4 ms·

What? Plenty of movies are super critical of the military and the 3 letter agencies in tons of ways, heck there is a whole genre out there about Government mili

What? Plenty of movies are super critical of the military and the 3 letter agencies in tons of ways, heck there is a whole genre out there about Government military agent realizes he's doing bad things and goes rogue to correct those misdeeds. Then you've got things like Full Metal Jacket, which I don't think is getting anyone to sign up for the forces. Like Top Gun did well recently, but is one of the only movies I can think of in the past couple of years that actually portrayed the US military in a mostly positive light rather than the usual gamut which runs from ineffective bumbling ossfied and useless to straight up evil. I'm just saying you can make whatever you want in the US and portray pretty much any idea or theme, that doesn't mean people will like it, but you can make it. In China there is no similar comparison they'll take your studio at best or imprison you at worst.

jrm4 4y ago
I don't think so. I think it's in tons of ways except those that would really call into question the whole thing. Which is to say -- I think that to the extent that "the Military" controls its image, it's smart enough to include just enough problematic stuff. So the ones that seem "anti-Military" are really "anti-traitors-in-the-Military," and/or the healthy kind of self-criticism.
CrispinS 4y ago
I agree with your last sentence, but on the subject of positive portrayals of US armed forces, the studios actually have an incentive to play nice. The DoD will let film productions use real equipment and personal, but only after vetting the script and making changes as they see fit. For example, the Transformers movies: https://www.wired.com/2008/12/pentagon-holl-1/ https://www.wired.com/2008/12/pentagon-holl-1/ The general concept: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-entertainment_complex https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-entertainment_compl...

jrm4 4y ago

I don't think so. I think it's in tons of ways except those that would really call into question the whole thing. Which is to say -- I think that to the extent that "the Military" controls its image, it's smart enough to include just enough problematic stuff. So the ones that seem "anti-Military" are really "anti-traitors-in-the-Military," and/or the healthy kind of self-criticism.

CrispinS 4y ago

I agree with your last sentence, but on the subject of positive portrayals of US armed forces, the studios actually have an incentive to play nice. The DoD will let film productions use real equipment and personal, but only after vetting the script and making changes as they see fit. For example, the Transformers movies: https://www.wired.com/2008/12/pentagon-holl-1/ https://www.wired.com/2008/12/pentagon-holl-1/ The general concept: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-entertainment_complex https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-entertainment_compl...