Finally! I've been saying for years "The largest propaganda machine in the world is Hollywood." People usually just roll their eyes.
US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
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Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#52As a movie buff this doesn't surprise me at all. I'm still waiting for THE movie about the US intervention in Iraq, the same kind of movies that Apocalypse Now, "The Deer Hunter" and even Rambo I were for the Vietnam war. I think my wait will be in vain.
What do you think about Three Kings (1999)? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kings_(1999_film)
What do you think about Argo?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(2012_film)
pure CIA propaganda
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#53When I've been telling everyone that James Bond and other similar movies serve the same role as military parades in Soviet-block countries, and heavily scripted by the military, they told me that this is another conspiracy theory and I must be plainly wrong. I wasn't.
This was documented 30 years ago after the release of Top Gun. http://articles.latimes.com/1986-07-05/entertainment/ca-2040... Not sure why you wouldn't illustrate your argument with this information.
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Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#54When I've been telling everyone that James Bond and other similar movies serve the same role as military parades in Soviet-block countries, and heavily scripted by the military, they told me that this is another conspiracy theory and I must be plainly wrong. I wasn't.
This was documented 30 years ago after the release of Top Gun. http://articles.latimes.com/1986-07-05/entertainment/ca-2040... Not sure why you wouldn't illustrate your argument with this information.
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Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#55This is an absurd situation, having a military minder that tells you what you can and can't say in a production. It is hard to avoid some kind of interference if you want to borrow military equipment though. There is always some standard that you want to uphold that is probably higher than what is allowed by the first amendment.
The solution is to not allow the military to lend any assistance to movie productions. Frankly, it's not their job anyways. This is the only way to avoid the kind of influence described in the article.
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#56So in exchange for production support, DOD and IC reserve the right to back out if certain topics are broached, or if they’re represented in a way they don’t approve of. The movies and tv shows come to them, and they’re subsequently influenced as part of the deal. Am I reading this correctly? They’ve really tried to make it scary but I’m left feeling “well, yeah I guess that makes sense, sucks tho I guess”...
I agree. If they wanted to film at any major corporation, one of the major points in the agreement will be something like: "The film will present Acme Corporation in a positive light" with the consequence if they don't, the studio loses the right to film there and won't have access to corporate people & resources.
This ignores the not so small difference that the government is not a company and shouldn't behave like one.
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#57When I've been telling everyone that James Bond and other similar movies serve the same role as military parades in Soviet-block countries, and heavily scripted by the military, they told me that this is another conspiracy theory and I must be plainly wrong. I wasn't.
James Bond is essentially a franchise built around the psychological need to cope with the collapse of the British empire and all of the associated loss of status that goes with it. In other words, you are correct, Bond movies do not try to hide their nationalism. This is no great revelation.
I think you might be over estimating how much the British care about having/not having an empire.
If you can get around the paywall, this might be worth a read: https://www.ft.com/content/a9c45baa-1dc6-11e7-b7d3-163f5a7f2...
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#58So in exchange for production support, DOD and IC reserve the right to back out if certain topics are broached, or if they’re represented in a way they don’t approve of. The movies and tv shows come to them, and they’re subsequently influenced as part of the deal. Am I reading this correctly? They’ve really tried to make it scary but I’m left feeling “well, yeah I guess that makes sense, sucks tho I guess”...
yeah exactly. also you didn't need a freedom of information act to know this. I remember generals / DOD officials talking about it in a TV interviews (1996 independence day, 2007 transformers). directors are overly focused on realism for better or for worse, so a lot also goes to providing stock footage for inspiration, advice, and fact checking like 'is this aircraft meant for the role its portrayed in the movie'. e…
In Top Gun (1986) the studio reimbursed the US Navy for flight time during filming. $7,800/Hr for the F-14 in 1986. The tech advisor was recently retired Radm. Pete "Viper" Pettigrew, a TOPGUN instructor who shot down a MiG over Vietnam. He was paid for his technical advisor role by the studio.
One key change at the Navy's request is Maverick dating a civilian instructor, not a women in the Navy, as that is against Navy regs.
In Independence Day (1996) The Pentagon withdrew support over references to "Area 51", the location of the USAF Flight Test Center (Detachment 3) that officially didn't exist.
Decisions regarding Pentagon support for movies are sometimes made by the Secretary of Defense, personally. If he doesn't like it, they withdraw support.
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#59"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 allow foolishness like this in.
I think the authors are also making the unsupported assumption that every government / Hollywood cooperation incident is a propaganda op, instead of far simpler explanations like "Joe in Langley publicity gets to brag to his family that he made the Top Chef episode happen."
Re: US military intelligence agencies have influenced over 1,800 movies and TV shows
#60I am sure "24" was pure propaganda. And "West Wing". I enjoyed them though, at the time. But now they would just revolt me.
I never watched west wing, how did it seem like propoganda, and what message did it send?
I'm not the person you're replying to but one thing I've seen pointed out [1] is that it portrays a largely unelected whitehouse staff where everyone is selfless, good, hard-working, quick-witted, reveres the constitution, always ultimately putting the country's interests before their own, always taking the moral choice and turning out to be right.
There's nothing that makes you question the way the country is run, or that tries to explain why real-world politicians' approval ratings are so low.