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 Pentagon Looking to Help Shape War FilmsPosted on Jul 7, 2008
The recent spate of war movies about Iraq and Afghanistan has proved to be a hard sell with American audiences—even more so with the U.S. military. Now, the Pentagon is combating a certain lack of nuance, as military officials see it, in flicks like “Redacted” and “In the Valley of Elah” by offering script consultation services to Hollywood types looking to make movies about the current conflicts in the Middle East.
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Jump to Comments
By rage, July 17 at 9:35 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
More patriotic fanaticism, nationalistic propaganda, and absurd, surreal, fallacious psuedo-historically revisionist disinformation from the PentaCon, to be shared with and subsequently twisted out of all recognizable context with the gratuitously fruitless abuse of CGI by our corporatocracy owned Hollyweird industry knaves renowned only for being criminally responsible for a grating, lengthy, shamefully inept filmography of absolutely abysmal entertainment failures!
Oh joy…
Just when we thought we couldn’t sink any lower!
Report thisBy samosamo, July 14 at 4:30 pm #
jimbob, July 14 at 3:58 pm #
I agree with you because most movies are nothing you hubris of america, how we do no wrong, and always fight for truth, justice and the american way; what garbage propaganda.
Report thisI remember the Saturday morning matinee(hell I can’t even remember how to spell and can’t find it in the dictionary) rooting for the calvary and the marines and how the heros were always saved just in time. Things were different and I am different now. But I think there are a couple of films that give a pretty good portrayal of recent war. You might think ‘Apocalypse Now Redeux’ might be one and maybe it is but 2 obscure movies I rather think are, are ‘Go Tell the Spartans’ with Burt Lancaster and ‘The Bedford Incident’ with Richard Widmark. I think that both films pretty much speaks for the times even though they aren’t actually based on real events. Check em out and see, you will be impressed.
By jimbob, July 14 at 3:58 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
there is no such thing as a realistic story, nuanced or not, of the realities of war. every war movie i have ever seen in my 59 years are nothing but paeans to the virtues of militarism. maybe everybody outside of hollywood already knows this, thus they’re interest in such a genre is slim to none. 18 months in the bush in Vietnam allows me to say this. real art uplifts the soul not just informs it. there is no art in war… nor is it very entertaining, period.
Report thisBy Alan, July 10 at 2:52 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
hmmm… embedded journalists, embedded cineassts,
Report thiswhat will they think of next, embedded baby food
publicists?
By cyrena, July 10 at 2:40 am #
By samosamo, July 7 at 5:03 pm #
L.A. times? Film critics have speculated that moviegoers see enough of war on the news or dont care to watch films about an ongoing conflict.
What kind of bullshit is this. MSM has done a superior job of withholding news of the war. So how could our veggie class of people ever know what is going on except how well the surge is working, how Iraqis are starting to rebuild and become a nation again, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah in little 10 second snipets.
~~~~~
Oh samosamo...your reaction was EXACTLY the same as my own!
And you’re right. Even though most of us can’t afford to pay anything BUT attention, nobody does. And for those of us who still do, that’s dwindling as well. Kind of hard to pay attention if we can’t afford a measure of some nutrition. Like, at least one meal a day.
Meantime, I still highly recommend “Iraq in Fragments.” I was able to see it at a special showing on campus, and I don’t know if or where else it might now be available. I wouldn’t necessarily even call it a ‘war film’ though it’s full of more truth than most folks can deal with.
Report thisBy yours trulyj, July 9 at 7:59 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Demilitarization Will Get Pentagon Out Of Movie Business
The military spending taxpayer money to promote itself? Wow! If any other governmental department tried this the anti-tax organizations would be out in force saying “How dare them bureaucrats spend our hard earned dollars tooting their own horns.” How come the military gets away with wasting our money? It’s out of control, that’s why. Who’s fault? Ours. Why ours? Because we let them get away with it.
Report thisBy Frank, July 9 at 4:05 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Read “Operation Hollywood” and see how far the Pentagon goes to push propaganda and stop stories even if, especially if, they contain truth.
Report thisBy samosamo, July 8 at 11:32 am #
Want to see another tell tale movie about viet nam from our earliest beginnings in that conflict? Try ‘Go Tell the Spartans’ with Burt Lancaster. Great movie!
Report thisOf course, ‘Apocalpse Now ReDeux’ is another excellent art treatise on our conduct in hegemonic endevours.
By kitch, July 8 at 5:18 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
If you want an example of a 100% Pentagon approved film, look no further than The Green Beret staring John Wayne. Though in color it was as black and white as you can get. Ain’t no “nuance” here. Look folks war is ugly and it brings out both the best a worst in people. (More often the latter). The job of a military is to use deadly force. The Pentagon learned a valuable lesson from Vietnam; to control the message. Attempts to reshape the facts (Jessica Lynch / Pat Tillman) to name just two, are simply products of the Pentagons Marketing Department Spin Doctors. The Lt Colonel’s statements that “The public does not deal too well with being preached at” is same shell game tactic used with great success on FOX NEWS CHANNEL, the people who brought you “the no spin zone and fair and balanced.
Report thisBy samosamo, July 7 at 5:03 pm #
L.A. times? “Film critics have speculated that moviegoers see enough of war on the news or dont care to watch films about an ongoing conflict.”
What kind of bullshit is this. MSM has done a superior job of withholding news of the war. So how could our veggie class of people ever know what is going on except how well the surge is working, how Iraqis are starting to rebuild and become a nation again, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah in little 10 second snipets.
Report thisHow would the veggies know anything when they only watch abc, cbs, cnn, fox, msnbc or nbc or read their funny hometown papers. Hell no they couldn’t stand it and the government and the military don’t want them to pay any attention(which is what they do, don’t pay attention which is almost the only thing they can afford to pay for anyway) to real news and flood them with american idiot, survival love stories and just what the hell brittney , lindsey and now christi brinkley are doing. That is as emotional as they get these days so yeah they wouldn’t be able to handle the truth.