Sooo….I had no idea that in the mid nineties the CIA
appointed a Hollywood liaison; did you? The CIA was influential in the film
business during the Cold War, but it was covert for the most part--a propaganda
tool--but in 1996 they actually made it official by opening an office in
Hollywood.
Author Tricia Jenkins interviews numerous CIA staff,
including operations officers, as well as Hollywood producers and screenwriters
who have worked with the CIA.
Specifically, she writes about the CIA’s involvement with TV shows like The Agency and Alias (Jennifer Gardner actually appeared in a recruitment video
for the CIA in 2004).
Films such as Enemy
of the State, Sum of all Fears, Syriana,
and The Good Shepherd (Robert Baer, ret. CIA, provided source material for
the latter two) are also written about in depth. The objective of the liaisons
to Hollywood is to improve the overall image of the CIA and convince the world
of the importance of Langley in a post Cold War world and after the failures of
9/11…I mean was the CIA really effective? Cue the Hollywood music and read the
chapter on the show, The Agency.
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| We can only assume author, Tricia Jenkins is under surveillance |
The CIA in Hollywood
asks us to think about the ethics and legality of the power the CIA wields in modern
filmmaking. Personally, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I mean it’s not
like the CIA agents were actually in
any of these movies or television shows. It’s not like they were basically
helping write the films…oh, they were? Huh.
Tom Hayden wrote a fantastic piece on this book in the Los
Angeles Times a few weeks ago, and he includes the controversy of Argo and Zero Dark Thirty. It’s a jaw
dropper.
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| oh Jessica... |
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