Disney and U.S. military policy

[Doug Millison]

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0123/lee.shtml
excerpt:
The fantasy of "a democracy with lofty ideals" is what UC Berkeley professor
Ronald Takaki calls the "master narrative of American history." And it turns
out the U.S. military establishment is the Cyrano to Disney's Christian,
courting viewers for support from behind the facade of American greatness.
[...] The script apparently made the rounds among Japanese nationals,
Japanese Americans, and U.S. historians. But it was most heavily vetted by
those who had the ability to make or break the $140 million movie-the
American military. Officials were not shy about putting their stamp on the
project. "Any film that portrays the military as negative is not realistic
to us," a Pentagon liaison told the Chicago Times, which is why films
unfavorable to the military such as Courage Under Fire haven't received an
iota of government support. [...] The film's run dovetails with a spate of
Bush administration military moves: a missile-defense shield proposal that
NATO allies view as superfluous; the refusal to back a global
biological-weapons ban; a neo-Cold War hostility toward China and North
Korea; even Bush's approval of the controversial $160 million World War II
memorial on the Washington mall.  [...] The cotton candy artifice of the
"master narrative," has gotten Pearl Harbor universal pans from critics. But
Americans are still flocking to see it. As Johnson says, "Don't kid yourself
about what an incredible PR apparatus the U.S. military has." Disney's no PR
slouch, either. And for both beneficiaries, the ticket to victory lies in
the seductive power of the American myth.