Live data from Hacker News

Pentagon and CIA shaped thousands of Hollywood movies into effective propaganda

worldbeyondwar.org

321–330 of 577 posts

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

#321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Sure. But I don't run around daily acting like I have a moral high ground and constantly baiting people. I took your bait, and I'm the bad guy? Okay bud. Maybe try not being so angry about stuff that literally doesn't matter. You're constantly enraged on here. I'm not here often and if I can tie your screen name to rage inducing you're doing something horribly wrong with your life.

Why are you calling me these names? Who am I calling up hate or rage against?

I answered a question about the definition of the word as it was being used. Obviously the definition is making you very angry, but I'm just the messenger here I did not make the post that used the word in the first place, and I didn't make up the definition.

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

#322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My bet is that most groups have this in them. Being right, being the hero. America just had the lead in entertainment and tech

I grew up watching Soviet movies about war, which usually depict very different picture. Sure, there are heroes, but they are not super heroes as in American movies. They get injured, die. Soviet war movies show that wars really suck.

Some UK war movies fall into the "wars really suck" category - an obvious example being The Cruel Sea based on the novel by Nicholas Monsarrat who served in Royal Navy during the Battle of the Atlantic:

"This is a story of the Battle of the Atlantic, the story of the ocean, two ships, and a handful of men. The men are the heroes; the heroines the ships. The only villain is the sea, the cruel sea that man has made more cruel."

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

#323
post #234

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…

Quoted post unavailable.

No post body was provided.

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

#324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now imagine House M.D. rehashed to a brilliant but callous software guru trying to diagnose various misbehaviours/misuse of tech all around town. I'm not sure if that's a promising pitch or straight up garbage!

I never watched Mr. Roboto, but that sounds like what I heard it was about... I think the issue may be social status, software gurus aren't viewed the way doctors or lawyers are. They're paid well, but they aren't respected the same way for some reason. It's probably also an issue of writing - walking the line between realism and cool isn't easy, doubly so if the writers aren't themselves technical people. People are…

> People are still referencing Mcguyver, but nobody's had the hubris to try and reboot that classic.

They did. And it probably got the same treatment mentioned in the article. It survived 5 seasons despite receiving abysmal reviews.

"Young Angus "Mac" MacGyver works for a clandestine organization within the U.S. government, relying on his unconventional problem-solving skills to save lives." [0]

[0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399045/

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

#325
post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (male) IT guy in a movie Who is tony stark?

Tony Stark is a "next level" rich scientist, engineer/inventor, and ladies man. His IT related sides are incidental at best. The only recent and decent "IT guy" series was Mr. Robot and the differences from any other field are obvious. The main "IT guy"-character is presented as socially dysfunctional. The supporting IT-people are tiny little gears turning in their cubicles. Military - always fighting in the harshest…

Ok you have a point. Anyway, check out Halt & Catch Fire if you haven't.

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

#326
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USA is an advocate of very specific stability. "Free world" is a hyperbolic but US is still a huge global power. In cold war it was obvious there were two sides, and the other was obviously more free than the other. Go ask for example Estonians, Lithuanians or Latvians who they enjoyed the yoke of the USSR. Now, as China is becoming an ever more stronger player, we again see that there are two sides arising. While pa…

> In cold war it was obvious there were two sides, and the other was obviously more free than the other. It's quite funny that after the cold war it came out that nukes of 'the more free side' was targetting Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvia cities.

They were targeting USSR military bases. And it was "known" already during the cold war, not a surprise after the cold war ended. At least in Estonia, every sane person assumed that when there's a nuclear conflict, then the rocket bases and airfields of the occupation forces here would be the first to be taken down by the west because they were the most west-facing USSR military bases.

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

#327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

White supremacy is the belief that white people and whiteness should hold power over black and brown people. No one in my social circles uses “wokeness” at all, certainly never seriously. It always seems like people upset at “wokeness” are actually just upset that people producing popular media support very simple concepts of diversity. Like when black actors get representation in media previously dominated by white…

> Like when black actors get representation in media previously dominated by white people, to me that is just a good thing, but I see reports that many think this is “wokeness”, which they think is bad. In the 90s Will Smith starred in Independence Day, and absolutely no one complained (as far as I know) because Will Smith is awesome and he deserved the role. See also Blade from the same era. People get upset when it…

Look I hate Discovery as much as the next guy but are you really saying that some of the women or POC on that show are worse actors than the white men that would have been cast a few decades ago? Is Discovery the only Star Trek show you've seen?

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

#328
post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'll try an easier and more concrete one to help you out. Do you think Hollywood is at all hypocritical or insincere about their collective rhetoric about gun violence while also producing movies that glorify guns and people solving their problems with violence? The OP's argument was that modern movies are political propaganda supporting "wokeism", so a concrete example where Hollywood movies are often - intentiona…

Quoted post unavailable.

I'm not sure there's much overlap between the objectors to Othello being replaced by a white woman and objectors to a 'new' agent 007 being cast alongside established Bond stereotype Daniel Craig.

Which is a moot point really, since my original point was that the objection was for whatever reason to the scripting and casting decision itself, not to the possibility that the filmmaker might be insincere in supporting black characters (there are people who rail against Hollywood for that, but they tend to be dismissed as obsessively 'woke' themselves)

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

#329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never watched Mr. Roboto, but that sounds like what I heard it was about... I think the issue may be social status, software gurus aren't viewed the way doctors or lawyers are. They're paid well, but they aren't respected the same way for some reason. It's probably also an issue of writing - walking the line between realism and cool isn't easy, doubly so if the writers aren't themselves technical people. People are…

> People are still referencing Mcguyver, but nobody's had the hubris to try and reboot that classic. They did. And it probably got the same treatment mentioned in the article. It survived 5 seasons despite receiving abysmal reviews. "Young Angus "Mac" MacGyver works for a clandestine organization within the U.S. government, relying on his unconventional problem-solving skills to save lives." [0] [0] https://www.imdb.…

Wake me up when they try to do "Walker, Texas Ranger" with Ryan Reynolds.

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

#330
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haider is the only Indian movie that I can think of that doesn't take the establishment position when it comes to the portrayal of the armed forces. More recently, a certain Canadian national has carved out a niche for himself by staring in ultra patriotic movies that are very popular with the Indian audience.

And the dude in question peddles ceramic tiles made with “desh ki mitti” aka “soil of this country”. The hypocrisy rankles. Still, it is clearly working because he’s ubiquitous while the erstwhile big 3 of Indian cinema have all but disappeared from ads. FWIW, I hear he’s applying to become an Indian citizen again.

> FWIW, I hear he’s applying to become an Indian citizen again.

He claimed to have applied for an Indian passport in 2019. But then again he claimed he was an honorary citizen of Canada in the past. He's not exactly a reliable source.

Post reply on HN