Hollywood: weapon of mass attraction or weapon of mass destruction for America?

Introduction: The full name of the book is “American Idol after Iraq,” which was published by Blackwell – Wiley in 2009. The book’s author Nathan Gardels has been the editor of the New Perspectives Quarterly since its publication began in 1985. He has written extensively for newspapers and magazines since the mid-1980s and has also been a media leader for the World Economic Forum (Davos). In addition, he has delivered speeches at the Islamic Organization for Education, Science and Culture (IESCO). Gardels has a degree in Comparative Theory and Politics from UCLA. His co-author Mike Medavoy has been very active in the making of a large number of Hollywood movies. Throughout his career in Hollywood, he has also been active in politics. In 1992 and 1996 he advocated for Bill Clinton and in 2008 he stood for Barack H. Obama. He was born in Shanghai to Jewish-Russian parents; graduated with honors in history from UCLA.

Summary

In this must-read book, the authors primarily explain and discuss public diplomacy and Hollywood’s role in its shaping, primarily in the new era after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The foreword is by Joe Nye, a Harvard professor who is best known for his notion of “soft power.” Once again, Nye affirms the importance of soft power – Weapon of Mass Attraction – and recalls that not the missiles and the bomb but the American soft power was the key in the collapse of the Berlin Wall and, consequently, of the Soviet Union. , the Empire of Evil as Reagan called it. Nye believes that in the wake of the new century, American soft power is not as powerful as it has been in recent decades. It is because of the mistreatment of prisoners in Gitmo and Abu Ghoraib prison by US troops. The world does not believe or trust the United States as before. Professor Nye argues that in the information age, success is not simply the result of which army (hard power) wins, but also whose history (soft power) wins. Remember America’s challenge and problem with hard-line Islamists and extremists where it takes tough power to defeat them, but the WMA is needed to win the hearts and minds of moderate Muslims, who are the majority in the Muslim world. It accentuates the fact that democracy and human rights could be achieved much more easily with soft power with lasting effect. Obviously the most important soft power tool for the United States is its gigantic media-industrial complex and Hollywood, which the authors comment extensively on in their script.

HEARTS, MINDS AND HOLLYWOOD:

Hollywood, as the authors propose, has been the greatest dream-making and story-telling machine in human history. Unlike most countries in the world, the image of the United States is based not only on who they are and what they do, but also on how Americans present themselves to the world through their global window. The most attractive and glamorous production of this machine has been the image of the United States as the promised land of infinite possibilities and opportunities where individual freedom is at hand and society is always on the move. In its 100 years it has opened a new window to the world in which the United States has been seen through it and Americans have also seen the world through it. Some believe that he has had great success in telling and selling the (versions of) American stories for the past 100 years. “The dreams of America (individual freedom, middle class, prosperity, social mobility, the rule of law), which also became the dreams of the world, were represented by Hollywood.”

Other than that, it has been used as a tool by the American government fighting the enemies of “freedom”, fascism, communism. Even the author argues that during the most tense and peak day of the Cold War, it was JFK who ordered managers in Hollywood that Ian Fleming 007’s spy novels should be turned into movies. Apart from that, he mentions that to fight fascism and Nazism in the 20th century, Hollywood unveiled the world’s first celebrity, Charlie Chaplin, who downplayed and underestimated Hitler’s power in The Great Dictator. He followed the Wilsonian ideal in America’s role in bringing democracy and self-determination to other parts of the world. These are samples that show that Hollywood in his life has been used and used as a tool and actor for the political ends of the United States. By creating globally known roles such as Rambo and James Bond, Hollywood has vanquished its enemies, enemies of the world, and made it credible that America is the world’s last savior. Its values ​​are absolute and universal and necessary to save humanity. Consequently, Washington eagerly sought to use Hollywood’s influence and soft power at home to get people to favor its own foreign policy goals.

But it cannot be widely accepted that America’s secret weapon, Hollywood, the greatest tool of soft power, is playing a positive role all the time. Not only foreigners criticize Hollywood for spreading violence, the pornographic culture through its images in the world, but within the United States there are those who reprimand and beat the film industry as well. To a large extent, Fukuyama claims that it “is perceived as the purveyor of the kind of secular, materialistic and permissive culture that is not very popular in many parts of the world, especially the Muslim world.” It is living without any responsibility that is creating the greatest tragedy of our time. It empties of spiritual dimension. Many believe that Hollywood is not doing a great job raising America’s spirituality and morality in the world to win the hearts and minds of the people, but conversely, Hollywood is sowing the seeds of hatred and hatred in the world. world in general and in the Muslim world. particularly. Some, like Bill Bennett, Ronald Reagan’s education secretary, famously and openly accused that Hollywood is undermining America’s dominant values. This is much clearer when we take a look at the PEW Foundation survey in April 2005, in which nearly 61% of Americans are concerned about what their children see or hear on television. Consequently, “soft power does not necessarily increase the world’s love for America. Soft power is still power and still creates enemies.” If there is resistance to the military presence and occupation, there will surely be opposition and resentment to the cultural invasion and occupation. For example, even in Turkey, which is America’s NATO ally, the most popular novel in 2004, of which more than 800,000 copies were sold, imagined a war between Turkey and the United States in which Turkey ultimately wins. Even the kind of American secularism that appears in the movies has been a cause for concern among religious leaders in the West. Pope Benedict XVI raised concerns that aggressive secularism reflected in the media was eroding America’s religious foundations. He told the American bishops that “the American type of secularism poses a particular problem. It allows one to profess faith in God and respects the public role of religion, but at the same time it can subtly reduce religious beliefs to the lowest common denominator. The result is a growing separation between faith and life. “

Although the noble poet Octavio Paz called America “the Republic of the Future” that always looks to the future and the new horizon in which Hollywood has managed to create. But now, due to the democratization of digital media around the world, the future is not a gospel for American soft power and its culture. For example, although American soap operas are largely watched from Malaysia to Canada, but in South Korea, for example, 92% of television and video games are domestically produced and tell and sell their own stories.

In the age of globalization, we may be witnessing the end of the “end of history,” as affirmed by Francis Fukuyama after the end of the Cold War. The process and era of globalization accelerated modernity and postmodernity and diversification throughout the world. Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani makes this critical point in his book, “The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power Eastward,” asserted that the great paradox about failed Western attempts to export democracy to other societies is that in the broadest sense of the term, the West has managed to democratize the world. A key goal of democracy is to empower its citizens to make them believe that they are masters of their own destiny. The number of people in the world who believe this has never been higher. Even in China’s undemocratic society, citizens have seized the opportunities afforded by the economic freedom they enjoy to completely change their lives … In the global term there has been an enormous democratization of the human spirit. ” Some claim that in a democracy the voting booth and the box office share the same audience. Thus, Hollywood has largely been viewed as the muscle of the United States of America in public diplomacy to win the hearts and minds of the public. The globalization and democratization trend of the media and the growing distribution of power in many centers – the rise of the rest – as Fareed Zakaria calls it, results in an atmosphere in which Hollywood It is not the expected and absolute winner. The development of communication technology, mainly the Internet, and the appearance of Netizen (citizen of the network) now each one is his own storyteller and filmmaker who is growing greatly in number. As people move to the same neighborhood, more and more people want to see and hear their own stories on the screen, see that their own ideas and cultures have been projected and reflected on the screen, and then enjoy the latest news.

CONCLUSION:

The authors claim that, like Harry Warner, one of Hollywood’s founders believed that “movies should educate and entertain people.” The author argues that due to the changing challenges facing the world and the United States, the media and Hollywood strategy must change to face the problems of the new era. Some recommendations are given on the close cooperation of public diplomacy and mass culture. Some of them include the issue of sensitivity that should be considered in the media and Hollywood to promote empathic understanding of other civilizations and ways of life. It is insane to try to impose the American way of life and the liberal model of the “good life” on the world. “Being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes without prejudging is a fundamental skill,” says a Chinese cellist. Among the recommendations is breaking with the narrow-mindedness of the American public by promoting greater cultural cooperation with other cultures, promoting the exhibition of valuable American cultural products, raising the level of exchange in students and journalists and figures cultural and the creation of a joint committee. Washington and Hollywood on cultural relations. They believe it can work to restore the American dream and posture in the new age again.