For decades, there has been this notion that government agencies have been involved with Hollywood films, and the topic has resurfaced after conservative commentator Candace Owens and comedian Katt Williams spoke on it in separate interviews.
During her appearance on The Breakfast Club, Owens boldly asserted that the Pentagon has been actively influencing numerous Hollywood films to promote its agenda. Among the films she cited were popular military/government-based titles like Transformers, Black Hawk Down, Red Dawn, GoldenEye and Apollo 13.
“They’re concerned about certain narratives. They get involved with World War films. How are we telling a story about history? Usually, it’s because we’re lying about what we did or trying not to make Americans aware of the crimes against humanity that we commit overseas,” Owens said. “Now, you understand your experience in theaters is what your government wants you to think. They want you to think that this is how things happened, and it’s usually not at all how things have actually happened.”
In an interview with Joe Rogan, Williams discussed how propaganda was built into many films, but civilization is blinded. Williams dismissed the notion that the entertainment business was made to entertain the masses, and Rogan agreed.
“Propaganda in Hollywood movies is built into the ingredients list…if you want to be able to make movies about certain subjects, you have to be willing to work with some people…’ It would be nice if you made it so that this is what we’re trying to accomplish and this is showing the negative side of this other society,’” Rogan said. “‘This is our hero, who’s going to do America’s bidding’…And those movies are successful, and so they continue this relationship, and you become a bit of a propaganda arm for the government. In turn, they don’t fuck with you.”
Although Williams and Owens brought up the topic, it has been circulating the web for years.
The Washington Post reported on Top Gun, supporting the notion that government agencies are highly involved in some of Hollywood’s top films.
It used Top Gun as an example, discussing the expensive props in the film, precisely the filmmakers’ access to the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, a naval airbase, a host of F-14s and many other jets.
The article argued that the film, with a $15 million budget, must’ve received support from the Pentagon.
“It’s unlikely the [original] film could have gotten made without the Pentagon’s considerable support. A single F-14 Tomcat cost about $38 million,” the Post reported.
Several articles published have stated that the Pentagon and the Department of Defense have involved themselves in Hollywood films, specifically war and military ones, to bolster the military’s good image, especially after several historical events tarnished it, like the Vietnam War and the 1993 Mogadishu fiasco.
There was an article by the Department of Defense on its “long-standing relationship with Hollywood” titled “How & Why the DOD Works With Hollywood,” but the department removed the piece from its website.
