A Syrian's view of Hollywood's view of Syria

I like watching movies a lot. Syria has become topical (to say the least) and there have been a number of subtle mentions of Syria in new Hollywood movies, not to mention in the TV series Ancient Aliens. [1] Some of these interpretations almost rival the creativity of 'reports' in the mainstream news on Syria. Westerners might also be interested to hear that Syrian TV interprets western events and has its own version of Game of Thrones. [Candobetter.net editor: New title replaces the old title which was "How Hollywood and Ancient Aliens do Syria and Syrian TV does Trump".]

Jason Bourne

Syria finds its way into the 2016 action movie, Jason Bourne. Syrians in Beirut kidnap a sniper, called "the Asset", in Beirut, and imprison and torture him for two years, after Jason Bourne exposes a secret operation. Although his torture was not specifically intended by Bourne, the Asset forms a personal grudge against Jason. Under the CIA director's orders, the Asset kills Bourne's father (another CIA analyst) in Beirut, making it look like a terrorist attack, in order to persuade Bourne to join another CIA secret program! Pretty complicated! But the propaganda message is clear: Syrians are bad and they have tortured snipers, killers, and CIA agents. As a Syrian, I wonder - as well - how many of the terrorist bombings that took place in the Middle East and the world were actually the work of the CIA and designed by them and other international intelligence agents, to look like terrorist attacks!

Oliver Stone's Snowden

The next movie was Oliver Stone's Snowden (2016), a political spy-thriller around the biography of Edward Snowden. This had a positive cameo of Syria, showing that the NSA hackers, not Assad, took Syria off the Internet for around three days between November 29 and December 1, 2012 by accident. In a scenario that twisted the real timing of a real event, this was depicted in the movie as having happened while Snowden was uploading a copy of all the secret programs of the NSA on a tiny memory card chip. [x] In fact, the NSA had caused the disconnection accidentally while attempting to bug and snoop on Syria's internet traffic. They had been attempting to exploit a vulnerability in the router of a major Internet service provider in Syria. Fortunately for the NSA, the Syrians were apparently more focused on restoring the nation’s Internet than on tracking down the cause of the outage. Snowden confirmed that event (in real life, not only in the film). Oliver Stone mentioned the "Syria blackout" story in an interview as well.

But the above-mentioned movies are not really examples of Hollywood weirdness in depicting Syria. It's actually very predictable to see a negative or positive mentioning of Syria and Iraq in new terrorist, spy, war, and political movies nowadays. But actors, media and movies have gone much further than straightforward propaganda; Hollywood has actually written in some truly weird roles for Syria that go well beyond earthly war propaganda.

Alyssa Milano's pretend 'sex tape' on Syria

In 2013, the actress Alyssa Milano 'leaked' a pretend 'sex tape', which really packaged some United States political propaganda purporting to explain what was happening in Syria then. (http://gawker.com/alyssa-milanos-sex-tape-is-the-most-hard-hitting-sex-t-1252372674The video featured a newscast with the political message that the war was due to 'Sectarian Divisions: Sunnis Vs. Alawites'. Positive media reaction to the 'sex tape' called it "a perfect way to get more people up-to-date on the crisis in Syria," and "one of the best non-traditional ways to raise awareness on the Syria situation"! Wow! That's bizarre! For me, until recently, this was the weirdest example of Hollywood's propaganda on Syria. Since then, however, I've found some others.

Ancient Aliens TV series on Syria

How's this for out there? The Ancient Aliens TV series on the History channel claimed, in an episode called, "The Forbidden Zones," (Season 10, Episode 10, October 2015), that ISIS's destruction of priceless ancient heritage and documents in Syria could be an Alien agenda to wipe ancient knowledge from the world?! The story was that the Aliens wanted to hide precious historical evidence of the roots of civilisation and where humans came from by erasing priceless information documenting how extra-terrestials had visited us (humans) in the past!! Things got even more far-fetched towards the end of the episode, with the claim that the wars in Iraq against the late Saddam Hussain were not carried out because of the alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), or some connection to 9-11, or in order to reach and control oil and gas. No, their purpose was to control the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian 'Star Gates' in Mesopotamia, and to prevent Saddam from using these portals to other worlds where he might obtain secret technology and weapons, just like Hitler in the past, who had the same dreams of seeking extra-terrestrial power in WWII !!! ....... I'm speechless!

I don't know if those Aliens have the same agenda as the CIA, Mossad, and the Wahhabis but the destruction of the spirit of the people of these 'Forbidden Zones' by cutting off at the roots their relation with their past, memory, and the ideas that unite them, turning them into scattered ignorant refugees, acheives similar results.

In another Ancient Aliens episode, which did not actually mention Syria, ( Season 6, Ep. 7: "Emperors, Kings and Pharaohs", November 2013), it was claimed that monarchies (like the British monarchy), ruling families (such as the Bush's in the US) and tyrants (such as the North Korean leaders) might be Aliens as well, or have a bloodline of Aliens, and therefore derive power from the Gods, and communicate with them!!! .... I wonder if the Assads might come under the same kind of heading with the Aleinawites (Alian Alawites) hiding their secret origins for hundreds of years!

Ancient Aliens is an entertainment show that presents pseudoscience and pseudohistory, and I guess it requires exponential imaginative leaps just to exceed the tales that are already aired as US mainstream news.

Life (2017)

The weirdest cameo of Syria that I have so far watched was in the new Sci-Fi movie Life (2017), which actually got me thinking about writing this article. The last thing anyone would expect to see mentioned in such a movie would be Syria!

Actor Jake Gyllenhaal, playing the role of an American senior medical officer, Dr David Jordan, joined the space-team because he was disillusioned by experiences in Syria:

"In a previous life, Jordan worked with the US Army building hospitals in Syria — which he then saw blown up. Disillusioned by mankind, he now prefers the solitude of space and the company of an elite few." (Direct quote from a movie review here: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/new-movies/life-puts-aliens-ridley-scott-on-notice-in-epic-scifi-thriller/news-story/21c3dc0484e69727d864a2ca5cfcda44.

WOW!!! He and the US Army were building hospitals in Syria?! But then, he witnessed them blown up (by whom? by evil Russians? by Syrian Satanic regime? It won't matter much). A very short script line that has nothing to do with the rest of the Sci-Fi movie, but this cameo serves to depict the US Army and CIA in Syria as a peaceful and constructive presence. This line of propaganda compares impressively to that of some of the professional charities! According to this scenario, the US Army and the CIA build hospitals and schools everywhere they go. Yet some sick people dare to demonise them! Shame on whoever thinks that way! And just how bad the Syrians and Russians are! They have a Masters degree in blowing up hospitals!

One might argue that space doctor David Jordan did not actually mention who blew up the hospitals. He left this open. Okay, but, why mention such a silly line in a sci-fi movie? And what were the US Army and the CIA doing in Syria in the first place? Building hospitals! Not one hospital, but hospitals, plural. God knows how many there were, and both Russians and Syrians blew them ALL up? Couldn't the genius script writers of the film find a better excuse or scenario line for why that senior medical officer joined the space-team? And, did they mention why the other crew members joined the space program? Nope! After all, it's not really of any importance. Who cares after all? The film is about an alien life, ET life, not about the biographies of the scientists. Yet, alone among all the characters, only Jake's background was mentioned in the film.

The Life crew had two British officers (quarantine and biologist), a Japanese pilot of the International Space Station (ISS) and a Russian commander of the ISS crew, among others. I wonder now why the Russian commander joined the crew! Had he been destroying the hospitals that Jake Gyllenhaal had been building in Syria, but then felt guilty and wanted to leave planet Earth and humankind?! What about the British scientists? Did they perhaps join the British Army or MI6 agents to work on a cure for the innocent victims of chemical and biological weapons used in Syria? "Assad gassed his own people," the mainstream news media has said repeatedly, so that might provide the scriptwriters with an excuse to interfere in Syria, for humanistic reasons alone. But when they failed to defeat the Russian Darth Vlad, and the Butcher Bashar's chemical weapons, they decided to leave the whole planet. How about that trashy scenario? Any suggestion for why the Japanese pilot joined that disillusioned depressed space crew?!

The end of the movie promised another sequel, when it showed Jake Gyllenhaal trying to send his pod, with the octopus-like Alien trapped in it, into deep space, whilst the only surviving officer from the whole crew was trying to go back to Earth in another pod. After hitting debris and being knocked off their courses, the pods switched their courses. The surprise for the audience was when they realised that the pod that went back to the Earth and landed in an ocean was the one containing Jake and the alien, as some fishermen tried to open the pod, thinking that they were rescuing Jake and saving his life. So, now, there will be a sequel to the movie, to see how that alien will live, multiply, and perhaps occupy the whole planet Earth. Thrilling ending isn't?! ... While people in the theatre were gasping at this terrifying ending, I was the only one smiling and almost laughing because I was suddenly struck by the idea that the Alien Must Be Syrian!!! LOL...

Will the Alien lead ISIS in further terrorist attacks on ancient archaeological places, destroying more ancient and hidden star-gates and space-portals?
Is he going to multiply after paying a visit to Alyssa Milano? (I don't know if that Alien is a male or female though. It'll multiply either way!)
Or is he going to join the Axis of Evil, and blow up more hospitals in Syria, and beyond?!
That's what we'll know in that endless "To Insanity, and Beyond" Hollywood show. Stay tuned.

Trump and Game of Thrones: Syrian versions

Western communities might be interested to hear about some Syrian TV shows that interpret Western themes. Syrian actor Salloum Ḥaddād, was sheduled to play the role of President Donald Trump over the Syrian Ramadan season, in a Syrian "Spotlight" series of short individual sketches. I didn't see that episode so far, but here is how the Syrian actor Salloum Ḥaddād will look like. They'll broadcast it within the next 10 days (within Ramadan season). You can see how he looks in the photograph in this article.

There is also a Syrian TV series called Orchidea, which seems to be inspired by Game of Thrones. Check out these comparisons: http://stepfeed.com/there-s-a-new-arabic-series-copying-game-of-thrones-4203Friends tell me that a dragon plays an important role in Game of Thrones and that makes me wonder what the Syrian tv series will do for a dragon. A Winged Camel? I have also heard that Game of Thrones contains many adult and nudity scenes and that, in one of them, a brother sleeps with his sister. How will the Syrian version treat this?

NOTES

[1] See Ancient Aliens