The world’s most famous fictional Top Gun is now a decorated naval hero. Tom Cruise was awarded the U.S.
  • vikingr@lemmy.world
    59·
    10 days ago

    Hollywood has a long history of being a propaganda arm of the US military, government, and intelligence agencies.

    • kratoz29@lemm.eeEnglish
      8·
      10 days ago

      And videogames too… At least that was one of the History Channel documentaries said the other day I was zapping (This reads really old, I swear this wasn’t 10 years ago or something).

      • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
        4·
        9 days ago

        ArmA was a military sim for the military before they turned it into a game, and it’s still one of the more popular ones.

      • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
        3·
        9 days ago

        Yeah Activison hires people from the CIA. Couple of executives are former CIA execs. Many of the stories in CoD are bending the truth in the US military’s favor.

  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
    49·
    10 days ago

    This is the strangest photo I’ve ever seen of Tom Cruise. Did he send a double to get the award? Was it too risky? Is it one of those mask things from Mission Impossible? Is he running out of Thetans?

    So many questions.

  • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
    22·
    10 days ago

    The old Top Gun movie was likewise used for recruitment. I’m pretty sure they actually got sponsored by the military to a ridiculous degree for this express purpose.

    • Notyou@sopuli.xyz
      28·
      10 days ago

      Every military movie, or movie that has military assets in the movie gets them for cheap (if not free}. The movie just has be get cleared as okay from the military. Don’t want to send the wrong message. It makes pro-military movies easier to make than something a bit more critical.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        10 days ago

        The first Transformers Movie got green-lit in large part because of the involvement of the US military. Same with the GI Joe films.

        Like its predecessors, the latest “Transformers” movie uses hundreds of military members from all the services and from throughout the country to make the film feel more realistic.

        “I enjoyed being able to walk on the set and there are a hundred real soldiers as opposed to walking on and it’s a hundred actors from Orange County or LA in fatigues,” said Megan Fox, the film’s female lead actor. “It was just an overall pleasant experience, and I have an immense amount of respect for the Soldiers and for our troops.”

        That realism extends to military equipment as jet fighters roar from the deck of an aircraft carrier to the recoiling sounds of M1-A1 Abrams tanks firing 120mm rounds at their deceptive and, at times, overpowering foes.

        “What [the military] bring to it is obviously a sense of reality. But for us what is most interesting about it is our interaction with them,” Mr. di Bonaventura said. “Because you actually get to see these people who have made a life choice and the honesty of that choice comes through each and every time you meet these guys. So, for us, that’s the really exciting thing. We get to hang out at the base and see the joy they get out of being a part of us, and you also see us get affected by their level of commitment.”

        This latest “Transformers” film shows an extreme example of what the military does in everyday life.

      • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        10 days ago

        I have no problem with this. We have the Blue Angels and people (not from here) bitch about the expense and waste. Turns out, they’re a better recruiting tool than paying for advertising, by a huge margin.

        Military recruiting is somewhat like a business. They have to pay to get their message out. And as long as all the soldiers and gear have to be kept moving about, why not use them for marketing?

        And like a business vying for top-tier customers, the military is always looking for top talent. Not top-tier? Then we have plenty of other jobs for them.

  • Couldbealeotard@lemmy.worldEnglish
    133·
    10 days ago

    I know this is a 2 minutes of hate thread, but Richard Dean Anderson got the same for his work on the TV show Stargate SG-1, which I thought was pretty cool.

    I’m not Amercian, or Canadian, so I don’t really understand the feelings towards military, but if I was an actor and they gave me a cool lapel pin I’d be pretty happy.

      • Couldbealeotard@lemmy.worldEnglish
        51·
        10 days ago

        It is known that SG-1 had an impact on USAF enlistments. The show got a good deal on access to military assets for filming, but they weren’t under duress to change the show at the behest of the USAF. The deal was that an adviser would give them notes, and they chose to adhere to the notes or not. I think as the show got more futuristic they had less of a deal with them.

    • PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world
      2·
      9 days ago

      Regardless of our military flaws and excessive brainwashing of recruits, awarding any kind of actor the highest honor from our armed forces immediately and irrevocably destroys the integrity of that medal for any other recipients future or past. It’s a sad disgrace, and I actually really enjoyed the movie.

    • brlemworld@lemmy.world
      11·
      9 days ago

      I love SG1 but going back and watching it I cringe a lot; it’s so sexist. Even mildly homophobic.

      • Couldbealeotard@lemmy.worldEnglish
        51·
        9 days ago

        How is it sexist? Samantha Carter is one if the great depictions of women in sci fi.

        Also I don’t remember any homophobia. The topic of sex or orientation was rarely brought up on the show. In the 19 seasons and 3 movies of the franchise there is exactly one sex scene, and fans were upset that the show did it at all.

        • brlemworld@lemmy.world
          1·
          9 days ago

          There are a shitload of scenes where people are hitting on Samantha Carter in a professional work setting or treating her poorly because of her sex. They treat women like shit and it’s overly sexualized for a work setting. All of the skimpy shit they make Vala wear, they don’t show O’Neill or Cameron with their arms out being all flirty. The episode they go back in time and alternate O’Neill insinuates Daniel is gay but they can’t even acknowledge that gay people exist.

          • Couldbealeotard@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            9 days ago

            I’ll agree on the Vala stuff, and I never liked that character.

            Outside of that, I think you are definitely picking and choosing what you are paying attention to to support your agenda. O’Neill 100% flirts with Carter, and both Teal’c and Jackson get the muscles out plenty of times. Jackson is naked showing off the gymwork several times. Any time where women are treated like crap is pro-feminism because the women successfully stand up for themselves. This is the show that began with Carter dressing down a room full of Airmen for being sexist, and several times over the course of the show male characters stand up for female characters or give them the room to perform as equals. The main sexual content in the franchise is in SGU, which includes gay relationships.