Is this a modern-day propaganda film?

I certainly don't think everything is propaganda, for me there is a big difference between art and propaganda.
 
Kubrick71 said:
I certainly don't think everything is propaganda, for me there is a big difference between art and propaganda.
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there are few subjects more subjective than this, but I gotta disagree with you on this one. It's my opinion that all art is propaganda, and I don't understand how you can suggest propaganda can't be art.
 
Propaganda can be art using the basic definition of propaganda, for me, it ceases to be art when it moves into the most treacherous Animal Farm sense of the word. But I dont see all art being propaganda, its hard to draw any specific lines but I find painting or poetry to be good examples. For instance, where do you see the propaganda in Van Gogh's Starry Night?
 
First of all... the film looks horrible. 70mm is a little excessive... but then again perhaps that falls inline with the 'American' ideals the film is trying to convey. :)

Propaganda or not, I'll start worrying when it actually starts to resemble a good and convincing film. As of now, I can see through it like a window.

Third of all, this film slice of 'americana' has just about the same 'gag me' moments as a patriotic/nostalgic country music song. Nothing to really worry about. All and all, they are pushing rather basic ideas, nothing radical.
 
Cheesesailor77 said:
oooo, 70mm :)

BTW, everything is propaganda. All you can do is be aware of what your being fed.
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100% accurate. Ever see "They Live"?

Kubrick71 said:
Propaganda can be art using the basic definition of propaganda, for me, it ceases to be art when it moves into the most treacherous Animal Farm sense of the word. But I dont see all art being propaganda, its hard to draw any specific lines but I find painting or poetry to be good examples. For instance, where do you see the propaganda in Van Gogh's Starry Night?
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All art is propaganda because the person who makes usually places upon the screen what's in their heart therefore promoting an agenda. While I make secular films, I generally write from what I believe to be a Godly worldview. Is it propaganda? No more than "Bridges of Madison County" or any other modern day film/art/writing that promotes adultery as romance, sex without responsibility, teen pregnancies, hatred of God/Godly people or whatever else is poppin' off these days. Art spills from the heart and therefore promotes one's agenda whether they choose to openly promote said agenda or not.

-Nate
 
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Nothing wrong with American businesses trying to build up American pride. So they can sell American products. ....Made in foreign countries. lol

But what's really funny is that one of the stories is about a young woman, found on a raft, trying to make its way to America. Typically it would be a story about Cuban or Haitian refugees. But the young woman in the film is Vietnamese!!! What?!?! How often do you hear about a raft from Vietnam making its way to America? Obviously a very bad creative decision by the filmmakers. If they don't base the film on reality then they're going to hurt the cause of their film. They need to be very careful.
 
Nathyn said:
1All art is propaganda because the person who makes usually places upon the screen what's in their heart therefore promoting an agenda. While I make secular films, I generally write from what I believe to be a Godly worldview. Is it propaganda? No more than "Bridges of Madison County" or any other modern day film/art/writing that promotes adultery as romance, sex without responsibility, teen pregnancies, hatred of God/Godly people or whatever else is poppin' off these days. Art spills from the heart and therefore promotes one's agenda whether they choose to openly promote said agenda or not.

-Nate
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Exactly (religious views aside)
 
PK Gillock said:
Nothing wrong with American businesses trying to build up American pride. So they can sell American products. ....Made in foreign countries. lol

But what's really funny is that one of the stories is about a young woman, found on a raft, trying to make its way to America. Typically it would be a story about Cuban or Haitian refugees. But the young woman in the film is Vietnamese!!! What?!?! How often do you hear about a raft from Vietnam making its way to America? Obviously a very bad creative decision by the filmmakers. If they don't base the film on reality then they're going to hurt the cause of their film. They need to be very careful.
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I think the raft refugee was a different story then the Asian business woman. The first girl was simply skipped over very fast. My interpretation anyhow.
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
I think the raft refugee was a different story then the Asian business woman. The first girl was simply skipped over very fast. My interpretation anyhow.
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The raft and the Asian business woman are the same story. There's five stories total. I checked online and the young Vietnamese woman (in the trailer she's the student who is told to leave the lunch table by her peers) is the same person found on the raft. Which is why the other student made the wise crack, "Don't you have a boat to catch?". The characters name is Dawn Trang (Jane Le is the actress) and the description of her story on the film's website matches the raft story. Found on a boat, graduates, and becomes a successful business woman.

Interesting that they chose someone from Vietnam for that particular story. It could have easily been someone from Cuba or Haiti and had more relevance.
 
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Nathyn said:
100% accurate. Ever see "They Live"?



All art is propaganda because the person who makes usually places upon the screen what's in their heart therefore promoting an agenda. While I make secular films, I generally write from what I believe to be a Godly worldview. Is it propaganda? No more than "Bridges of Madison County" or any other modern day film/art/writing that promotes adultery as romance, sex without responsibility, teen pregnancies, hatred of God/Godly people or whatever else is poppin' off these days. Art spills from the heart and therefore promotes one's agenda whether they choose to openly promote said agenda or not.

-Nate
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How is Van Gogh's Starry Night propaganda? Or Beethoven's 9th symphony???

Please, I'd really love to hear some opinions because this has me thinking.

I understand that within film it may be more difficult to not promote an agenda but I'm not quite sure it's impossible. I don't want this to turn into a debate over what art is, but in my eyes just because you create something, even from the heart, doesn't make it art, a la They Live.


Richard Alan Nelson, A Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States, 1996

Propaganda is neutrally defined as a systematic form of purposeful persuasion that attempts to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, and actions of specified target audiences for ideological, political or commercial purposes through the controlled transmission of one-sided messages (which may or may not be factual) via mass and direct media channels. A propaganda organization employs propagandists who engage in propagandism—the applied creation and distribution of such forms of persuasion."


I see that the dictionary uses a much looser term for propaganda, simply implying an agenda, but I think the above statement is much more accurate when it speaks of purposeful persuasion and one-sided messages (which may or may not be factual).

But even going off of the dictionary's definition I am still in the dark as to why my above examples and many more would be propaganda.
 
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"How often do you hear about a raft from Vietnam making its way to America?"


The "boat people" of the seventies fled from Vietnam at end of the civil war to other parts of Asia and then relocated to the US, Canada, France, and other countries. The film made an assumption about the audience's level of historic knowledge.
 
Looks like one of those movies made specifically in imax for spectacle. For a reason to show great American landscapes. Putting the stories in as "filler". Because they couldn't decide what the hell to do with all this 70mm footage they shot all over America.
 
MikeGunter said:
The "boat people" of the seventies fled from Vietnam at end of the civil war to other parts of Asia and then relocated to the US, Canada, France, and other countries. The film made an assumption about the audience's level of historic knowledge.
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It's possible the filmmakers are using that history for that particular plot (maybe her parents were relocated to the US). But the trailer makes it appear as though it's a modern day story and that she was on the boat and that's where her struggles originate. Which would be stretching the truth (history) quite a bit. Won't know until I see it. Which is unlikely since it probably won't be shown in Thailand. lol
 
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