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THE EFFECTIVNESS OF AMERICA MOVIE PROPAGANDA

TOWARDS MALAYSIA ARMED FORCES KNOWLEDGE

INTRODUCTION

1. For over a century American film has been a standout amongst the most
essential mechanical assembly utilized for propagating American racial oppression
and legitimizing American military undertakings. Bigotry in film and racial
oppression are so unpredictably entwined into the texture of America that they have
turned out to be for all intents and purposes imperceptible, much like carbon
monoxide, until the point that the lethal harm has happened. Film is an impression of
society and society thus is impacted by film. As far back as the Lumiere siblings
initially created film in 1896, it has been an astoundingly successful racial purposeful
publicity device. As the principal widespread mass medium it proficiently used high
show through the obsession of passionate successions. Basically, successful
promulgation begins exactly where basic reasoning closures. Especially in real life
and war motion pictures, Hollywood needs awful folks, and through the steady
utilization of racial generalizations these foes have incorporated the Vietnamese amid
the Vietnam war, the Russians all through the Cold War, Muslims amid the
continuous War on Terror and the Japanese after Pearl Harbor.1

2. In American film and media, during the “Yellow peril” the widespread image
of the Japanese as sub-human created an emotional context which formed a
justification for the nuclear bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that instantly
slaughtered 140,000 innocent people, as well as the establishment of concentration
camps for Japanese-Americans on US soil.2 The first group in Hollywood history to
have been depicted as dangerous savages is Native Americans. The gross
misrepresentation of Native Americans has been a longstanding problem for
American film makers ever since the rise of 19th-century Western frontier literature,
which portrayed pioneers as struggling with restless natives, without acknowledging
the genocide committed by white men. Despite vast evidence of Native American

1
GARIKAI CHENGU (2016). The History of Hollywood: Propaganda for White Supremacy at Home and US
Militarism Abroad. Retrieved 16 March 2016 from https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/03/16
2
D. Welch., & Fox J. (2012). Justifying war: Propaganda, politics and the modern age. Palgrave Macmillan.
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technological advances and complex civilization, Hollywood films depict native

culture as a “blanket ethnicity,” thereby pigeonholing the various groups and cultures
into one group defined by stereotypical tropes.

AIM

3. This study is to discuss the effectiveness of American movie in influencing

Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) in aspect of gaining knowledge through movie.

SCOPE

4. The scopes of this paper are as follow:

a. Introduction

b. Aim

c. Most Influence Movie Used as Propaganda

d. Element of Propaganda

e. Category of Propaganda

f. Analysis

g. Suggestion

h. Conclusion

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MOST INFLUENCE MOVIE USED AS PROPAGANDA

5. During the Second World War, German Propaganda Minister Joseph

Goebbels believed the media had a great influence on human emotions. Hence, he
directed the media at that time which is radio and newspaper to propaganda that the
Nazis were on the right side. He believed that if the news was propagated repeatedly
would have gained trust among members of the community. The fact is that the
minister has the truth because the same strategy has been done by the West to the
world community. For example during the Vietnam War, the US media has always
issued news that shows they will win the war. A few years after the war, the American
mass media screened war films showing Vietcong's defeat. Through these films, they
formed the world's thinking with the idea that the Vietcong army was cruel, violent,
oppressive and inhumane.3

6. The West has long been using mass media to make propaganda to meet their
interests. They use any media channel in any situation especially during the war. At
the time of World War II, radio and press releases became the main tool of Western
propaganda. The main purpose of propaganda is to create a good perception among
the world community on the Western agenda. Through radio and newspaper releases,
the West is described as a party that fights for universal importance. Whereas the
opposing parties are depicted otherwise. As a result of the propaganda, the support
and perceptions of the outside society of the West will be in their favor. Western
success in propaganda is with their ability to control large companies broadcasting in
disseminating information to the world community.

The United States government, for example, has links with several semi-government
and private agencies that have links to major world broadcasting agencies. The
world's largest broadcasting officers consist of those who have worked and retirees
from US government departments. Retirees from the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), Council of Foreign Relations, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Warburg Pincus,

3
J., & Black. (2001). Semantics and ethics of propaganda. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Vol. 16, no. 2 and 3, pp.
121-37.

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Phillip Morris and AMR Corporation have links with Warner. Most of them occupy
the board of directors of those companies. Warner is one of the largest broadcast
companies in the US and dominates the world news market. The company controls
interests and their assets in Time Magazine, HBO, Warner Bros and others. 4 Warner
Bros businesses range comes from feature film and TV to home entertainment
production and worldwide distribution to home video, digital distribution, animation,
comic books, licensing and international cinemas and broadcasting. In 2012, the
Warner Bros. Pictures Group grossed 4.3 billion dollars at the worldwide box office. 5
Each year Warner Bros. Pictures produces between 18 and 22 films. Warner Bros. has
produced more than 50 television series in the 2012–2013 television season. Warner
Bros has also incorporated DC Comics content into Warner Bros. From this
cooperation, they had come out certain movie such as Batman, Superman, Wonder
Woman, Flash and Green Lantern. These movie affecting Malaysian in a lot of things
such as the way of communicating, outfit, their characteristics, and other. But in this
paper, we will be discuss more regarding movie that based on military genre.

7. Nowadays, US had made a lot of movies to influence Target Audience (TA).

They used forms a target audience of moviegoers that watch between 3 and 52 films.
It is also obvious that most moviegoers enjoy films from multiple clusters, and it is
likely that preferences for different clusters are correlated within moviegoer segments.
Therefore, in order to best characterize the audience for each cluster, we next group
the set of moviegoers into ten segments based on the percentage of visits to each
movie cluster. Interestingly, when segmented in this manner, as set of demographic
and behavioural trends falls out for each segment in addition to the characteristic set
of genre preferences.6

4
WarnerMedia (2017). Who is Time Warner? Retrieved 31 December 2017 from
http://www.warnermediagroup.com/company/ Who is Time Warner?/
5
"Warner Bros. Pictures Group Has Another Record-Breaking Year at the Box Office". Reuters. January 6, 2012.
Retrieved May 23, 2013.

6
Will Palmer (2017). CinemaCon 2017: Who Is Your Audience in 2017? Retrieved 29 March 2017 from

https://pro.boxoffice.com/who-is-your-audience-in-2017/
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a. Ten Segments Of Characterize Target Audience

8. Movies that we will be discussing are:

a. American Sniper (2014).

b. Band of Brothers (2001).

c. Saving Private Ryan (1998).

d. Black Hawk Down (2001).

9. American Sniper is about a man which is Chris Kyle who is the deadliest sniper
in U.S. military history, is born and raised in Texas. He grows up hunting with his
father, and develops a strong sense of duty to his country. In 1996 he signs up for the
U.S. military, and is recommended for the Navy SEALs, at the time a relatively
unknown branch trained to fight on land, in the sea, and in the air. Kyle makes it
through intense physical training, during which he’s water-boarded, forced to exercise
for hours at a time without rest, and deprived of sleep. Shortly after completing his
SEAL training, Kyle is stationed in Long Beach, California, with Team 3 of the Navy
SEALs. There, he meets his future wife, Taya. At one point, he tells her, “I’d lay
down my life for my country.”

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b. American Sniper (2014)

10. Band of Brothers is a miniseries about the exploits of the soldiers of E

Company, 2/506 PIR (Parachute Infantry Regiment) from their initial training until
the end of World War II in Europe. The main character is an Army officer named
Dick Winters, but this is not true for the first episode. The first episode (titled
“Currahee”) focuses on E Company as it trains for combat and most of this training
occurs under the command of Capt. Herbert Sobel. Sobel’s character displays a
dizzyingly steep arc during the episode and this provides valuable insight into the
concept of leadership.

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c. Band Of Brothers (2001)

11. The story begins on June 6, 1944 in Normandy at Omaha Beach. Captain
John Miller (Tom Hanks) takes his men behind enemy lines to find Private James
Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat. Surrounded by the brutal
realties of war, while searching for Ryan, each man embarks upon a personal journey
and discovers their own strength to triumph over an uncertain future with honour,
decency and courage. In England, three of the four brothers of the Ryan family died in
battle. One on the soil of New Guinea, the second at Omaha Beach and the last
at Utah Beach. A rescue mission is organized to find the last of the four brothers,
James F. Ryan, parachuted behind the enemy lines the day before the landing, with
airborne forces. Captain Miller, accompanied for the occasion by a small elite group
of eight men, sets off in search of this Ryan. But the soldiers who accompany him
begin to doubt the mission and ask themselves questions. But doubt fades when, in a
ruined Norman village, one of the rank-and-file soldiers is killed by a German
sniper. The captain announces that he has lost his three brothers and that he has to go
home, but Ryan does not want to abandon his friends who defended this bridge as
much as he did. Why would he deserve more than another to return home? Of the 8
men who went in search of Ryan, only 2 would manage to get away with it. Ryan, for

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his part, is repatriated home, in the United States, Iowa. He will try to live as best he
can to honour the sacrifice of those men who died to save him.

d. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

12. A "Black Hawk" is a very advanced, expensive and deadly military

helicopter and the title of the movie explains what the "goal" of the plot was. Once the
one hundred elite U.S. soldiers dropped into Somalia they were almost instantly fired
upon. A rocket was actually shot at one of the black hawks while a soldier was
preparing to descend to its target but to dodge the missile the helicopter had to jar
itself to the left which caused the soldier to plummet to the ground. Many soldiers
were hurt in this battle, and a total of 19 U.S. soldiers were killed. When the fighting
began things looked good for the U.S. They did not have tactical advantage, and they
did not have the advantage of having the location they were prepared for even though
preparation was intense. They did have the advantage of having a better more
advanced, yet smaller artillery and combat training. "Leave no U.S. soldier behind!"
said the general, which helps to better explain the title.

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e. Black Hawk Down (2001)

10. These are certain movie that consists a lot of propaganda been shown. As
MAF, we sure can gain a lot of knowledge and input through these movie as we
discuss more about it.

ELEMENT OF PROPAGANDA IN AMERICAN MOVIE

11. This day, we can see a lot of element of propaganda7 been show in movies. For
an example:

a. Name Calling.
b. Glittering Generalities.
c. Bandwagon.
d. Transfer.
e. Plain Folks.
f. Testimonial.
7
William E. Daugherty dan Morris Janowits. A PSYHOLOGICAL Warfare Casebook
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g. Selection.
h. Card Staking.
i. Fear Appeal.
j. Argumentum Ad Nauseam.
k. Black and White Fallacy.
l. Obtain Disapproval.
m. Rationalization.
n. Intentional Vagueness.
o. Falsifying Information.
p. Unstated Assumption.
q. Euphoria.

12. In early 1972 the Surgeon General’s Office of the United States National
Institutes of Health announced that for the first time scientific evidence had been
assembled from a number of behavioral studies that showed a causal link between the
exposure of movie violence and their subsequent aggressive behavior. 8 This meant
that violence on movies could stimulate or influence Target Audience to participate in
aggressive or violent behavior. But in case of military aspects, MAF personnel can
take those aggressiveness and take it as a way on how to handle things. In movie
American Sniper, the main actor show his aggressiveness in combat. In Band of
Brothers, we can see how their Commanding Officers named Captain Sobel handle
their Easy Company. He always aggressive in training and communicate with his
soldiers. As MAF Personnel, we can use it in training and our everyday life

13. American movie also use emotional appeal as element of propaganda in their
movie. For example in movie Black Hawk Down, the general use words “Leave No
Men Behind”. This words said by the general during their fight at Mogadishu. In war
or training, MAF can take it as an idioms as a wise words and use it to implement it to
every day works.

14. This day, we can see teenagers had been influence most with outfit from the
movie. Certain organization or NGOs had organize an event called “cosplay”. It is an
8
Victor B. Cline (1977) How Do Movies and TV Influence Behavior. Retrieved October 1977 from
https://www.lds.org/ensign
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event of people will wears an outfit dressed like a character, hero or heroine shown in
movie. Most of heroine character wears outfit which are not covered their body
enough. This will influence teenager to dress like that and this will increase rape case
in Malaysia. But in military aspects, their superiors always check their room and their
clothes. For an example, in Band Of Brothers, Captain Sobel always check their
subordinates’ room cleanliness and tidiness. At a certain time, if their room and
clothes not up to standard, their weekend pass will be revoke. The point is, MAF can
follow how their discipline in make sure room, clothes in perfect manner as how
soldiers is.

15. Movie trailer production is heavily reliant on subjective factors and is the most
certain method of rousing moviegoers to buy tickets for a movie opening. Each
objective of the study has a foundation of determining the effectiveness of movie
trailers in the minds of target audience. Trailers have proven to be one of the most
expensive and efficient ways of movie advertising as many people decide to watch a
movie based on their impression of the trailer. Films like “Saving Private Ryan” are
examples of independent films that exceeded their studios greatest expectations due to
having excellent trailers that helped promote to mainstream audiences. 9 By showing a
trailer regarding military training and war for sure going to persuade military
personnel to watch the movie because it is related to their everyday life. Sometimes,
MAF personnel often watch the movie as they can learn how other country personnel
maneuver in war and what assets they had.

BLACK PROPAGANDA

16. Black propaganda is false information that is spread claiming to be from a

source on one side when in reality it usually comes from the opposed side. It was a
common tactic during WWII to misrepresent and embarrass enemies. A major
attribute with black propaganda is people are not aware someone is trying to influence
them. Its messages are usually subtle and will only be accepted by the target audience
if they believe it's really from its supposed source.

9
Kernan, Lisa. (2004). Coming Attractions: Reading American Movie Trailers. Austin: University of
Texas.
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17. Even though it is not related to our country, but one of the movie used black
propaganda by America is Saving Private Ryan and American Sniper. During the
Vietnam War, the United States Government carried out a systematic campaign of
Black Propaganda against the opposing Government forces which is the Viet Cong,
between 1965 and 1968. This campaign was called the Phoenix Program, and aimed
to 'neutralize' civilians that were sympathetic towards the Viet Cong by using a
mixture of kidnap, jailing, interrogation, torture and assassination as part of a False
Flag operation. These violent acts were carried out by United States sponsored troops
dressed as Viet Cong operatives, and aimed to erode support among civilians for the
Viet Cong so that they would no longer help them against United States forces.
Common practice was for the US sponsored troops to publicly kidnap and murder key
figures in villages, leaving their bodies in plain view, with signs attached attributing
the deaths to the Viet Cong. As part of the Phoenix Program, it is estimated that US
sponsored troops in the guise of Viet Cong forces 'neutralized' between 20,000 to
40,000 Vietnamese citizens.10

WHITE PROPAGANDA

18. White propaganda is correctly attributed to its true source and generally uses
facts and truthful messages in a persuasive manner. Although it relies on truth, it is
often presented in a biased manner. A clear example would be a typical public
relations strategy. A public relation officer for instance, will use persuasive words to
influence his or her clients to believe what he or she deems right or wrong. It is more
of a one-sided conversation on an issue without any opposing statement from the
clients or audience. This is why individuals involved in politics prefer to use this
method to persuade others to achieve their goals and intention. Typically, this type of
propaganda are used by opponents for an example, political parties, and generally the
purpose is to persuade people, for reasons that essentially the source is known and
its aim and intentions are identified.11 Apart from that, white propaganda is also
used to deceive black propaganda especially in open campaigns. This is very evident

10
D. Welch., & Fox J. (2012). Justifying war: Propaganda, politics and the modern age. Palgrave
Macmillan.
11
Jowett, G.S. and O’Donnell, V. (2006) Propaganda and Persuasion, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
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as white propaganda carries correct information, and true facts. However, still it can
be challenged, questioned, altered, and to some extend omitted.

19. Despite not having much evidence to paint a clear picture of what actually
happened when terrorists tried to take over United Airlines Flight 93 on September
11, Hollywood nevertheless was able to rush through this picture describing the
action as ‘inspired by real events’. The Pentagon, desperate as they were to distract
attention away from their failure to predict the attack, fully supported this film in its
heroic portrayal of American exceptionalism, painting the passengers as folksy
everymen and women who were just not going to stand for terrorism. Pretty
revealingly, the only character who suggests reasoning with the terrorists is
conveniently non-American. The film invokes feelings of both helplessness and
heroic sacrifice, subtly informing a nation in distress that in the War on Terror they’d
have to make their own sacrifices and namely on their own civil liberties and privacy.
In Black Hawk Down, the director shown that US soldiers are helping black people
and always showing that most of Islam races in Somalia are terrorist. As a results,
thousands of innocent man, child and women are killed in the crisis.12

ANALYSIS

20. Military personnel often use movie as a way to gain information regarding
their skill, knowledge and attitude. A good movie will often lead to good attitude
soldier while bad movie will lead to bad attitude of soldier. As in our movie reviews,
there are a lot of good characteristics, personnel that MAF personnel can take it as
example. However, it is up to soldier itself to implement it into their life. During our
analysis to soldier that watch military movie, a positive military personnel often
shows good example to other during classes and training. While there is a bad attitude
soldier who didn’t take a good vibe from the movie. They will take a bad example
from movie and implement in their life. It is up to them on how they want to show
themselves to their subordinates. It is shown that movie and film can easily influence
MAF in lots of way.

12
Bill The Butcher (2012). Black Hawk Down: A study in racism, jingoism and propaganda.
12 December 2012.
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21. Before the 1980s, Americans viewed sex as a teenager was ugly and
uncivilized. In fact, to date, the law in America stipulates that having sex with a
teenager under the age of 18 is wrong, because it is considered minors under "age of
consent". However, the impact of film / drama and liberation influences, sex scenes
when high school grows more and more. Examples of sex scenes after Prom night
high school, or after a Homecoming party which the practice of most high school in
America to welcome students who will start school sessions after a long holiday, or
sex scenes during field trips, picnics, summer holidays. Although the law does not
change, the broadcast of all this in the film affects the morals of the teenagers in our
country and MAF itself. Nowadays, we can see case involving MAF in rape and
sexual harassment. This was an example of negative vibe takes from movie. As we
all know, our country is an Islamic country and very strict about this issues and MAF
take this as a serious matter. Soldiers who involves in this issue will be punish and
affects their works. Hence, good example should be taken from movie.

SUGGESTION

22. Of all the aforementioned American movies, we can see there are many
ways of propaganda been used in those. In Malaysia, we can see only few numbers of
movies related to military such as Leftenan Adnan, Kanang anak Langkau, Bukit
Kepong and Hati Malaya 1957. I suggest government should sponsor local director
to film local military movies. By sponsoring the director, great movies about wars
and military perspective could be made so that our soldiers could shift their interest
and patriotism towards mother land.

23. Besides that, government can make a competition during Independence Day
in making a trailer or short video regarding military genre. With that, it will
encourage Malaysian to participate and give their support towards our own history.
Generation nowadays didn’t respect soldiers because they doesn’t know how soldiers
defend mother land before Independence Day. They also doesn’t know what the
sacrifice had been made to achieve what we got today.

CONCLUSION

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24. It is important to equip every member of the opposition movement with

knowledge. Knowledge is capable of creating quality members who are able to
contribute to future struggles. What's more, you are in a system that is likely to fool
you and didn’t want you to be a wise person. In MAF, to give a decision or orders,
soldiers must have knowledge and experience so that subordinates can listen or
follow your instructions. With knowledge, soldiers can survive in any condition
when been deployed. Besides that, American movie also teach us the act of loyal to
our country. For an example, in serial of movie of Band of Brothers, how the series
dramatizes the history of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry
Regiment, of the 101st Airborne Division, from jump training in the United States
through its participation in major actions in Europe, up until Japan's capitulation and
the war's end. If MAF personnel implement this act of loyalty, we can sure that our
country will have a strong soldier who are willing to do anything to protect their
country and beloved ones. This is also stated in second MAF oath which is “Setia
Kepada Negara Dan Sedia Berkorban Demi Kepentingannya Dengan Tidak Sekali-
Kali Mengenal Menyerah”.

(2899 Words)

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