love(d) heroic war stories. Look at J. Caesar, look at the knightly romances from the Middle Ages -- the latter are especially sanitized, the former were probably bloodied up a bit. The pursuit of that kill streak has been a genre for a really long time. I thought it was common knowledge that the US Government helped it along here and there and has in one medium or another since the beginning. There is a Maldon for every few Beowulfs though.

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

#243

what the US figured out early is that you don't need traditional control of the population as you see in authoritarian states, you just need crafted images, media is much more powerful, they are very good at it. their skill has to be admired. they spend billions on this.

This reads like a butchered Chomsky reference.

In actual fact so-called liberal democracies are free to the degree that authoritarian tools wouldn’t and can’t work.

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

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I asked because whenever I hear about someone complaining of “wokeism” they’re complaining about things that I think are good. Giving black actors roles in areas normally dominated by white actors? That’s awesome! But whenever this happens loads of people online will claim that is “wokeism”. Representation for gay, lesbian, queer, and trans people in media? Wow that’s great! Many complain this is “wokeism”. Recognizi…

In few paragraphs you managed to convert a rational conversation to a moral argument and, worse than that, a personal attack. I am not the GP but this sort of "this is good"/"you are a bad person" litany is exactly what is off-putting to many people. I won't even comment on "The real reason I asked was to get people on here to reveal what kind of progress they are against."... And as for entertainment strong moral un…

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

#246

China is using movies to propagandize against the U.S. now. What used to be Rambo vs Russia is now Chinese Rambo vs U.S. Let that thought sink in.

China has always done this and it is always comically obvious. The propaganda coming from the US against the Chinese is more subtle and convincing. It's scary not only because of how good it is, but because people here don't even realize they are being manipulated.

Hah! Our enemy’s propaganda is such foolish nonsense—no one would fall for that! However, I am quite concerned for the little people of our enemy’s nation, because our propaganda is so subtle and intelligent…

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

#247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the name of a fairly recent kind of cult, more or less related to the left, and trying to influence a lot of the political/corporate/cultural world.

Quoting from Wikipedia: “ Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is an English adjective meaning 'alert to racial prejudice and discrimination' that originated in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexism, and has also been used as shorthand for left-wing ideas involving identity politics and social justice, such as the notion of wh…

That's not what it means now, or at least it has grown a more popular meaning which is clearly what the original poster was using. The alternate definition is explained in the 3rd paragraph on wiki

"The terms woke capitalism and woke-washing have arisen to describe companies who signal support for progressive causes as a substitute for genuine reform. By 2020, parts of the political center and right wing in several Western countries were using the term woke, often in an ironic way, as an insult for various progressive or leftist movements and ideologies perceived as over-zealous, performative, or insincere."

But perhaps you knew that already.

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

#248
post #171

I bumped into this video about the making of 'Top Gun' the other day. Interesting in many ways. It shows the photographical choices and approaches that they used. The creative process and choices (and the vision and influence of Bruckenheimer).. and the way that the Navy had an influence. Example: the CO of the Miramar base (where it was shot) had a veto right on the script. He rejected because there was a romance be…

Recently I read about Chinese reusing frames from Top Gun as theur military propaganda.

It's even funnier that it turns out they just reused US propaganda as theirs.

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

#249
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Democracy and propaganda aren't mutually exclusive. Plus, the US isn't a democracy. In fact, most countries banging the democracy-propaganda-horn aren't actually democracies. Austria, for example, is a Republic. Democracy is just a smokescreen.

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

#250
post #45

I am very interested to ready the comments and see where the votes land. From my experience any time you criticize the US here on HN you are heavily criticized or downvoted. Sometimes after making a valid point. I have learned to not take it personally and have always told myself I am sure there are state actors from many nations on many forums trying to persuade a perspective. If someone wants to downvote but not pr…

Really? I think you can make a generic “US bad, good” and you’ll get a cheering chorus from HN, Reddit, Twitter, etc. on… almost any topic these days.

As a US citizen I just don’t really care anymore, I sometimes get a good chuckle every time someone tells me I’m oppressed or living in a hellhole. I’m happy where I live and though I recognize there’s faults and I do try to improve them where I can. Maybe it’s state actors, maybe it’s not; I wouldn’t care about a stranger’s opinion in real life, so why would I bother caring about a stranger online? Too little time in life for that.

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