The LookoutWikiLeaks cable: Hollywood helping to stop the spread of terrorism
Most of the news surrounding the most recent Wikileaks document dump has centered on potentially damaging and controversial revelations. But the diplomatic cables also contain a fair amount of detail that is, well, odd and amusing. Case in point: A cable dated May of 2009 states that American film and television programs are doing more to dissuade young Muslims from becoming jihadists than virtually anything else.
Reruns of shows like "Desperate Housewives" and "Friends" run uncensored on television in Saudi Arabia, giving the average Saudi a glimpse into American life and culture. And like many an American couch potato, these Saudi tube enthusiasts are fascinated by what they're seeing. The title of one U.S. television-related cable pretty much says it all: "David Letterman: Agent of Influence."
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The cable in question recaps one U.S. official's meeting at a Starbucks -- yet another agent of American influence! -- overseas. The upshot: American TV shows are much more effective than al-Hurra, a U.S.-funded news channel that often features interviews with U.S. politicians and plenty of programming with a pro-American slant.
"It's still all about the war of ideas here, and the American programming on MBC and Rotana is winning over ordinary Saudis in a way that al-Hurra and other US propaganda never could," the cable says. "Saudis are now very interested in the outside world and everybody wants to study in the US if they can. They are fascinated by US culture in a way they never were before."
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The cable also reports that a Saudi news-channel director disclosed that American television shows have become the most popular programing in the country -- even in the remote, highly conservative regions of Saudi Arabia where anti-Western thought typically proliferates. The cable quotes him saying that out in the Saudi hinterlands, "you no longer see Bedouins, but kids in western dress." What's more, he notes, American television has greatly heightened their interest in the outside world in a way that other information outlets hadn't.
But all this media-based U.S. goodwill isn't exclusively an American TV franchise. As another cable notes, the movies coming out of Hollywood are producing a "profound effect on the values and worldviews of Saudi audiences." As the State Department's informant explains:
During the recent Eid holiday, Rotana's 'Fox Movies' channel repeatedly aired two mawkish US dramas (again with Arabic subtitles) featuring respectful, supportive American husbands dealing with spouses suffering from addiction problems -- in one case gambling (lost the kids' college funds and then told her college professor husband it was because he was boring) and the other alcohol (smashing cars and china when she wasn't assaulting the husband and child.) These films and others broadcast over the Eid offer models of supportive behavior in relationships, as well as exemplary illustrations of heroic honesty in the face of corruption ('Michael Clayton') and respect for the law over self-interest ('Insomnia.')
And to think that Washington Post film critic Stephen Hunter blasted "Insomnia" as a "disappointment" of a film in his review, saying that famed director Christopher Nolan appeared "overwhelmed by the budget, the egos of the stars, the thinness of the script, and he doesn't impose much personality on the picture." Obviously, Hunter failed to reckon with the film's true genius: turning the premise of a bloated Hollywood remake -- based on a movie first released in Sweden, of all places -- into a covert pro-American diplomatic asset.
(Photo of Letterman and "Snooki" of "Jersey Shore" fame: AP/CBS/John Paul Filo. Photo from Desperate Housewives: AP/ABC/Peter Stone))
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