Hollywood's dirty little secret

[Fenris]

Well, we've known the rules. We've known them since Errol Flynn liberated Burma without any help from British, Australian or New Zealand forces. Churchill and a few Diggers may have been upset, but the fact is when it comes to Hollywood only the good guys win and, since we're playing with their toys, those good guys must inevitably be Americans. Never let the absurdities of history get in the way of a box-office blockbuster.

They really do not want to discuss this, of course, in Tinseltown. They still see only their heroes and our villains. And they continue to win everything alone. Remember Steven Spielberg's D-Day spectacular Saving Private Ryan? Someone simply forgot that 72,000 British and Canadian troops were also involved. And if Hollywood is to be believed, it was the Americans who captured the Enigma coding machine from a German submarine; never mind that the Brits were there and accomplished that six months before the Yanks entered the war.

Not everything has been quite so eagerly promoted. We hear less, for instance, about the effects of the powerful relationship that has grown over the years between the Pentagon and the Hollywood studios, a partnership that not only can save millions of dollars for filmmakers and produce fine recruiting propaganda for Washington, but can twist history and reality to produce the ultimate in international spin.

In Operation Hollywood, which SBS screens on Tuesday, filmmaker Emilio Pacull follows up an investigative study by film industry journalist Dave Robb on the help producers have sought from the military over the years. Robb, who worked for Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, says he found himself obsessed with the minutiae of these negotiations with the boys with ships, tanks, materiel, information, bases, access to land, troops and some very real-looking fireworks.

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http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/age24.html

[flamingyouth]

1. I'd like to see that

Sounds interesting. :hi:

[cruadin]

2. Interesting article. It says that the "Pentagon" approves...

the script before offering any cooperation to the film production. I'd be curious to know exactly who in the Pentagon makes those decisions.
And what sort of specific criteria they use to decide whether or not to lend assistance.

[Wilms]

3. What don't we, on the Left, get about Hollywood?

They peddle military Propaganda.

They shill for the auto-industry.

They target children with ads.

They over-pay a bunch of vain-airheaded brats.

And they provide the RW with a rallying cry against us.


What do we get in return???

Janet's breast.
Whoopi's crotch.
Barbara Striesand, and a whole lot more BS.


Am I missing something???

[Fenris]

4. I understand that entirely.

I hate Hollywood and the celebrity-centered consumer culture it produces.