Hollywood is NOT anti-military.

bulldogg

bulldogg

Milforum's Bouncer
Now that I got your attention I wanted to draw attention to the widely held prejudicial fallacy that all of Hollywood is anti-military. How can I dare make such an audacious claim in the light of all the hearsay and conventional wisdom spouted forth on a daily or even hourly basis in this forum? Its quite simple mind you. How many war movies have you seen? How much do these movies cost to produce? How many of them would not be possible without the cooperation with and the collaboration of the DoD? My sources for such a claim...

Jarhead
The Hunt for Red October
Navy Seals
Clear and Present Danger
Thin Red Line
Gettysburg
We Were Soldiers
Full Metal Jacket
Hamburger Hill
Firebase Gloria
Windtalkers
Saving Private Ryan
The Package
U-571
Pearl Harbour
Three Kings
Lawrence of Arabia
Blackhawk Down
Courage Under Fire
The Manchurian Candidate
Saints and Soldiers
Patton
Gallipoli
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Longest Day
Tora Tora Tora
Dirty Dozen
Kelly's Heroes
etc...

Just thought I ought to remind some people of the dangers of bigotry even when popular.
 
Well, I don't think Hollywood is decidedly anti-millitary but they arn't pro millitary.

The first thing is you have to write off everything made before 1970, that was a completely different hollywood altogether.

Now Blackhawk down is very pro-millitary and a gret film.
On the other hand I want you to watch "The Thin Red Line" and tell me that's a pro-millitary film.

And you can do this all day long. For every film that's pro-millitary you can find one that's anti-millitary... at least. Then you throw in the bad B level movies about secret millitary program this or rogue army officer etc etc.
 
Hollywood is NOT anti military. That is NOT to say that there is a not a fringe element that doesn't care for ANYTHING which smacks of pro-support of military action of our forces. There decidedly is a fringe element that combines all of the bad things we attribute to the anti-war wackos.


The predominate feeling of most of the Hollywood glitterotcy however, is either neutral, support of the troops only or avid support of the troops and the policies of the administration.

Just because there are a scattered few from within the star cadre that is decidedly not supporters of the military doesn't mean that you can make the blanket statement that HOLLYWOOD IS ANTI MILITARY.

Hollywood stars/starlets have a reputation of troop support that is second to none.

Twice in Vietnam (Bob Hope + others) [Xmas Shows], once in Germany (USO Stars/starlets) [Xmas], once at sea (USO 'trio' artists) [Thanksgiving Day] - these are some of my fondest memories.

Don't try to tell me that Hollywood was/is "against" us. It's just not true.
 
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Hollywood isnt anti military. On the contrary, the military loves Hollywood as its free advertising for military enlistment. If you watch the credits of any war, action, spy, movie you'll see the in particaption with: DOD, US Army, US Navy etc...

I will say that Hollywood is anti-war. I think the Vietnam War and realistic movies such as 'Saving Private Ryan' changed the tone from the John Wayne type movies that tended to cleanse or glorify what war was really about.

I must admit I can no longer sit through those types of movies either...
 
Oh man I love these arguments. I could write for hours, but I'm not going to bother. Besides Michael Medved covered this topic.
http://www.hillsdale.edu/imprimis/2005/May/

As far as Stars supporting the troops, those days are long gone. While some do, how about the following (from the above mentioned movies):
Alec Baldwin
Charlie Sheen
Harrison Ford
Sean Penn
Martin Sheen
Matt Modine
Nick Cage
Matt Damon
I could go on and on of course, but why bother (if I am wrong about anyone on this list let me know). We should spend more time talking about the stars that do support our military like Denzel Washington.

Oh well, drive on, its still a free country thanks soley to men and women that I owe everything to and can never repay.
 
R. Lee Ermey!

I really think that it's more 50-50. Some support, While Some dont. Any time there is an idea, there will always be a group against it. proven history.:roll:
 
mmarsh said:
Hollywood isnt anti military. On the contrary, the military loves Hollywood as its free advertising for military enlistment. If you watch the credits of any war, action, spy, movie you'll see the in particaption with: DOD, US Army, US Navy etc...

I will say that Hollywood is anti-war. I think the Vietnam War and realistic movies such as 'Saving Private Ryan' changed the tone from the John Wayne type movies that tended to cleanse or glorify what war was really about.

I must admit I can no longer sit through those types of movies either...
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Mr.Marsh,

All reasonable people are anti-war. Only a maniac would enjoy it.

Unlike you, I do not appreciate the changes Hollyweird has made. The old time John Wayne movies did not glorify war. On the contrary, they did an excellent job of portraying the suffering caused by war.

But they also portrayted, quite well I believe, the nobility of the human spirit when faced with adversity. The selfless sacrifice of soldiers in defending freedom. The willingness to be injured or even killed to save a friend. These values are not pro war, they are pro human.

I might add that war, while horrible indeed, is not so horrible as bondage.

I would personally would rather die on the battlefield than live under socialism, or a dictator.

I think the current movies coming from Hollyweird do a disservice to out noble men and women in military service.
 
localgrizzly said:
Mr.Marsh,

All reasonable people are anti-war. Only a maniac would enjoy it.

Unlike you, I do not appreciate the changes Hollyweird has made. The old time John Wayne movies did not glorify war. On the contrary, they did an excellent job of portraying the suffering caused by war.

But they also portrayted, quite well I believe, the nobility of the human spirit when faced with adversity. The selfless sacrifice of soldiers in defending freedom. The willingness to be injured or even killed to save a friend. These values are not pro war, they are pro human.

I might add that war, while horrible indeed, is not so horrible as bondage.

I would personally would rather die on the battlefield than live under socialism, or a dictator.

I think the current movies coming from Hollyweird do a disservice to out noble men and women in military service.
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Hoorah!!!!! :bravo:bloody well said Sir.
 
LocalGrizzy

When you say disservice, Which films are you referring to? The war movies I saw (thats to say most, including foreign) I though were very respectful to Servicemen, although some were critical toward politicans and war in general. For example, Stanley Kubrick was a dyed in the wool Hippy, but FULL METAL JACKET was very fair to the Marine Corps even though it criticized the war itself. If it has been Otherwise, I doubt Lee Armey would have done it. Apcolypse Now, another example.

I disagree. John Wayne's films never showed the true suffering of war. It did show death, but it was a clean, almost peaceful death. If a soldier got shot he'd simply fall down. You never saw anybody truly suffer. For example, no John Wayne film showed a 18 year kid holding his guts while screaming for his mother, or a cannonball quickly decapitate an American soldier, or any of the grievous wounds such as the loss of a limb.

This was it not done for technical reasons, Hollywood was doing plenty of cheesy B-Grade horror flicks. This was deliberatly censored. Director Steven Spielberg explained that when he was growing up (Middle of Cold War) it was simply impossible to do any type of movie that cast any doubt on America's military projection (his earliest movie was a war picture). I dont fault the directors, they had their reasons. It was the Cold War, Cuban Missile Crisis was fresh, Vietnam was lurking, etc. But now these films types represent a bygone era in film, and are thus strictly entertainment.
 
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One of my favourite lines from Lee Army's character in "Firebase Gloria" is when one of the grunts on his LRRP stands up in a firefight and Lee yanks him back down behind cover and rips this kid with "Get your god damned ass down here Washington this ain't no ****en John Wayne movie!"
 
Mr. Marsh,
I suspected that you would disagree with me. You seem to be looking for movies that openly criticize American foreign policy.

Do you not believe that Born on the fourth of July, Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Apocalypse Now etc, were insulting and degreading to some of the bravest and most noble men and women in human history?

They certainly didn't portray American fighting men in he same light as Sands of Iwo Jima, War and Rembrance, Midway, The Longest Day, etc.

Some things truly are worth fighting for, sir! Even if the movies try to portray everything Amewrican as bad.

I would suggest that a good measure of any society's policies, foreign or domestic, is a simple ratio. How many foreigners are trying to get into that country, vs, how many of that country's citizens are trying to leave. By that measurement, where do you think the U.S stands? (Hollyweird not woithstanding?)
 
All in all it can be a mixed bag. Depends on the times really. Hollywood tends to go with what is popular, or is percieved as popular.
 
I think we're coming down on Actors and Actresses when the Hollywood elite are the money men. When a producer looks for the best director to sell his movie at the box office, he doesn't ask his/her politics. The director does the same when creating a character. Alec Baldwin was pretty good in Pearl Harbor. In fact, most of the cast were leftists. Hollywood is a closed society unlike any other on Earth. They govern by a Glitterocracy, how they are portrayed on the screen so as to draw attention from their politics offscreen. I heard Julia Roberts tell an audience that Republican is between the words reprehensible and reptile in the dictionary. Titters were plentiful from the audience, Nation Democratic Committee fundraiser.
 
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