‘War Is Not A Movie’: Tropic Thunder Director Denounces The White House For Using His Art In War Propaganda
The White House has been using media content to promote war propaganda online. Several artists refused to remain silent and stepped up against the attempt.
“JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY,” reads a caption posted by the official White House X account. Underneath the tweet is a video montage of movies and video games, spliced with clips of Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth encouraging the war effort against Iran. Amidst the montage, clips of military operations in Iran would also be included in the video.
But Ben Stiller, director of Tropic Thunder, noticed that a scene from his movie was used without permission. He wrote on X, “Hey White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip.” “We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine.” This makes Stiller one of the many artists that the White House has stolen from thus far. “War is not a movie,” Stiller emphasized.
Earlier this week, Kesha spoke against the use of her music in war. Like Stiller, she also stood against the White House’s use of her songs to promote the administration’s war propaganda. To make her stance clear, she called Trump a “criminal predator” who appeared in the Epstein files “over a million times.”
Not only is the United States government forcing propaganda on its citizens, but it’s also stealing the intellectual property of artists against the war in the process. That’s not to say war propaganda is good if it’s paid—either way, it promotes people to kill others. However, distorting the works of other people so that a government can radicalize its citizens to fight is arguably worse.
Stiller Denies Promoting War
Some online critics criticized Stiller’s response, as Tropic Thunder was a movie about war. One wrote, “We know war is not a movie, but yet we keep making movies about war.”
Stiller replied that it’s “usually to protest war.”
It’s worth noting that Tropic Thunder was not meant to promote war despite its comedic chops. The premise of the movie rests upon a bunch of self-absorbed Hollywood elites out to blow a big budget on a Vietnam War movie. While filming, they fall into an active combat zone and are unable to distinguish their production set from reality.
When Stiller’s character is held for ransom, it’s only when the production company realizes that the danger is real and that they’re filming in an active combat zone.
Needless to say, the film is a comedic classic despite its outdated humor. But it’s also a satirical take on war movies.
The Yassification of War
There has been an active attempt to sanitize and make light of war from the White House. Propaganda, which usually entailed heavy leaning into nationalistic ideas, has taken form in popular media. It’s no coincidence that this is by design, as it could entice young men and women to become a part of Trump’s war machine.
Even clips of the video game GTA have been inserted in the war edits. Instead of running stoplights or running over civilians in a video game—all those explosions in the clip are real, and actual people pay the price for the violence.
But this is not what Americans voted for. Artists whose works have been used to promote this war have the ability to sue—to legally have the White House remove their works so that their art can’t be used to support the war. Silence, in this case, would be ideologically taxing to the artists whose messages are being distorted for propagandistic gain.
Because unlike video games and movies, real war has no reset. People live through lasting trauma or die—and yet the White House is making it seem like it’s all for the memes. Death will never be worth cheap laughter.
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