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Programming the Nation?

STIFF2010 – feature documentary

Review by Char Easter

Captured in the title of his film, Programming the Nation? Jeff Warwick, director, writer, editor, and producer, asks a compelling question – one that Americans should be asking. The story opens with footage of the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11, an event that triggered Warrick to ask, ‘Are we being programmed somehow and is it contributing to our social, political and economic problems?’ Here, Warrick is on the right track, but one that is risky and complex. Instead, he does a deep dive into the subliminal while the bigger programming questions remain on the surface.

The narrative weaves questions like, “Who is controlling us and why?” into the minutiae of backward music tracking and hidden sex and death messages – slight-of-hand devices most Americans already believe are used by the media and a point he proves in the film.

Though subliminal messaging may not be new, it’s a wake up call. And it’s entertaining to sit back while the movie breaks down the phallus and skull illusions that are silently winding their nefarious agendas through our gullible unconscious. Yeah, we know a billboard pimping a sexy model drinking a soda is a pitch – and a low one at that because it caters to our base instincts to procreate. But, as the movie points out, knowing we are being manipulated doesn’t stop us from buying the goods. If that seems a leap, the movie does a good job of explaining the psychology behind the ads so you’ll know exactly why you’re driving that status symbol car to a house packed full of things that you don’t need. Depressing? Pour yourself another scotch on the rocks.

Programming the Nation? leaves no stone unturned in its comprehensive exploration of subliminal messaging. The immense collection of clips – 400 non-original clips, 30 interviews, and 50 hours of archival ad stock footage – include Led Zeppelin, the Matrix, Devo, and vintage ads, roll behind his well-crafted story. It’s not surprising the movie is still raising money to pay off licensing fees. You’ll see Mark Mothersbaugh, founder of Devo, disclosing that he embedded subliminal messages in many of the corporate jingles he produced with Mutato Muzika. And that music masking is used for anything from boosting employee moral to serving as anti-theft devices in department stores and malls.

And you can’t talk subliminal without covering off on demonic messages. For this, Warrick faces off evangelist Pastor Joe Schimmel with Mark Mothersbaugh for Devo, Geoff Tate, founder of Queensryche. David Fricke, senior editor at Rolling Stone wraps it up with a statement that if you want to hear Satan, that’s exactly what you’ll hear. The Judas Priest trial was not as significant in the subliminal story as it is for freedom of expression for artists – a bullet that was thankfully dodged.

To help tell his story, Warrick recruits and impressive line-up of interviews ranging from Queensryche’s Geoff Tatt, who served up death and sex as pop-culture entertainment, to retired U.S. Army Colonel Dr. John B. Alexander, founder of Non-Lethal Defense and who operated within classified military channels. Also featured is Amy Goodman, Noam Chomksy, Dennis J. Kucinich, and many more. See the full list here, http://www.vmagency.com/program/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=62&Itemid=176

Amy Goodman reminds us that much of the deception is on the surface while she touches on an artery of the bigger story – who controls the media? From her end, news is our lens on the world and the providers have a responsibility to the public, a role that is threatened as media ownership narrows. Goodman asserts, “The [Iraq] war is being waged at home, the war on truth.”

Then Warrick ends big, with governmental and military propagandizing, PSYOPS and the Project HAARP (High Frequency Active Aural Research Project), an instrument designed to modulate the ionosphere for weapon applications. Like 9/11 at the beginning, we are left to ponder, “How deep does the game go and who are making the rules?”  Since Warwick proves in his debut film that he can go the distance to get the story, his next documentary could be groundbreaking.

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