Captain America is a weird one to include. Not denying it's propaganda, everything is, but throwing Cap in with copaganda is such a surface level take. He's propaganda for American exceptionalism sure, but also embodies it in an old school New Deal way. The character has been consistently anti-facist over the years.
Imo Iron Man is the much more harmful propaganda. You can pretty much draw a direct line between the characters rise in popularity thanks to the MCU and the rise of Elon Musk.
People kept calling Musk -- Stark because they thought he was a scientist/genius. Like the MCU fake tech was gonna be birthed out of this immature edge lord that steals people's idea with stolen money.
Yeah I kinda disagree with Cap as well. He also explicitly refutes the government to stand up what he believes is right in Civil War too.
Fuck America and its Captain. All MCU shit is propaganda to brainwash yanks to believe in their inherent goodness and exceptionalism.
Capital has the ability to subsume all critiques into itself. Even those who would critique capital end up reinforcing it instead.
Disco Elysium
Why is this the case? Why is it so readily able to subsume critique?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuperation_(politics)
Some former means of countercultural expression that have been identified by critics as recuperated (at least in part) are: punk music and fashion like mohawk hairdos, ripped jeans, and bondage accessories like dog collars; tattoos; street art and participatory art.
(You know, like Paul Ryan liking Rage Against the Machine.)
Because Capitalism is built to sell anything, even ideas.
Do you remember Reddit's Random Acts of Pizza from around 2010-2012 or so?
https://abcnews.go.com/US/random-acts-pizza-donate/story?id=13950694 (This story is from June 2011)
It was a really sweet forum where people were buying hungry folks in need a pizza. Something simple and comforting for people struggling.
Within a year of a handful of news articles about the subreddit, and Mars Candy had copyrighted the phrase "Random Acts of Chocolate" and pushed an ad campaign about "buying an extra for a friend" as a "random act of chocolate."
https://www.cspdailynews.com/snacks-candy/mars-distributing-random-acts-chocolate (This is from September 2011)
https://www.thismomneedswine.com/2011/03/free-chocolate-bar.html (A blog post from March 2011 about free coupons for chocolate)
Part of how they recuperate things is through mechanisms like copyright and trademarks, these laws are built protect businesses but bind individuals. Random Acts of Pizza is just a subreddit but Random Acts of Chocolate is copyrighted, trademarked, and owned by Mars, Inc. Meaning in some ways I am barred from using the phrase "Random Acts of Chocolate" since they own it.
EDIT:
I almost forgot my favorite example: Naomi Klein's book "This Changes Everything." The thesis is that if we don't dump capitalistic modes of production we'll all fall to climate change. However, she still relied on traditional capitalist publishers to get her book published and sold. She didn't put her money where her mouth was and release it online for free for everyone, to show she was willing to dump capitalism to spread her message, since it was that important. Nope, still gotta use capitalism to critique capitalism, I guess. She also will speak at your university for a cool $100k. I think she believes in her thesis less than she says she does.
You don't get it... its super
It's just innocuous entertainment.
Listening to the Super Earth Anthem doesn't make me want to drop a 380mm barrage over everything the Illuminate hold dear, or anything...
Only some of us have the strength and the courage to be free!
Bro thinks Startship Troopers is actual army propaganda.
You don't copy Leni Riefenstahl without making at least partly a fascist propaganda movie.
When I first watched that movie, there was a group of guys that would have joined the troopers, judging from at what scenes they cheered.
"But they're just TV shows" "it's not that deep" etc. I would implore you to listen to this excellent episode of Citations Needed..
It covers how modern cop shows were invented directly to counter shows that portrayed defence lawyers as the protagonists, along with a general push to lionize the police state despite its inability to prevent crime or deliver real justice.
forgot call of duty
Yes, master
Copaganda
Where does stuff like Brooklyn 99 come in?
Fetish content
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Everything is propaganda if it changes your view of something
Doesn't even need to change your mind.
Pretty much spot on, though that is the exact point of these kinds of shows.
It was part of a wave of shows launched to counter the media perception of incompetence in law enforcement/prosecution. They pushed a bunch of dangerously misleading (or even outright fake) claims such as the reliability and accuracy of forensic evidence which has been later used in actual court cases to imprison innocent people.
As always, Citations needed has done a brilliant job on this kind of stuff that's worth a listen.
SVU gets a pass for being AWESOME
Moonie (Moon Channel) has a lovely 2h30 video on the topic of Kawaii: Anime, Propaganda, and Soft Power Politics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM2VIKfaY0Y
It focuses mostly on the eastern part of things, but it applies to stuff we end up consuming, too. Also worth quoting one of the top comments in the video:
I think you get one thing wrong, and that is claiming Japan is the #1 at projecting soft power. I'm sorry but the US is #1 and it isn't even a contest (coming from a non-American). The reason we don't really get the impression that the US is this soft power behemoth is because the US has been so proficient in projecting soft power that it has been normalized and integrated everywhere.
blue bloods is the most offensive one
Honestly I'm more offended people made a big deal about COPS! getting cancelled only to be replaced with Live PD, which doesn't have a team filming them but rather just works off all the body camera footage. Worse than COPS ever was.
I vaguely remember being somewhat shocked at what Chicago PD has the "good guys" do and justifying it.
yeah Chicago PD is also notably gross, especially when you consider how much real life violence occurs in the city as a direct result of police antagonism.
You forgot ncis
stopped watching western television a long time ago, mostly watched asian television nowadays
Could you recommend some good shows and movies?
The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021) Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) Hi, Mom (2021) Fallen angels by Wong kar wai
Literal propaganda movies?
Ahahaha fucking hell and youse say the westerns are brainwashed.
Thank you
I have a Flag Smashers shirt... go figure, they speak to me.
I was putting it on a couple days ago and I paused and thought about it, and suddenly realized the immensity of the propaganda - the great Captain America destroying the evil socialists who think resources should be shared by everyone, and that nationalism is a barrier to truly having 'one human family'.
Blew my mind it took me this long. Also made me wonder if they were dug up from long ago comics when America was openly and blatantly monitoring and persecuting socialists and communists (specifically picturing the scenarios and time illustrated in Oppenheimer). Haven't had a chance to dig in to that part yet, but I will right now!
25 years ago I noticed the trend in the movies in the theater, and realized the USA was becoming fascist. I was sad, but surprised later at how long it took. I rather thought it would be faster and more dramatic, and not this creeping sorry mediocrity seen later in politics
Needs NCIS
wait why is captain america up there? its wrong to fight nazis? is that what you're saying?
He masks the fact that you (Americans) are the Nazis. It masks the fact that all soldiers are the enemy of free people. It enforces American exceptionalism. Fuck Marvel, Disney, all Super Heroes and Yankee media.