Ep. 115: Hollywood & Anti-Muslim Racism (Part III) - How the Pentagon and CIA Sponsor American Mythmaking

For over a hundred years, the American film industry has been promoting and glorifying U.S. foreign policy, initially working with the military and Department of Defense, and eventually, the CIA as well. From its origins as a producer of wartime propaganda like 1911’s The Military Air-Scout to its contemporary role as purveyor of high-tech action epics like Iron Man, Hollywood and the American war machine reinforce each other — myth and politics intertwine.

In the process, the entertainment industry has reaped handsome rewards. Producers, directors, and other top brass in the entertainment industry are lavished with military equipment for filming, personal tours of government headquarters, and inside information — or at least what government officials want filmmakers to believe is inside information — all under the guise of lending “authenticity” and “realism” to film and, to an extent, television shows as well.

But what are the costs of this so-called “authenticity?” How do the U.S. military and intelligence agencies use benign-sounding partnerships like “on-set consulting” and “equipment loaning” arrangements to shape and censor narratives so they make American Empire look, at worst bumbling and good natured, and, at best, heroic and pure hearted?

In Parts I and II of this three-part series on Hollywood and anti-Muslim racism, we analyzed over half a dozen films and TV shows, illustrating how state-driven narratives of U.S. nationalism and vilification of an official enemies animate Hollywood’s cultural products, namely those targeting Arabs and Iranians. On this episode, we’ll explore the intersection of U.S. military and intelligence agencies with Hollywood, taking a closer look at how the military state helps shape films and television showing that pro-U.S. messaging used to smear Muslims doesn’t happen in a vacuum, but is often subsidized by the very forces dropping bombs on them.

Our guest is Professor Matthew Alford, co-author of National Security Cinema: The Shocking New Evidence of Government Control in Hollywood.

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Guest

Matthew Alford is  a writer, filmmaker and professor at the University of Bath, where he teaches Film & Media, International Relations, and British and American politics. He is the author, with Tom Secker, of the book National Security Cinema: The Shocking New Evidence of Government Control in Hollywood.

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Show Notes

An offer they couldn't refuse 

Matthew Alford and Robbie Graham | November 13, 2008 | The Guardian

25 years later, how ‘Top Gun’ made America love war 

David Sirota | August 26, 2011 | The Washington Post

How the CIA Hoodwinked Hollywood

Nicholas Shou | July 14, 2016 | The Atlantic

Hollywood and the Pentagon: A relationship of mutual exploitation 

Jamie Tarabay | July 29, 2014 | Al Jazeera

The CIA Goes To Hollywood: How America’s Spy Agency Infiltrated the Big Screen (and Our Minds)

Tom Hayden | February 24, 2013 | LA Review of Books

Washington DC’s role behind the scenes in Hollywood goes deeper than you think 

Matthew Alford | September 3, 2017 | The Independent

Torturing Iron Man 

Nick Turse | May 21, 2008 | The Nation

The CIA's Operation Hollywood

Vernon Loeb | October 14, 1999 | The Washington Post

How the C.I.A. Played Dirty Tricks With Culture

Laurence Zuckerman | March 18, 2000 | The New York Times

CIA requested Zero Dark Thirty rewrites, memo reveals

Ben Child | May 7, 2013 | The Guardian

The CIA and Hollywood 

Tom Secker | 2015 | SpyCulture

Pentagon Quit The Avengers Because of Its 'Unreality'

Spencer Ackerman | May 7, 2012 | Wired

Hollywood’s Bad Arabs

Jack G. Shaheen | Winter 2015 | The Cairo Review of Global Affairs

Haqq and Hollywood: Illuminating 100 years of Muslim Tropes And How to Transform Them 

Dr. Maytha Alhassen | October 2018 | Pop Culture Collaborative

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Transcript

For a full transcript of this episode, go here.

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