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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Lights, Camera...Propaganda!
RT: Hollywood beats the war drum

Last week, I was interviewed by Russia Today reporter Ramon Galindo for a short piece on how Hollywood depicts foreigners and serves the interests of U.S. foreign policy by demonizing whatever Washington's enemy du jour happens to be at any given time.

The piece is short (3 minutes), but very well done, and I was lucky enough not to be left completely on the cutting room floor. (Sadly, though, my mention of 1991's Not Without My Daughter, 2003's House of Sand and Fog and 1986's Down and Out in Beverly Hills didn't make it in.)


*****

4 comments:

  1. AmirOctober 20, 2012 at 5:50 PM

    Let me get this straight: Putin TV/The Kremlin Channel is condemning the media of the Great Satan for its "cozy relationship" with the government? This story would have had greater credibility if it was featured on a North Korean news agency.

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  2. Nima ShiraziOctober 20, 2012 at 6:00 PM

    I get your point, but I think you might mean to point out what you see as an issue of "hypocrisy" rather than "credibility."

    Is there something in the piece you think is incorrect? Or do you just think that RT shouldn't address Western propaganda when it ignores its own?

    Then again, I think you're conflating "media" with "entertainment" which (while the two are pretty much inseparable here in the US) are two different issues. The piece is clearly about Hollywood - not mainstream news media - so unless you want to address how Russian cinema and the Russian film industry goes to great lengths to demonize Russia's enemies (a topic worthy of exploration, I'm sure), I think you're barking up the wrong tree.

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  3. Iran-thru-Open-EyesOctober 20, 2012 at 7:40 PM

    Well done, Nima.
    I assume you attempted to debunk the negative stereotypes in the two films mentioned.
    Other forms of media also demonize Iran. Nafisi's "Reading Lolita in Tehran" has become the book even fair-minded people reference when they discuss Iranian culture. Fatemah Keshavarz's "Jasmine and Stars: Reading MORE than Lolita in Tehran," rebuts Nafisi but it is, unfortunately, not nearly so well known, perhaps because it was written as a genuine reflection on Iranian culture by a scholar of Islam and of Rumi, and not a 'hit piece' supported by the US MIC.

    "Lies are what the world lives on, and those who seek the truth and live their lives in accord are, finally, not the many but the few." -Joseph Campbell

    ReplyDelete
  4. FrancesOctober 21, 2012 at 2:06 AM

    Cheers, Nima. Interesting segment, and congratulations on being featured.

    ReplyDelete

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