Educational Media Reviews Online

Militainment, Inc. effectively examines militarism and pop culture. The film demonstrates how news coverage of the two Gulf Wars has essentially been a production of “the war movie.” Rather than merely reporting the facts, the media has worked to maximize the entertainment value of war coverage. Suspense rather than information is often the focus – i.e. aiming for maximizing viewers (and thereby ratings) by making war news “must see TV” complete with a designated kick-off time. Viewers are turned into spectators at a sporting event designed to “shock and awe.” But all while making sure the fighting and killing is presented as an aesthetically pleasing clean war. The examples of euphemisms used in images as well as words reveal misdirection worthy of Orwellian doublespeak.

Although the overall length of the film is a full 2-hours, the film is divided into nine segments, plus an intro and outro that can be used individually for viewing and discussion. The nine topics are [War as] Spectacle, Clean War, Techno-fetishism, Demonization, Reality TV, Sports, Toys, Video Games, and Dissent. Each focuses on a different mode of entertainment manipulation, but all deal with how war is being marketed and glamorized for our consumption. Any one segment should generate plenty of class discussion.

Some of the topics include: surprising partnerships such as military resources are used in music videos of patriotic country western songs, and that war-related toy and video game tie-ins worthy of blockbuster movies are being produced and sold. Not only is the enemy demonized (no matter how recently they were considered allies) into an Other, but Americans who have spoken out against the war are deliberately ridiculed and discredited. But most surprising is that all of the major news broadcasters appear to have played into the idea that presenting sanitized war coverage is preferable to the “Vietnam Syndrome” of showing the true ugliness of war. The only news programs that seem to recognize the absurdity of some of these situations are satirical programs such as the Daily Show. In the clips shown throughout the film, it became apparent that the news anchors often sounded like hosts of a sporting event or reality TV show, where they unnecessarily create suspense to fill time and keep the viewer from changing the channel.

Production values are good. Narration by Professor Roger Stahl is illustrated by numerous media clips, primarily from mainstream news sources. Militainment, Inc. is highly recommended, especially for courses on mass communications and popular culture.