Chopin, Olivier <br/><br/>
The representation of satellites in US action movies 

 -  2002.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 27 
<br/><br/> It is commonly thought that American cinema is the instrument of the U.S. government, which uses it to impose a specific image of America on people. We chose to examine the image of a concrete power factor – satellites – based on an analysis of movies themselves rather than an analysis of the sociological context around their production. We therefore show that a standardized representation of satellites is portrayed in American movies and a visual code is now stabilized. Nevertheless, this representation degenerates progressively into a fantasy, due to the fact that it is not determined by any political vision but it is shaped by the specific constraints of filmed entertainment. Representations are structured according to the fiction they are part of – not by any network of political intentions. The relation between Hollywood and Washington appears too ambivalent to be considered as a subordination of one by the other. It seems to us that it is more relevant to build on the hypothesis that they determine each other.