9/11 Propaganda, Hollywood Style

In an age when actor Arnold Schwarzenegger embodies a growing convergence between the worlds of movies and politics in one hulking frame, entertainment-oriented media once again manifests their power to influence what we think.

There was a good reason that Time magazine described the coverage of the war on Iraq as "militainment," and there is a good reason that the Bush Administration is turning to Hollywood to embellish the president's declining popularity. Their latest preemptive strike takes form of a movie packaged to remake the historical record on the 9/11 attacks and reelect Bush at the same time.

With the networks all downplaying the real-world events planned for the second anniversary of 9/11, it is not accidental that a made-for-TV movie is likely to draw most of our attention this time around. This is the story behind the making of a cable movie titled "DC 9/11: Time of Crisis," a well-made and insidiously persuasive docu-drama that airs Sunday Sept. 7th on Showtime, a movie channel owned by Viacom, the company that runs MTV, VH-1 Comedy Channel, Nickelodeon and so much more.

So move over Madonna and the Rug Rats and even Leni Riefenstahl, Viacom presents our latest TV superstar: President George W Bush as produced by Karl Rove. the president's in-house Machiavelli, with the help of Lionel Chetwynd, a Republican toady, screenwriter and producer. The production includes the cast of Star Trek, a comedian known for his role as "the ripper," and financial subsidies from Canada where this pro-American patriotic epic was actually made to avoid paying union wages.

This movie stands Oliver Stone's "JFK" on its head. While his assassination caper blended real footage and dramatization to challenge the official facts of the death of a president, this TV movie uses some of the same techniques to mythologize the life of a living president still in the White House. "JFK" was denounced as Hollywood distorting history. Will "GWB" encounter the same denunciations in a media that has treated Bush with reverent respect? Don't count on it.

Laugh if you will -- as are many of those familiar with all the deceptions and contradictions in the President's post 9/11 responses -- but don't underestimate how a well-produced story technique can shape and "embed" a pro-Bush narrative in our brains, leaving us with impressions, images and ideas that influence our political leanings.

Don't be surprised when this film becomes a staple of campaign to come. Already, the Republican Party is extending their New York convention to stage an event at Ground Zero and exploit 9/11 one more time.

Here is the "back story."

Behind the Scenes

Your name is Karl Rove. You are the political svengali often called "Bush's brain." And you know you have a problem. You are stage-managing a politician who can be dorky, elusive and often his worst enemy. He walks stiffly, swallows his words, and comes off at times like a mannequin. You never know what he might say.

After you helped maneuver him into the White House -- and what a task it was to get the Supreme Court to sanction that squeaker of an election -- his public opinion ratings started to drop. He was the butt of vicious jokes, and widespread derision. The TV comics were branding him a buffoon, 'the global village idiot' and a lot worse.

And then along come 9/11.

As the country went into shock, as the economy reeled, as fear stalked the land, you played queer eye to this straight guy. You gave him his personal makeover and his political purpose while concocting a new mystique with which to sell him as a man with a mission.

Poof!

A born-again president who avoided foreign policy like the plague in his first year in office was reborn once again as the savior of civilization, and freedom's best friend. The war on terror was now his crusade and he saddled up to lead the charge.