Act of Valor might be a good movie but then propaganda is suppose to be good
I will admit that when I first saw the trailer for ‘Act of Valor’, a movie about the Navy’s SEAL team in action due out shortly, I liked what I saw; but then I am an action flic type of guy so this hit all the sweet spots.
Now as I wait for the movie to actually hit the theaters some interesting information about the movie has come to light – like how it is nothing more than a propaganda movie commissioned by the Navy’s Special Warfare Command; and they aren’t interested in profit margins from the box office but rather profit from the recruiting stations.
Yes folks ‘Act of Valor’ is nothing more than glorified propaganda and recruitment tool.
Of course this isn’t the first time that the Army hasn’t made propaganda films before but unlike the past when the movie studio were for the most part forced into making them with ‘Act of Valor’ we have actual soldiers playing parts in a commercial movie.
This didn’t mean that there wasn’t going to be a love fest type of thing as the military Film Liaison Office has been really picky about what movies get the military’s support, whether it be with hardware like aircraft, tanks and active duty soldiers as they did with Michael Bay and Transformers or with information and characterization.
When it came to ‘Act of Valor’ it took some serious convincing of the Navy that this wasn’t going to be some cheesy knock-off movie:
That face time led them to suggest using real SEALs instead of Hollywood actors for “Act of Valor.” The brass loved the idea, though the SEALs themselves were initially resistant to the idea of acting, Waugh said. They needed some convincing, he said, that, “it was going to be authentic and legitimate and not some hokey, cheesed-out Hollywood version of their community.”
Eventually, the Banditos’ reassurances — and, not least, the Navy’s move to make acting in the film a compulsory assignment — compelled eight active-duty troops to step forward and play dramatized versions of themselves.
via Huffington Post
The movie is based on five real life stories that have been strung together and the battle scenes were shot during live SEAL training missions.
By the way if you feel that by going to the movie you are helping to pay for the actors in the movie think again – none of the SEALS in the movie got paid for their work in the movie, it was all a part of their ‘duty’.
All that said I am still looking forward to seeing Act of Valor when it hits the screen.
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About the Author
Steven Hodson Steven has been around the tech world long enough to see most of the stuff we think of cool happen before which leads to a certain bit of cynicism that has contributed to him being known as the cranky old fart of the Internet. Besides sharing some of the goodness that he finds with you here at 42x you can also find him curating some digital goodness at Winextra (tech type stuff) and Rotten Gumdrops (for your daily dose of WTF).
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