Military Entertainment Complex

The military-entertainment complex relates to the idea that the military and entertainment industry actively collaborate together to their mutual benefit. Two entertainment industries in particular are heavily involved in this collaboration, those being the video game industry and film industry. The history of the relationships between these industries and the military is long and storied. Video games have played a role in both military training and recruitment, while film has served to both promote a positive image of the military to the public and to recruit new military members. The interaction and development resulting from these relationships have been a source of controversy and several ethical dilemmas have arisen as a result. These include debates over whether the military-entertainment complex serves as a unethical way of funding the military-industrial complex, whether this entertainment complex serves as a form of unethical recruitment, and finally, whether the military-entertainment complex promotes pro-war media over anti-war media.

Gameplay from Call of Duty, a popular military themed video game

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 to the 1970s, when the board game Mech War was first introduced into the training curriculum for military officers. From the beginning, the military has played a direct role in the video game 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 serve as way to introduce members of the public to military combat and the experiences of military members. Seeing video games as a potential way to recruit players into the military, games have recently been developed which further immerse players in the military experience. Examples of games like this include "Tactical Iraqi" and "Frontlines: Fuel of War." These games serve to teach players about modern warfare discourse and include missions in which players combat Islamic militants and fight to establish pro-western democracies. Various ethical concerns over the military's involvement in the video game industry have arisen.

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. Some of titles that the Pentagon played a role in can be predicted easily, 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. When the military helps to create or fund films it often times does so with the explicit purpose of either positively promoting the image of the military or increasing recruitment for the military. The use of film by the military to increase recruitment and improve the public's view of the military have lead to the creation of several ethical concerns.

Ethical Concerns

The existence of the military-entertainment complex has raised several ethical dilemmas, particularly as film and video games continue to have a growing influence in contemporary society. Some examples of ethical dilemmas include concerns over the relationship between both the military industrial and military-entertainment complexes, fears about unethical recruitment practices and finally suspicions that the military uses film to promote pro-war entertainment over anti-war entertainment.

Financing of Military Industrial Complex

Barrett 50 Cal rifles, found commonly in military shooter games

One of the primary ethical concerns relating to the military-entertainment complex is that it indirectly financially supports the military industrial complex. Consumers of video games in particular are often times unknowingly 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. Those consuming video games are not informed that they are indirectly supporting weapons manufacturers, meaning this is an instance of informational friction. Video games companies and weapons companies keep information from consumers that consumers may wish to be informed about. This issue expands further when considering that weapons companies not only gain direct financial compensation from licensing their guns to video games companies, they also use video games as a way to advertise their product to consumers at a young age. The weapons company Barrett Rifles has stated that it has sought to use video games to expose its brand to a young audience, who are considered to be possible future owners of their rifles. This dilemma over advertising further represents informational friction, in that parents of young children are not properly advised that video games both directly support weapons companies and also increase the chance that their children will be more likely to be weapons consumers.

Unethical Recruitment

Battleship movie poster

To this day, many films are being directly influenced by the military. Many of the films that the military has played a part in creating were made with the intent of recruiting new military members. These attempts to recruit new members through media represent an intrusion upon the privacy of consumers. When films include content specifically designed for the purpose of recruiting new military members, and fail to warn audience members about the purpose of this content, those same audience members are now unknowingly allowing the military to influence their own private thoughts and beliefs. 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?”

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 recruit young people have proved to be unpopular, leading to criticism of the military and its recruiting practices.

Pro-Military Bias

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 views the military. In the 1980's, the Pentagon began using its power over the film industry to insure that the military would be portrayed favorably in military cinema. Eventually, the Pentagon would require that filmmakers desiring to use even the most basic military scenery make serious plot and dialogue changes to their films in order to portray the military favorably. The Pentagon would eventually become even more involved in the creation process of some films, with military personnel directly working on the initial screenplay drafts of films in order to insure that anti-military content was not included. This would ultimately result in a bias in the film industry in favor of pro-war/pro-military films and against anti-war films. By the late 80's it was to the point that studios began telling directors to "get the cooperation of the military, or forget about making the picture." This heavy bias towards military glorifying films represents a major ethical dilemma within contemporary society, one which leads to a serious effect on the general viewpoint of the public.