A few weeks ago Matt and I were invited to Portsmouth University to give a presentation on our research and analysis for National Security Cinema. We opted to do an interactive multi-media workshop that explains how the relationship between government and Hollywood works, and how this influences what we end up watching on screen.
Good friend Aaron invited Matt and I on his show to discuss our new book National Security Cinema.
National Security Cinema is a new book that uses over 4,000 pages of documents to reveal government censorship and propaganda in Hollywood. From the Pentagon's rewriting of James Bond to the CIA's manipulation of Meet the Parents this is the biggest and best book ever written about military-intelligence propaganda in the entertainment industry. And I'm not just saying that because I co-wrote it.
Good friend Pearse Redmond invited Matt and I on his radio show to talk about our new book National Security Cinema: The Shocking New Evidence of Government Control in Hollywood.
Tom Secker and Matthew Alford join me today to discuss their brand new book National Security Cinema: The Shocking New Evidence of Government Control in Hollywood. We begin by talking about the overall structure of the book and why Tom and Matt decided to write it. Matt and Tom talk about how this book is different from other scholarly books on the topic of government influence in Hollywood and entertainment at large. Tom and Matt talk about the wealth of new research that they discovered which shows that this influence has only increased over time.
Good friend Aaron Franz joins me on the show this week to discuss our recent work in The American Journal of Economics and Sociology. We begin by talking about some of the behind the scenes aspects of the issue. I talk about the whole process of how the issue came into being from the initial offer from Clifford Cobb, getting all the writers together, and dealing with all the road bumps along the way. Aaron and I talk about the actual writing process and the challenges involved in writing for an academic journal.
Charlie Wilson's War reduces nearly 10 years of the Soviet-Afghan War into an hour and forty minutes of Sorkin-scribed witty dialogue focusing almost entirely on how one alcoholic, womanising congressman helped to raise the billions of dollars that were given to the mujahideen to fight the godless Commie invaders. While we know that CIA entertainment liaison Chase Brandon worked on the film, along with former CIA officer Milt Bearden, there is no documentation on exactly what influence they had.
What connects JFK, Allen Dulles and the CIA's invasion at the Bay of Pigs to the movies Thunderball and Goldfinger? The answer is the relationship between the CIA and James Bond. In this episode we look at Fleming's decades-long relationship with American intelligence, from the OSS through to the CIA, and how Dulles' friendship with Fleming allowed the Agency to quietly improve their public image via the James Bond novels.
My good friend Pearse has been given the opportunity to do his show on the radio so he invited me on as his guest for the very first episode. We took on an old favourite – Chase Brandon – and discussed his relevance to the world of state-sponsored entertainment before engaging in a multi-faceted conversation going into the reports from the Pentagon’s entertainment liaison offices, the expansion of the DOD’s role in the entertainment industry, the total lack of accountability.
