I heard an interesting conspiracy theory once..

jackiebaron

And it is this

Is there a movie made in the last 40, maybe 50 years where an american flag or symbol isn't displayed somewhere?

Of course, I don't have the time but maybe you all could rewind your old VHS recordings and see if it's correct.

RoboClam

Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan

hooradiation

RoboClam wrote: »

Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan

Serenity.

reprazant

Virtually any film not made in America?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

it's really really hard to tell when conspiracy theorists are being serious and when they're taking the piss

hooradiation

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

it's really really hard to tell when conspiracy theorists are being serious and when they're taking the piss

Poe's law is a bitch.

cml387

Derek Jarman's Blue

The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Both Star Wars Trilogies.
Some of the Star Trek films.

jackiebaron

So we've got 3.

OK there are some movies where it's definitely not going to be there like Lord of the Rings, etc., any movie set in the distant past like Braveheart. But even most sci-fis set in outer space or on another planet seem to squeeze in the US flag on a uniform or on the remains of a wrecked rocket ship or whatever.

cml387

So basically you are saying that every film made in the last 30 to 40 years has got an American flag in it, except for the films that don't.

littleredspot

??? Is it just me or am I missing something???

Oh, the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

And I am straining to thing of any scenes that would have it in James Cameron's Avatar, the highest grossing film ever.

hooradiation

King Mob wrote: »

Oh, the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

And I am straining to thing of any scenes that would have it in James Cameron's Avatar, the highest grossing film ever.

Or the Alien series of films. (that's Alien, Aliens, and Alien3, nothing else counts)
And outside of "The Voyage home", all of the Star trek films? I certainly can't think of any scenes.
28 days later?
Actually, I watched the muppet movie recently, I don't recall seeing one in that either - but there may well have been one in the background of one of the wide shots, especially if they shot on location.

I guess that it might be more accurate to say that films set in America are very likely to have American flags in them, which doesn't sound like much of a conspiracy to me.

Penn

hooradiation wrote: »

I guess that it might be more accurate to say that films set in America are very likely to have American flags in them, which doesn't sound like much of a conspiracy to me.

That's what I was thinking too. Any film shot in a city might have a US flag in the background because it's naturally there on the building anyway.

hooradiation

hooradiation wrote: »

And outside of "The Voyage home", all of the Star trek films? I certainly can't think of any scenes.

There's Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which had V'ger which probably had an American Flag somewhere.
Then Star Trek 5 had a bit with another space probe at the start, which had an american flag.
Then Star Trek: First Contact was set in a Pre-WWIII America.

hooradiation

Penn wrote: »

That's what I was thinking too. Any film shot in a city might have a US flag in the background because it's naturally there on the building anyway.

I always thought the US flag on buildings was one of those visual short hands used in movies, like how every apartment in Paris apparently has a view of the Eiffel Tower, until I went to New York.
They're not even slightly exaggerating.

King Mob wrote: »

There's Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which had V'ger which probably had an American Flag somewhere.
Then Star Trek 5 had a bit with another space probe at the start, which had an american flag.
Then Star Trek: First Contact was set in a Pre-WWIII America.

Clearly, I have filtered out the bad star trek films from my memory.

clever_name

Not 100% but would be fairly sure the following are in the clear,

Gladiator
The Diary of Anne Frank
Hope and Glory
Lost in Translation
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
A Room with a View
Star Wars (all of them)
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Secrets & Lies
Barry Lyndon
In the Name of the Father (?)
Howards End
The Crying Game
I Went Down.
Intermission
Beauty and the Beast
The Elephant Man
The Lion in Winter
Doctor Zhivago
Lawrence of Arabia (?)
My Fair Lady
The Lion King
Spirited Away (if you have not seen this, check it out)
The Great Dictator
Hotel Rwanda (think the only uniforms were UN?)
Pan's Labyrinth
The Secret in Their Eyes (if you have not seen this, check it out)
Life of Brian
Ben-Hur
The Princess Bride (think the only modern part is in the kids bedroom?)
Metropolis
Oldboy
raise the red lantern
Let the Right One In
In Bruges (cant remember if the american tourist has a flag patch on his jacket?)
Nosferatu
Cube
Amadeus
Rashômon
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Buried (very good)
12 Angry Men (cant remember if there is a shot of the front of the court, would probably have a flag)
Dogville
Sleuth (both the original and the remake?)

Would guess that any movie not set in America during the last 250 years or so should not feature any US flags and a fair few set in America might be clear too, the number of times I have seen the mountains of Vancouver in the background of New York set movies...;)

cml387

Not Patton though.

Oh and then there was the Chronicles of Narnia movies.

And if we're allowed bring Japanese movies and anime into it... :rolleyes:

al28283

INDEPENDENCE DAY.......

al28283

oh wait..... maybe not

rmacm

King Mob wrote: »

Then Star Trek: First Contact was set in a Pre-WWIII America.

Sorry for being pedantic but it was actually set post WW 3.

al28283

rmacm wrote: »

Sorry for being pedantic but it was actually set post WW 3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRsPheErBj8

Sin City

hooradiation wrote: »

Or the Alien series of films. (that's Alien, Aliens, and Alien3, nothing else counts)
And outside of "The Voyage home", all of the Star trek films? I certainly can't think of any scenes.
28 days later?
Actually, I watched the muppet movie recently, I don't recall seeing one in that either - but there may well have been one in the background of one of the wide shots, especially if they shot on location.

I guess that it might be more accurate to say that films set in America are very likely to have American flags in them, which doesn't sound like much of a conspiracy to me.

They are in Aliens, I saw a flag on Hicks's shoulder
Pretty sure they all had em

hooradiation

Sin City wrote: »

They are in Aliens, I saw a flag on Hicks's shoulder
Pretty sure they all had em

You're right, Hicks has a barely visible one, and I had to use google to find that.

I wonder if there was one hidden away on the Nostromo. I know it was a Weyland-Yutani vessel so I guess not, but lord only knows what's been left as set dressing somewhere.

jackiebaron

cml387 wrote: »

So basically you are saying that every film made in the last 30 to 40 years has got an American flag in it, except for the films that don't.

I'm not saying anything. If you read the title rather than spitting out some glib little quip you might have a contribution to this discussion. I'm not saying this is my hypothesis. I stated that I heard this CT once.

Looking at it, it certainly seems plausible. And it certainly seems that the flag is present in almost any movie where it's possible for it to be present....i.e. non-fantasy movies set post-1776.

Does that compute?

al28283

jackiebaron wrote: »

i.e. non-fantasy movies set post-1776.

Does that compute?

you never mentioned that as being part of this conspiracy in your Op, was that part of what you "heard" or are you just adding that yourself?

jackiebaron

hooradiation wrote: »

Or the Alien series of films. (that's Alien, Aliens, and Alien3, nothing else counts)
And outside of "The Voyage home", all of the Star trek films? I certainly can't think of any scenes.
28 days later?
Actually, I watched the muppet movie recently, I don't recall seeing one in that either - but there may well have been one in the background of one of the wide shots, especially if they shot on location.

I guess that it might be more accurate to say that films set in America are very likely to have American flags in them, which doesn't sound like much of a conspiracy to me.

Well, do you see Union Jacks plastered all over the pace in British movies or movies set in Britain?

jackiebaron

al28283 wrote: »

you never mentioned that as being part of this conspiracy in your Op, was that part of what you "heard" or are you just adding that yourself?

Like I said, the theory I heard was that the flag is in every movie. I didn't give it much thought until later but then I thought more about it. It doesn't take a genius to know that there's no way to plant an American flag in Troy or Gladiator or 300 or the Passion of the Christ. But any movie where's it's plausible then it seems to be there.

As I tried to point out, it's not my theory. I just heard of it.

DoesNotCompute

jackiebaron wrote: »

And it is this

Is there a movie made in the last 40, maybe 50 years where an american flag or symbol isn't displayed somewhere?

Of course, I don't have the time but maybe you all could rewind your old VHS recordings and see if it's correct.

Star Wars?
Any of the Star Trek movies? (except maybe Star Trek IV)
Almost any sci-fi / movie set in the future?

DoesNotCompute

jackiebaron wrote: »

Does that compute?

No.

seamus

So basically this conspiracy theory is that virtually every movie which:

1. Is set (wholly or partially) in the United States
2. Is set in the modern era (give or take a few hundred years)

Has a US flag displayed somewhere in the film?

That's unbelieveable!

jackiebaron

jackiebaron wrote: »

Well, do you see Union Jacks plastered all over the pace in British movies or movies set in Britain?

Yes.
Among others there's Austin Powers, the King's Speech, Harry Potter....

clever_name

jackiebaron wrote: »

I'm not saying anything. If you read the title rather than spitting out some glib little quip you might have a contribution to this discussion. I'm not saying this is my hypothesis. I stated that I heard this CT once.

Looking at it, it certainly seems plausible. And it certainly seems that the flag is present in almost any movie where it's possible for it to be present....i.e. non-fantasy movies set post-1776.

Does that compute?

Originally the theory you posted questioned if there was "a movie made in the last 40, maybe 50 years where an american flag or symbol isn't displayed somewhere?"

That would be everything from Amadeus to Zulu plus every non-english language movie. Now its changed to "non-fantasy movies set post-1776", OK.

Saying that "the flag is present in almost any movie where it's possible for it to be present" is simply a reflection of film-making, you might as-well say American cars are present in any movie where its possible for American cars to be present.

BTW the US flag is a common problem for film continuity due to the changes made over the years so it is often deliberately left out.

RGDATA!

clever_name wrote: »

BTW the US flag is a common problem for film continuity due to the changes made over the years so it is often deliberately left out.

er..are you sure about this part? If you mean the changes to the US flag, it hasn't changed since 1959, what possible continuity problem is there?

clever_name

RGDATA! wrote: »

er..are you sure about this part? If you mean the changes to the US flag, it hasn't changed since 1959, what possible continuity problem is there?

Yeah I'm sure, as you said the current design is from 1959 so movies set pre 1959 should not feature the current design.

The IMDB page for some movies will feature endless discussions about the correct use of flags on everything from uniforms to tinned food.

hooradiation

jackiebaron wrote: »

Well, do you see Union Jacks plastered all over the pace in British movies or movies set in Britain?

Yup, you do.

As previously mentioned, they're a great visual shorthand for where the scene is set.

jackiebaron

clever_name wrote: »

Originally the theory you posted questioned if there was "a movie made in the last 40, maybe 50 years where an american flag or symbol isn't displayed somewhere?"

That would be everything from Amadeus to Zulu plus every non-english language movie. Now its changed to "non-fantasy movies set post-1776", OK.

Saying that "the flag is present in almost any movie where it's possible for it to be present" is simply a reflection of film-making, you might as-well say American cars are present in any movie where its possible for American cars to be present.

BTW the US flag is a common problem for film continuity due to the changes made over the years so it is often deliberately left out.

No it hasn't changed. I thought everybody on here would be smart enough to assume that these genres would be exempt, alas they aren't and people started referring to movies where the flag did not appear....movies like Avatar, etc. So I had to spell it out for them. You're not going to see an EU flag in a movie set in Nazi Germany, are you? You're not going to see a hammer and sickle in a Ancient Rome movie. I thought I wouldn't need to state the obvious.

That's where the "possible" comes into it. It's not possible for an American flag to be in Rob Roy any more so than it's possible for Eliot Ness and his Untouchables to meet up in a goddamn Starbucks.

I thought this would be self evident and not even come into the debate.

al28283

sounds like backtracking to me

jackiebaron

hooradiation wrote: »

Yup, you do.

As previously mentioned, they're a great visual shorthand for where the scene is set.

For Americans who need it spelt out for them, yes.
You always see a Union Jack in an American Movie when there is a scene in London (they throw in Bear-fur helmets, and bowler hats and red buses too). But I'm talking about a British movie......not an American movie set in Britain.

jackiebaron

jackiebaron wrote: »

No it hasn't changed. I thought everybody on here would be smart enough to assume that these genres would be exempt, alas they aren't and people started referring to movies where the flag did not appear....movies like Avatar, etc. So I had to spell it out for them. You're not going to see an EU flag in a movie set in Nazi Germany, are you? You're not going to see a hammer and sickle in a Ancient Rome movie. I thought I wouldn't need to state the obvious.

That's where the "possible" comes into it. It's not possible for an American flag to be in Rob Roy any more so than it's possible for Eliot Ness and his Untouchables to meet up in a goddamn Starbucks.

I thought this would be self evident and not even come into the debate.

Except you asked:

jackiebaron wrote: »

And it is this

Is there a movie made in the last 40, maybe 50 years where an american flag or symbol isn't displayed somewhere?

So now you are asking has there been a film, set in contemporary America that doesn't have a flag in it.
Which is a silly question and not much of a conspiracy.

jackiebaron

al28283 wrote: »

sounds like backtracking to me

Sounds like clarification to me.

al28283

Jurassic Park

jackiebaron

King Mob wrote: »

Except you asked:


So now you are asking has there been a film, set in contemporary America that doesn't have a flag in it.
Which is a silly question and not much of a conspiracy.

Not really.
First off I never said it had to be set in contemporary America. ´There are many American movies that are set outside of the US. These movies seem to squeeze the flag in somewhere as well whether it be a visit to an embassy, a high school photo whatever.

And before you continue, I'm merely asking. I didn't propose this theory and I'm not necessarily stating it as fact. If you had read my initial post you would have seen that. It's a theory I heard and am asking for other opinions on it. Stop attacking the messenger just for the hell of it.

al28283

jackiebaron wrote: »

It's a theory I heard and am asking for other opinions on it.

Ok. It's not true.

jackiebaron

al28283 wrote: »

Jurassic Park

Maybe....I'll take a look.
Sure it's not displayed on any crates or aircraft?

jackiebaron

jackiebaron wrote: »

Not really.
First off I never said it had to be set in contemporary America. ´There are many American movies that are set outside of the US. These movies seem to squeeze the flag in somewhere as well whether it be a visit to an embassy, a high school photo whatever.

Harry Potter, one of the highest grossing film series ever.

So then we're just excluding all of Sci Fi and fantasy and every film made outside of America, then every Historical film pre 1776.
And even then with all of these silly qualifications the answer is still: yes there have been many films like that that don't have an American flag in them.

jackiebaron wrote: »

And before you continue, I'm merely asking. I didn't propose this theory and I'm not necessarily stating it as fact. If you had read my initial post you would have seen that. It's a theory I heard and am asking for other opinions on it. Stop attacking the messenger just for the hell of it.

Wow. First never said that you were proposing the theory, just that you are asking the question. Second I never attacked any one.

jackiebaron

al28283 wrote: »

Ok. It's not true.

Well just look out for it in every movie you watch :P

al28283

jackiebaron wrote: »

Well just look out for it in every movie you watch :P

It only takes one to disprove such a lame theory, and no, i'm not sure the american flag doesn't appear on any crates or aircraft on Jurassic Park, that would be pathetic

Jesus Shaves

:D:D:D:D

This is why I love boards

Oh and then we'd have to exclude the movies that would have to have a flag in it due to the narrative.
So films set in American Schools and universities would be out. As would all political thrillers or comedies unless they somehow manage to avoid government buildings. Any film with a courthouse. Anything with an American military base or ship....

And then what about films that show the flag in a negative light or being desecrated? For example in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where Johnny Depp huffs ether off one?