Goldsmith and Prysner are not alone in having responded favorably to the powerful combined influence of the entertainment industry and corporate media. There are innumerable others who have been lured into joining the military for the promise of violence that it offers.
The process of brainwashing and desensitization by the military begins affecting children in the US from a very early age. It is not insignificant that little boys wear camouflage and run around playing with toy guns whenever they get an opportunity.
Goldsmith also attributes his inclination towards violence to the Boy Scouts. A story in The New York Times describes the new Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America as “training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence – an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.”
Cathy Noriega, a 16-year-old girl in the program, was attracted by the compressed-air guns the students use while training. “I like shooting them. I like the sound they make. It gets me excited.”
Officials involved in the program publicly claim, “This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl.”
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Another irresistible agent that the US military has deployed in its recruitment and support drive is films. Turse elaborates the point, “In addition to toys and video games, the military has also strengthened its ties to Hollywood in recent years. Turning back to G.I. Joe, we can see this with the new movie: ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.’ My understanding is that when the war in Iraq was going especially poorly, and to make the movie more palatable for the global marketplace, the fighting force in the movie was supposed to be an international special ops team based in Europe. A negative response from American fans, and undoubtedly the desire to use DoD (Department of Defense) assets – like vehicles and bases – caused the studio to alter the script, apply for support and get a Department of Defense adviser on the film. As result ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ joins a host of recent summer blockbusters, like both of the ‘Transformers’ movies and ‘Iron Man,’ for example, in selling the US military to America’s kids.”
The list of Hollywood films that have helped the military garner wide support from the American public for large-scale conflict is long. By glamorizing and sentimentalizing warfare and camouflaging the truth behind unprovoked aggression, these films have served their purpose well. To name a few of these, we have: “Pearl Harbor,” “Behind Enemy Lines,” “Letters From Iwo Jima,” “We Were Soldiers,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Clear and Present Danger,” and a host of others. If one looks at Hollywood’s history of films that glamorize the US military, there are literally hundreds more.
At the time of entering WW I, the US established the Committee of Public Information, to develop guidelines for the media to promote domestic support for the war. In 1941, during WW II, there was a prolific production of war dramas and documentaries to boost the American war effort by Hollywood studios in association with the Pentagon. In 1948, the Pentagon established a special movie liaison office. Producers and directors who are willing to adapt their movies to Pentagon directives are given substantial financial and technical help, besides ready access to important defense locales and resources. Less obliging movie-makers are pointedly denied any assistance by the DoD. The objective is to encourage movies that inspire youth and, therefore, boost recruitment and not let negative portrayals of the army dissuade people from joining.
Turse writes in his book how this is done: “While the US military has long had a relationship with Hollywood, the ad hoc arrangements of old are over. Today, the air force operates airforce.hollywood.af.mil, the official Web site of the US Air Force Entertainment Liaison Office. The military has even set up a one-stop shop-on one floor of a Los Angeles office building – where the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and Department of Defense itself have film liaison offices. Additionally, the DoD runs an entire ‘entertainment media division’ from the Pentagon.”
As an example, the first “Transformers” film released in July 2007 used a variety of air force assets, and for the latest iteration of the film, DreamWorks and Paramount studios partnered with all four US military services to highlight America’s military members and combat power on the big screen.
