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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

#281

Post by worldsayshi »

a_throwaway_8 wrote: post #221

I wonder at which point the US public will have an "are we the baddies" moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU Harsh, I know. But how long can US people watch the lies in their top-selling films about how heroic their soldiers are, while completely ignoring the atrocities their armies are involved in, around the world?

I'm not American but I feel that at least the general consensus on Reddit is already there. But realising that you're bad doesn't itself form a solution. You need some kind of consensus about a plan towards becoming better and that hasn't begun to form.

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

#282

Post by denton-scratch »

JPLeRouzic wrote: post #65
Barrin92 wrote: post #14

one graphic that stuck with me, that I saw a few years ago is this one ( https://imgur.com/svsB0Ub ) (question being: which nation, according to you, contributed most to the defeat of Germany?" Being German and having Russian relatives the perspective on the war on the continent has always been interesting to me. The sheer scale and brutality of the Eastern front, the war crimes and death (The Soviet Union lost more…

I am a French citizen 65 year old. I remember that my father was bombed by US in Rennes (luckily he went out safe). Most ports on Atlantic coast were completely destroyed by US bombers and many towns (Lorient, Saint-Malo, Brest, etc) had to be completely rebuilt. Many people were displaced, homeless and had to be relocated in shelters. This lasted until the 60", see [0] Yet now, for French people and media, destructi…

St. Malo, in particular, was shelled to destruction by US troops. It was rebuilt over 12 years, which seems to me rather an incredible achievement. It looks like an 18thC fortified city.

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

#283

Post by foldr »

CodeGlitch wrote: post #252
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #209

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…

A quick bit of Googling suggests that plenty of people did not feel too positively about making a movie with a black lead:

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/07/independence-day-studio-re...

In this case, though, the roles are reversed. The supposedly "woke" studio system didn't want to put a black guy in the lead, whereas the public were more open to the idea.

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

#284

Post by enkid »

throwawaylinux wrote: post #227
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #219

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…

> I asked because whenever I hear about someone complaining of “wokeism” Forgive me if you were being genuine, but frequently when I see the word used on the internet, I see replies from people who seem utterly bewildered and claim that they really want to know what the word means. But it's trivial to find out what this or any other word or slang word means with a simple internet search, so it doesn't really seem lik…

They aren't feigning ignorance. The poster is saying people use the word in different ways from the "standard" definition, and therefore it has become unclear what any particular person means when they use the word. This is not feigning ignorance. It's just like how some individuals now call everything Democrats do in the US socialist, progressive, or leftist even though most Democrats aren't any of those things.

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

#285

Post by michaelt »

foldr wrote: post #128
crate_barre wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/09/yemen-us-made... Raytheon lobbies for Mideast arm sales. In the hierarchy of shit they need to be ethical on, LGBTQ rights is not really top of the list. It’s nice though, nonetheless. No connection to Hollywood of course, Raytheon would love nothing more than war never being mentioned. The more they can sell outside of the US and not have anyone know it’s causing ge…

You're going off on a tangent here. By all means criticise Raytheon for the bad things they do. But why criticise their CEO for making a tweet supportive of gay rights? No evidence has been presented that the tweet is not sincere. HN all too often seems prone to spinning complex and sometimes borderline conspiratorial narratives around LGBTQ rights advocacy.

> No evidence has been presented that the tweet is not sincere.

Imagine, in the age of chivalry, a lord who arrives at every battle with his forces - but who delays his arrival until the battle is already won, and always joins the winning side.

You might well say arriving late is better than not arriving at all. Perhaps there are some last pockets of resistance, you wouldn't turn down his help sweeping those up.

Alternately, you might say they are cowardly, insincere opportunists. They ended up on on the right side, but the timing calls their sincerity into doubt.

To some people, all LGBTQ 'activism' by Fortune 500 companies looks like this. Especially if their 'activism' doesn't extend to their middle east or russian divisions.

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

#286

Post by throwawaylinux »

notahacker wrote: post #272
throwawaylinux wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

> 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…

No post body was provided.

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

#288

Post by genewitch »

Stevvo wrote: post #60
Barrin92 wrote: post #14

one graphic that stuck with me, that I saw a few years ago is this one ( https://imgur.com/svsB0Ub ) (question being: which nation, according to you, contributed most to the defeat of Germany?" Being German and having Russian relatives the perspective on the war on the continent has always been interesting to me. The sheer scale and brutality of the Eastern front, the war crimes and death (The Soviet Union lost more…

The reality is far more horrific. The Japanese were preparing to surrender to the Soviets, but the US couldn't have the Soviets take credit for winning the war on both fronts so they dropped a couple of nukes on Japan. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Japanese_War

I thought it's because the US demanded unconditional surrender and the Japanese thought their emperor would be deposed so they refused. Two bombs later the Japanese agreed to an unconditional surrender. And guess what, they got to keep their emperor...

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

#289

Post by camillomiller »

imwillofficial wrote: post #168
camillomiller wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The movies you mention always only show the atrocities from the American side, ending up justifying, pitying and damning or saving the American protagonist. America is just always front and center. Americans just can't help being up their own ass so deep that even when they express criticism they can't not make it all about themselves. I'm really sorry about the generalization, but as someone living in a city where U…

Wait, you mean American movies staring Americans, for American audiences WERE ABOUT AMERICANS?! Inconceivable! I’m currently visiting DC, and I hate to break it to you. Every nationality, in any country, forms their own bubbles if they can. People gravitate to what they know.

American movies are the only ones I can think of that tell GLOBAL stories from a purely American-only perspective. Local American stories are of course great! I love movies made by Americans who tell me American stories. Apart from that they all suffer from some degree of America as the savior syndrome, or as I like to call it “World Series” syndrome. Only a country like America could call “World” something that is purely American. So no, sorry, it’s not just a matter of perspective.
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