Over a hundred governments across the world have a culture ministry – though they often go by other names. These...
The post ClandesTime 230 – The Ministries of Culture first appeared on Spy Culture.(Read more...)
For anyone hoping that the end of phase 3 of the MCU would bring some respite from the relentless schedule...
For anyone hoping that the end of phase 3 of the MCU would bring some respite from the relentless schedule...
The post Black Widow the Latest Marvel-Military Collaboration first appeared on Spy Culture.
I recently found out that Strub retired from his job as the DOD’s Hollywood liaison last July, though this wasn’t...
After actor Dominic West suggested that the next James Bond be transgender the commentariat have gone batshit arguing over whether this is a key moment in the struggle for trans rights or another sign that the entertainment industry is dominated by damn commie liberals with their Jewish gay-loving agenda. As per usual, it is neither.
Following their on-screen debut in the James Bond movies, and their quiet support for Thunderball, the CIA under Richards Helms adopted a more pro-active approach to Hollywood. They began spying on movie scripts depicting the CIA and considering requests from film-makers for official support. One project that they rejected was the 1969 Hitchcock thriller Topaz, based on the novel by Leon Uris and CIA officer Philippe Thyraud de Vosjoli.
In this month's subscriber-only podcast we explore the censorship of the one of the world's biggest film franchises - James Bond. The Bond movies have been subject to both moral/cultural censorship by the British Board of Film Classification, and political censorship by the Pentagon's entertainment liaison offices. This is a highly informative episode that fills in many of the blanks when trying to understand how these different institutions influence what we see on the big screen.
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.
The James Bond films, like the books on which they are based, have always pushed the boundaries of acceptable portraits of sex and violence. Documents from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) show how for Thunderball they reviewed the script, recommending many changes if the film was to achieve the 'A' certificate that the producers wanted.
Goldeneye is possibly the best of the Pierce Brosnan James Bond films, but like two others in the Brosnan period it relied on US military support. This entailed the Pentagon reviewing the script and demanding two changes - one political, one promotional - in exchange for helping to shoot one brief scene with uniformed soldiers and military vehicles.(Read more...)
