How the Pentagon Uses Pop Music for Military Propaganda
SputnikNews.com
21.03.2018
The Pentagon’s entertainment propaganda operations are expanding beyond Hollywood movies and TV shows to encompass almost every aspect of popular culture. One area where they are increasingly involved is pop music, teaming up with some of the biggest names in the music industry to produce pro-military music videos and singing-themed movies.
From pop stars like Katy Perry and Mariah Carey to indie rockers Michelle Penn and The Secret State, the Pentagon had supported a wide variety of recent music video artists. While many of these are country singers like Scotty McCreery and Craig Morton, they also provide assistance to musical reality TV shows and even for a live performance by Britney Spears in Las Vegas.
Pitch Perfect Propaganda?
The most recent music project to have enjoyed large-scale military support was Pitch Perfect 3 – the third in the series of movies about the a capella singing troupe the Barden Bellas. In this final installment the Bellas are seen struggling for money and working in low-paid jobs so they decide to reunite for a USO tour. They travel to several US military bases in Europe to entertain the troops.
The film was shot on location at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia, which was dressed to look like Rota, Spain. A DODlive article notes how there were military advisers on set through large parts of the filming:
“Thomas Lesnieski, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and the former director of public affairs for the Georgia National Guard, says there were many 18-hour days on set, helping to scout locations and providing script reviews to make sure the military was shown in a positive light.”
Air Force Capt. Meredith Kirchoff, who works in public affairs at the Dobbins base, revealed how they even used Airmen to serve as extras in some of the concert scenes. Kirchoff commented that the movie “was awesome, in that it really humanized some of our service members.”
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