Transforming Transformers into Militainment: Interrogating the DoD‐Hollywood Complex

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12181
• Author: Tanner Mirrlees
• Date: 01 March 2017
• Published date: 01 March 2017

Transforming Transformers into

Militainment: Interrogating the DoD-

Hollywood Complex

By TANNER MIRRLEES*

ABSTRACT. This article examines how the U.S. Department of Defense

(DoD) and Hollywood collaborated to manufacture the blockbuster

films Transformers (T)andTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen (TRF)

to sell in global markets and to sell a positive image of DoD personnel,

policy, technology, and practice to the world. Tand TRF are global

militainment films made by the “DoD-Hollywood complex” to make

money in markets and put the U.S. military before the world in a

positive light. To show how, the article’s first section defines the “DoD-

Hollywood complex,” presents a brief 20

th

-century history of its

formation, and describes the current DoD institutions, policies, and

practices that fuse DoD publicity agencies to Hollywood filmmakers.

The second section highlights how DoD assisted Tand TRF’s

production and contemplates why Hollywood solicited DoD support.

The third section shows how Tand TRF put DoD in a positive light.

The conclusion addresses some of the consequences of Tand TRF with

regard to democratic theory. By showing Tand TRF to be global

militainment commodities, this article interrogates the nexus of “reel”

and “real” U.S. military power and sheds light on how DoD interacts

with Hollywood studios to influence how it gets screened by

entertainment media and seen by global spectators.

Introduction: “Transformers! More Than Meets the Eye”

Based upon Hasbro-manufactured children’s toys imported to the Unit-

ed States from Japan in the 1980s, Transformers (2007) (T)andTrans-

formers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) (TRF) are global Hollywood films.

The Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures, di Bonaventura Pictures, and

*Assistant Professor of Communication and Digital Media Studies, Faculty of Social

Science and Humanities, University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Email: tanner.

mirrlees@uoit.ca

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 76, No. 2 (March, 2017).

DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12181

V

C2017 American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc.

Dreamworks brought together Lorenzodi Bonaventura, Ian Bryce, Don

Murphy, and Tom DeSanto to produce these films. They raised big

budgets ($150 million for Tand $200 million for TRF) and employed

the director Michael Bay to shoot these films in the United States and

across borders (Egypt, Jordan, and Paris). In the months leading up to

their release dates, T(July4,2007)and TRF (June 24, 2009) were mar-

keted as “must see” flicks via theatrical previews, broadcast TVads, bill-

boards, and fandom events, and across borders, to spectators in many

different countries. Within two-week windowing periods, Tand TRF

launched to theatres in more than 70 countries and were watched by

millions in languages such as English, Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish.

Like many blockbuster films, Tand TRF carry simplistic narratives

and unrealistic plots: a wayward but good-hearted American teenager

named Sam Witwicky (Shi a LaBeouf) and his love interest Mikae la

Banes (Meaghan Fox) team up with good alien robots (Autobots, led

by Optimus Prime) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to fight

a war against evil ones (Decepticons, led by Megatron) that threaten

world security. Together, Sam, Mikaela, the DoD, and the Autobots

defeat the Decepticons, save America and the world from chaos, and

restore order to the country and Planet Earth. Critics panned these

films, landing them a “rotten” rating (Rotten Tomatoes rated T57 per-

cent and TRF 19 percent) (Rotten Tomatoes 2016), but they still made

royal revenue for their owners: T’s return was $710 million and TRF’s

was $836 million. Nearly half came from the North American box office

(the United States and Canada); the other half came from those around

the world, the top four being South Korea, the United Kingdom, China,

and Japan (Box Office Mojo 2016). Of the top 100 worldwide grossing

films of all time, Tnow ranks #85and TRF, #52 (Box Office Mojo 2016).

Full of visual spectacles, corny jokes, teen rock hits, and action

sequences, Tand TRF are global blockbuster flicks made by Hollywood

to sell in audio-visual markets around the world, but there is much

more to these commodities than meets the eye: they are also U.S.

Department of Defense (DoD) promotions in disguise. “Without the

superb military support we’ve gotten on this film, it would be an entire-

ly different looking film,” said Ian Bryce, one of T’s producers. “We

want to cooperate withthe Pentagon to show them off in the most posi-

tive light, and the Pentagon likewise wants to give us the resources to

The American Journal of Economics and Sociology406