Film Argo & the truth

[tenni]

There has been discussion in Canada about the Ben Affleck film "Argo" that is up for Best Picture.

The controversy is about how the film has treated Ken Taylor, the Canadian Ambassador behind all of the real heroics in Teheran.

Initially, the Canadian media told the story placing Taylor clearly as the hero. The author of Argo has written a book about the incident. In this brief interview with President Carter he points out that the film's hero was really only in Teheran for 1.5 days and not really involved in the rescue.


The truth and Hollywood films has been known for a long time to be not compatible. Storyline is usually created to make people in the US go to the movie.

What other Hollywood films do you see as playing loose with the truth?

Do you think viewers consciously know and understand this fiction of reality?


http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2013/02/22/pmt-jc-on-argo.cnn#/video/bestoftv/2013/02/22/pmt-jc-on-argo.cnn

[Velorex]

It is astonishing that people don't understand Hollywood. They are there to entertain. That is it. Nothing else. If you are looking to get truth and understanding out of Hollywood, then I also have a great big bridge to sell you for only $5 dollars!

Hollywood, both screen and TV shows are only as good as the hype it draws to make you buy popcorn, soda, candy, or watch commercials for a more absorbent tampons, and tastier soup.

EVERY movie and/or TV show are completely filled with inaccuracies or are a downright lies. The truth is boring. Would you go to a movie theater to watch the truth that you already know?

Geesh people!

[johnnyeasy]

Velorex....
I agree with you...in principal......BUT! After I saw "ARGO" I did some MINOR research and found out there were quite a few inaccuracies. Nothing bad happened at the Airport, no gun waving jeeps flying down the tarmac, no last minute phone call to the "studio" in Los Angles to verify that the studio existed. It also pointed out that the Canadian Ambassador did a LOT more then he was portrayed as doing. His life, his wife and that of the staff were on the line for 6 americans.
Here is MY problem: How many people , now or in the future, WILL do that research? Hollywood has given us TERRIBLE tellings of American history that simply weren' t true, BUT we all believe because the story we got was the FILM VERSION, not the truth!
WORST example: How we treated Native Americans when we settled the west! What is the old saying......"when the white people won, it was a battle, but when the native americans won , it was a massacre?"
THere are more examples, especially in WWII movies......but the point is.....How Many People BELIEVE Hollywoods version because they are too lazy to research or too stupid to believe the truth when it is provided to them?
Hollywood wants it both ways.........it is not fair!
Johnnyeasy

[Erotinaughty]

"Hollywood," and the corporate media, is agenda-driven and these outlets are their propaganda organs. They are involved in a culture war and truth is the first casualty of any war. If you want the truth, you have to dig and the sheeple are too lazy to dig. Do not get me started on the skewed, dumbed-down nonsense that is taught to children in schools these days.

"Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics ... It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing." Vaclav Havel

[Realist]

Why would anyone watch a movie and expect the truth?

They're in business of entertainment, not as purveyors of facts!

[by~his~side]

ARGOf*ckyourself!!

This post isn't about Hollywood movie making. I just want to share a thought.
I was a freshman in high school in 1979 when the Iranian hostage situation occurred.
I had never heard of Iran. The most we had ever learned about that part of the world
was the Israeli/Palestinian fight for the Gaza Strip. And that was 'between them'.
I clearly remember thinking that earth is big....very big and too big for the unrest that was
happening in the desert to harm us here in America.
I was 14.
I'm 47 now and the world is smaller than it was. Too small.


~D~

[darkeyes]

Cinema and the truth? Don't make me laff.. it's about money mostly, some about propaganda and has a slant maybe for a cause.. but truth? Don't b soft... it's called dramatic licence.. it is done in literature too 2 a great extent, telly and radio drama an all.. just take it all with a pinch of salt and enjoy the tale or not as the case may be... film makers are not often about truth.. they are about getting bums on seats as they say and coining it..

.. but cinema and telly drama, like literature, do have their dark side.. dramatic licence it may be... but around half of the bums in these seats think it to have been the truth and that is often the purpose financiers, studios and film makers want out of a film... and so dramatic licence becomes history in the minds of many.. it is corrupting and creates in the mind of far too many much self deception and in time, self deception which can all too often be put to a sinister purpose by corporations and by state and ultimately tragedy.

Take cinema for what it is.. entertainment.. don't take it as history.. enjoy a good yarn but if u want history, read and research some.. don't rely on film to give it u...

[Gearbox]

Lets not hang Hollywood and think the maddness will end!Many people honestly believe that one day it'll be like Startrek.LOL!It's ingrained into global consciousness that one day technology will save us all and a utopian Earth Order will cast injustice aside like tatty old flint arrowheads.So pump billions into NASA folks and don't worry about the homless and destitute. They'll get their day......one day!

[darkeyes]

It's ingrained into global consciousness that one day technology will save us all and a utopian Earth Order will cast injustice aside...
American science fiction in film maybe, Gear.. but European and especially British is much more dystopian... and the old earth order much more likely to cast justice aside... seems to me we are already there and becoming more so every day, So to some degree, some film like literature does reflect the reality of the modern world, if not precisely the facts of it...

[dafydd]

I wasn't very entertained by Schindler's List
or Dancer In the Dark...
..or Anti-Christ...though I was morbidly fascinated by all three.

[Gearbox]

@Darkeyes- I'm not sure what your saying there. Are you saying that Europians have a more realistic view of where technology can/will take us?

[darkeyes]

@Darkeyes- I'm not sure what your saying there. Are you saying that Europians have a more realistic view of where technology can/will take us?
If u like... European cynicism knows no bounds...

[SameBoat]

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bes...jc-on-argo.cnn (http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2013/02/22/pmt-jc-on-argo.cnn#/video/bestoftv/2013/02/22/pmt-jc-on-argo.cnn) HAS BEEN REMOVED !!!!!!!!!

[tenni]

removed the video?
It was a CNN video interview by Pierce Morgan. Maybe, they keep it visible for only a short time since it is the CNN website?(It may be just that programmes webpage?)

I think that the concept and defence of falsify history to an extreme by arguing that it is only "entertainment" is an apologist perspective. I am more inclined to agree with those that refer to manipulation of the masses to believe in such things as "we are number one" etc. brava that has been everywhere within the US and abroad. Although some historical errors may be excused in such movies as Lincoln, that film did not say that Lincoln rose from death on the fith day after his assassination..did it? Argo is more in line with distorting recent historical facts as someone argued with misfrepresentation of the superiority of caucasians over aboriginals.

Good points daf
What is missing in our film history are films that present in a more positive light Nazis as opposed to Schinlder's List. It seems unfathomable that such a film would be created doing this. Those that argue that Hollywood films are just entertainment would be very upset if such a film was created. Just look at how the MC of the Oscars was treated with his poor taste joke about Nazis.

[tenni]

just found this on a film maker that I know Facebook page.

“Films that are entertainments give simple answers but I think that's ultimately more cynical, as it denies the viewer room to think. If there are more answers at the end, then surely it is a richer experience.” - Michael Haneke


Michael Haneke is an Austrian filmmaker and screenwriter best known for his bleak and disturbing style. His films often document problems and failures in modern society. Haneke has worked in television‚ theatre and cinema. He is the director of “Amour”.

[ExSailor]

Oh well. Tenni it's just a movie who cares?

[uounkhkl]

It's very easy.

That's forplay before war with Iran.

Israel talks so many times about attack Iran, but people in USA don't want another war.
Israel need American Soldier to fight with Iran.

I didn't know why Michelle Obama announce the Best Picture. After she told "Argo" I know.
I thing she thought, that the winner will be Lincoln.