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Template:Did you know nominations/Assignment: Venezuela

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 13:58, 1 August 2019 (UTC)

Assignment: Venezuela

[edit]
  • ... that the 1956 propaganda film Assignment: Venezuela tries to convince prospective American workers both that Venezuela is like a modern US city and to be sympathetic to the differences in Venezuelan culture? Source: two, in article under Analysis
  • ALT1 ... that Exxon's 1956 propaganda film Assignment: Venezuela sought to convince American oil workers that Venezuela, then controlled by the anti-capitalist military dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, had embraced the American way of life?

Created by Kingsif (talk). Self-nominated at 02:13, 18 June 2019 (UTC).

  • The article is a nice read, and appears well-sourced and worded. Can't think of much to improve, although I admit as a film buff, I'd be intrigued by more detail about the production, which companies aired it, who exactly funded and produced the film, and such things. I think the hook is a nice start but strained in wording. For example, it is strange to compare a nation to a city. Brainstorming, here are some alternatives:
  • "that Exxon's 1956 propaganda film Assignment: Venezuela sought to convince American oil workers that Venezuela, then controlled by the anti-capitalist military dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez, had embraced the American way of life?"
  • "that the 1956 propaganda film Assignment: Venezuela was shown to American oil workers to entice them to move to Venezuela?"
  • '"that to convince Americans to move to Venezuela as workers in the country's burgeoning oil industry, the 1956 propaganda film Assignment: Venezuela focused on the similarities between America and Venezuela?"
  • "that the 1956 propaganda film Assignment: Venezuela, shown to American oil workers to convince them to move to Venezuela, was later spoofed by Mystery Science Theater 3000?"

47.185.218.146 (talk) 18:34, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

I'll try my best to find some more research, but most mentions just describe its purpose. From the hook suggestions, I've now added an alt. Kingsif (talk) 18:49, 20 June 2019 (UTC)
  • I also checked online and you're right in that it seems most coverage doesn't go in depth into production details. Making due with what is more easily available, I think the article checks out, and is well formatted and neutral in layout and tone. If it garners more views, maybe editors will uncover more material to work with. I also quite like the ALT1 hook, as I think it helps encapsulate the inherent absurdity and incongruity of the propaganda effort, a point which the Mystery Science Theater spoof expounds on in the page itself. For the hook's wording, I would worry that Exxon isn't an exact approximation for the Creole subsidiary at the time, but Exxon is Exxon, and I think it doesn't mislead readers to not be technically correct in this case. Explaining the subsidiary status would just take up some of the word count for the hook without adding anything relevant to the hook itself. 47.185.218.146 (talk) 21:18, 20 June 2019 (UTC)
  • Hi, I came by to promote this, but ALT0 is too wordy and ALT1 is too long (over 200 characters). Can we shorten it like this:
  • ALT1: ... that Exxon's 1956 propaganda film Assignment: Venezuela sought to convince American oil workers that the anti-capitalist military dictatorship had embraced the American way of life? Yoninah (talk) 23:04, 31 July 2019 (UTC)
  • Of course, good suggestion! Kingsif (talk) 13:11, 1 August 2019 (UTC)
  • Thanks. Restoring tick per the IP's review. Yoninah (talk) 13:57, 1 August 2019 (UTC)