Battlefield Hollywood with Tom Secker and Matthew Alford

Propaganda is a word thrown around, but very few people understand the nature of the indoctrination within the. United States. David Swanson of “World Beyond War” says: When we imagine that the U.S. military only occasionally and slightly influences U.S. movies, we are extremely badly deceived. The actual impact is on thousands of movies made, and thousands of others never made. And television shows of every variety. The military guests and celebrations of the U.S. military on game shows and cooking shows are no more spontaneous or civilian in origin than the ceremonies glorifying members of the U.S. military at professional sports games–ceremonies that have been paid for and choreographed by U.S. tax dollars and the U.S. military. The “entertainment” content carefully shaped by the “entertainment” offices of the Pentagon and the CIA doesn’t just insidiously prepare people to react differently to news about war and peace in the world. To a huge extent it substitutes a different reality for people who learn very little actual news about the world at all. The alliance between the military and Hollywood is the main reason that we have lots of big blockbuster movies on certain topics and few if any on others. Studios have written scripts and hired top actors for movies on things like Iran-Contra that have never seen the light of day because of a Pentagon rejection. Today, we interview award winning researchers Tom Secker and Matthew Alford who have spent decades trying to uncover the shady relationship between Hollywood, the Pentagon, the CIA and the Department of Defense. In fact, very little gets made without approving eyes our national security state. This is a must listen-to interview with Award Winning researchers Tom Secker and Matthew Alford about their new Documentary film “Theaters of War” 1:00 - 3:00 - How extensive is the DOD input? 3:00 - 5:30 - FOIA request runaround 5:30 - 6:00 - What is not made? and Why? 6:00 - 8:00 Why does Hollywood go to the military? 8:00 - 11:30 - “Countermeasures” not made because opposed US interests 11:30 - 14:30 - Selling the military to the audience 14:30 - 16:20 - Deleted scenes from “Independence Day” 16:20 - 24:00 Matthew visits US and the Lawrence Suid Files 24:00 - 28:40 - The “2 Hour Infomercial” & how the word “propaganda” is never mentioned 28:40 - 29:55 - Tom’s a “vexatious requester” 29:55 - 33:15 - Pentagon’s PR move after “Jarhead” and “Full Metal Jacket” came out 33:15 - 36:30 - “Lone Survivor” - War crimes whitewashed 36:30 - 39:00 - They’re tired of looking like the bad guys 39:00 - 43:30 - Opting against nukes in remakes for environmental disasters 43:30 - 45:25 - Mid 70’s is when DoD got more involved in films and shows 45:25 - 48:25 - Zero Dark 30 tried to make a case for “torture good” 48:25 - 51:45 - Jack Ryan series 51:45 - 53:00 - DoD creating their own hyper-reality 53:00 - 53:40 - Iron Man was anti-war in comics but pro-war in movies 53:40 - 1:00:00 - Why would actors sign on? 1:00:00 - 1:01:03 - Serbian movie “Dara of Jasenovac” vs “The Courier” reviews 1:01:00 - 1:04:50 - Stop watching “Transformers”. Watch “The Boys” instead 1:04:50 - 1:06:00 - Take Culture Action - Disengage or engage critically 1:06:00 - End - “Theatre of War” release and what Matthew and Tom are up to next To learn more visit: Spy Culture This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit historicly.substack.com/subscribe