Military Entertainment Complex

The military-entertainment complex relates to the idea that the military and entertainment industry actively collaborate together to their mutual benefit. This collaboration occurs most frequently within the videogame industry and cinema. The relationships between these two industries and the military have a long history and have produced a large amount of interaction between them.

Video Games

Atari Missile Command

The United States military has a long history of involvement with the video game industry. This relationship dates all the way back until the 1970s, when the board game Mech War was first introduced into the training curriculum for military officers. From the beginning of the video game industry the military has played a direct role in the industry. The military and military contractors subsidized many early video games, with one example of this being Atari Combat and Missile Command. Later, in the 1980’s and 90’s, the success of shooter games like Doom gave the military new ways to implement video game technology in their own training. As budget restraints on the military following the cold war made it more difficult for the Pentagon to finance military training, video games proposed an attractive solution. Tactical military simulators allowed the military to train recruits while avoiding the cost of real world simulations. As video game technology developed further and became more realistic it also began to appear as an attractive recruiting source, as millions of new people were exposed to war like simulations and draw in.

Cinema

Another entertainment industry with close ties to the military is the film industry. Declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act show that the United States government has influenced the production of more than 1,000 TV titles and over 800 films. The wide reach of the military in cinema is not limited only to traditional military movies only. It is easy to predict some of titles that the Pentagon played a role in, such as Black Hawk Down, Zero Dark Thirty, and Lone Survivor. However, films seemingly unrelated to the military have also been impacted, like Karate Kid 2, Twister, The Silence of the Lambs, and even Pitch Perfect 2. This relationship between film and the military dates back even further than the relationship between the military and video games. The military first began working with movie makers in 1927, helping to produce the movie Wings, which went on to win the very first Academy Award for best picture. Many hundreds of other films have since been created with the help of the military, with perhaps one of the best known films being Top Gun. This film was intended to increase public support for the military following the Vietnam War and the criticism of the military that followed. Films like Red Dawn would even go on to serve as names for military operations in Iraq.

Ethical Concerns

Financing of Military Industrial Complex

Consumers of video games are often times drawn into indirectly supporting the military industrial complex. The creators of military themed video games, which often make use of real world gun models, are usually required to pay a licensing fee to the weapons companies which own the patents to said guns. This, in turn, means that when consumers support these military themed games they are indirectly financing weapons companies. Many of those consuming video games make be unaware of this relationship they would otherwise oppose. This is a serious issue that consumers are not warned about before hand which has lead to complaints from many consumers.

Unethical Recruitment

Battleship movie poster

To this day, many films are being directly influenced by the military. The 2012 film Battleship was created with the help of the Navy, specifically because the Navy believed that the film would help recruitment efforts. Through the Freedom of Information Act US navy documents were acquired in which it was revealed that the Navy’s decision to work on the film hinged on one question, that being "Do we believe that [the movie] could have a positive impact on recruiting?” The military also chooses to get involved with films like Battleship because they believe films about the military will reflect directly on how the public image of the military. This type of covert recruiting occurs not only within the film industry, but also in the video game industry. In 2018, the US military announced that it would be creating a military branded esports team, with the hopes of breaking into the popular market of competitive gaming. These attempts to manipulate young people and promote military propaganda have proved to be unpopular, leading to criticism of the military and its recruiting practices.