Conservatives In Hollywood?

[007]

Conservatives in Hollywood?!​

Brian C. Anderson EMAIL



It was hard to parody Hollywood’s loony limousine liberalism this summer. “I’m coming out,” trumpeted actress Jane Fonda about her plans for an anti-Iraq-war bus tour (thankfully later canceled). “I have not taken a stand on any war since Vietnam”—if “stand” is the right word for her 1972 lovefest with the enemy. Paramount announced that conspiracy-minded director Oliver Stone, who described the 9/11 terrorists’ “revolt” as a legitimate “fuck you, fuck your order” to culture-controlling American movie corporations (of all things), will helm Tinseltown’s first large-scale drama about the attacks. David Koepp, co-writer of Steven Spielberg’s remake of War of the Worlds, likened the movie’s ravaging aliens to the U.S. military in Iraq. And on the Huffington Post website, such celebrity lefties as Rob Reiner and Laurie David huffed daily about President Bush’s outrages against civil liberties, Mother Earth, and all that’s proper.

But guess what: ever more Americans are shunning Hollywood’s wares—and disgust with Left Coast politics, both on and off screen, clearly plays a part. In a time of declining moviegoing, what gets people out to the theaters, it turns out, are conservative movies—conservative not so much politically but culturally and morally, focusing on the battle between good and evil, the worth of heroism and self-sacrifice, the indispensability of family values and martial honor, and the existence of Truth. Hollywood used to turn out a steady supply of such movies—watch just about any film from its Golden Age of the thirties and forties—and it still makes them once in a while (sometimes thanks to off-screen lefties like Steven Spielberg). We may soon see a lot more of them.

There’s no question Hollywood is reeling. Film attendance is down a wrenching 12 percent from last year, and a May USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll found that nearly half of American adults go to movies less often than they did in 2000. Some pundits have blamed the rising price of tickets, but in constant dollars a ticket costs less than it did 25 years ago. Others believe that it’s all those DVDs that people are buying—except that DVD sales are slumping, too. The most likely explanation is the left-wing politics. “You can date the recent box-office decline from the end of the summer last year, with the intensification of the presidential campaign,” notes conservative film critic and talk-radio host Michael Medved. “It wasn’t just Hollywood’s hostility toward President Bush; it was the naked, raw partisanship.”

If even one in ten Bush voters boycotted Hollywood after hearing the latest Tim Robbins anti-Bush diatribe or seeing yet another big-screen conservative villain (like the Dick Cheney look-alike who nearly destroyed the world in last year’s The Day After Tomorrow), it would add up to 6 million fewer viewers, Medved points out. “This is what many people in the movie industry don’t get: when you express hostility to conservatives, many Americans feel that you’re expressing hostility to them.”

Surveys support Medved’s theory. A Hollywood Reporter poll finds that nearly one in two Americans might shun a film starring an actor whose politics repulsed them. “The politics is definitely having an impact,” observes Govindini Murty, an actress and editor of Libertas, an influential conservative film blog. “Do car companies insult Republicans in their ads?”

More....

http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_4_urbanities-conservatives.html

 

[KarlMarx]

The way I see it, "The Passion of Christ" and soon to be released "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" will show that there is a vast (and I mean "like an ocean" vast) market for this type of entertainment.

After all, if I were a Hollywood type big shot, I'd want a piece of that action(hey an extra few billion dollars always comes in handy and looks good in your company's annual report!).

.... but Hollywood won't bite..... why?

It's the culture, baby!!!!!

"Not Invented Here". "We don't do that here!" "It's been tried before and it didn't work" "Mel Gibson is just a fluke"

It's not just Hollywood and entertainment, but other industries have had this problem as well....

OK, let me spell it out... this is how it always seems to be....

1. You are a company that becomes successful in your industry (e.g. IBM with computers, GM/Ford/Chrysler with autos, Hollywood with movies)

2. You are so good that you really are, for all intents and purposes, the only game in town....

.... so you develop the attitude.... "we know what the costumer wants, we call the shots, we'll tell the consumer what he likes...." i.e. you become complacent and arrogant

3. Until.... someone or something comes along, does something new and starts eating your lunch (like Microsoft and Intel did with computers, like the Japanese did with autos) and eventually, you find your market share has shrunk to single digits

4. What to do? Play catch up!!!! Try and jump on the bandwagon, see if you can recapture the glory days when you were #1 .... but it's really too late, there are too many players that are more flexible that you, and they're the leaders now, not you.... the genie is out of the bottle..

That's Hollywood's story in about 20-25 years, if they don't start to wise up.

Who will it be? I don't know.... perhaps India? The Indians are the second largest producer of movies on the planet. And guess what, they also have computers there... so CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) is right at their finger tips. And they may not have the compunction to make family style films that the American public wants. I can see it now, someone has a script to a timeless classic on their hands, they can't get Hollywood to pay attention, so he takes it to the Indians who produce it, and make a bazillion dollars.... soon Bollywood is calling the shots... another American Industry becomes the victim of outsourcing due to its own complacency and arrogance!!!!!!!! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!!!

 

[Mr. P]

.....
Who will it be? I don't know.... perhaps India? The Indians are the second largest producer of movies on the planet. And guess what, they also have computers there... so CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) is right at their finger tips. And they may not have the compunction to make family style films that the American public wants. I can see it now, someone has a script to a timeless classic on their hands, they can't get Hollywood to pay attention, so he takes it to the Indians who produce it, and make a bazillion dollars.... soon Bollywood is calling the shots... another American Industry becomes the victim of outsourcing due to its own complacency and arrogance!!!!!!!! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!!!

Gives “Home Movies” a whole new meaning, don’t it?

 

[Hobbit]

The way I see it, "The Passion of Christ" and soon to be released "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" will show that there is a vast (and I mean "like an ocean" vast) market for this type of entertainment.

After all, if I were a Hollywood type big shot, I'd want a piece of that action(hey an extra few billion dollars always comes in handy and looks good in your company's annual report!).

.... but Hollywood won't bite..... why?

It's the culture, baby!!!!!

"Not Invented Here". "We don't do that here!" "It's been tried before and it didn't work" "Mel Gibson is just a fluke"

It's not just Hollywood and entertainment, but other industries have had this problem as well....

OK, let me spell it out... this is how it always seems to be....

1. You are a company that becomes successful in your industry (e.g. IBM with computers, GM/Ford/Chrysler with autos, Hollywood with movies)

2. You are so good that you really are, for all intents and purposes, the only game in town....

.... so you develop the attitude.... "we know what the costumer wants, we call the shots, we'll tell the consumer what he likes...." i.e. you become complacent and arrogant

3. Until.... someone or something comes along, does something new and starts eating your lunch (like Microsoft and Intel did with computers, like the Japanese did with autos) and eventually, you find your market share has shrunk to single digits

4. What to do? Play catch up!!!! Try and jump on the bandwagon, see if you can recapture the glory days when you were #1 .... but it's really too late, there are too many players that are more flexible that you, and they're the leaders now, not you.... the genie is out of the bottle..

That's Hollywood's story in about 20-25 years, if they don't start to wise up.

Who will it be? I don't know.... perhaps India? The Indians are the second largest producer of movies on the planet. And guess what, they also have computers there... so CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) is right at their finger tips. And they may not have the compunction to make family style films that the American public wants. I can see it now, someone has a script to a timeless classic on their hands, they can't get Hollywood to pay attention, so he takes it to the Indians who produce it, and make a bazillion dollars.... soon Bollywood is calling the shots... another American Industry becomes the victim of outsourcing due to its own complacency and arrogance!!!!!!!! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!!!

Agreed, except I think the Microsoft example was off. The only thing they did that changed the industry was offer their liscences more frequently. Right now, they're the "only game in town" company that tells us what we want (a frickin 30 terabyte operating system, 99% of which is never used, and 50% of which is code whose purpose is unknown to any current Microsoft employee), and they're losing market share to the open source program Linux...FAST!

 

[KarlMarx]

Agreed, except I think the Microsoft example was off. The only thing they did that changed the industry was offer their liscences more frequently. Right now, they're the "only game in town" company that tells us what we want (a frickin 30 terabyte operating system, 99% of which is never used, and 50% of which is code whose purpose is unknown to any current Microsoft employee), and they're losing market share to the open source program Linux...FAST!

Yes, Microsoft is going to get their come-uppance, too....

Apple could have been a player, but Steve Jobs had something against IBM. When he was offered the chance to put Apple's OS on IBM machines, he gave them such a hard time that they decided it wasn't worth it. If he hadn't we might be running MacOS on our machines today....

Of course, Apple did OK with downloadable tunes. The problem is that Steve Jobs just saw it as a means of selling iPods, not for the revolutionary idea whose time had come (I on the other hand did see it, which is why he should listen to me more often! ). Downloadable entertainment .... the new paradigm (I hate that word!)

 

[Annie]

Yes, Microsoft is going to get their come-uppance, too....

Apple could have been a player, but Steve Jobs had something against IBM. When he was offered the chance to put Apple's OS on IBM machines, he gave them such a hard time that they decided it wasn't worth it. If he hadn't we might be running MacOS on our machines today....

Of course, Apple did OK with downloadable tunes. The problem is that Steve Jobs just saw it as a means of selling iPods, not for the revolutionary idea whose time had come (I on the other hand did see it, which is why he should listen to me more often! ). Downloadable entertainment .... the new paradigm (I hate that word!)

A bit off topic, but just bought an Apple G5 yesterday. I've never tried an Apple before, but was so pissed with viruses and when the Dell went into total meltdown the night before, I thought! F*** it! I'm going to give the other a try.

Still trying to get used to it. I'd like the mouse to be more competent, but so far that is my only complaint.

 

[KarlMarx]

A bit off topic, but just bought an Apple G5 yesterday. I've never tried an Apple before, but was so pissed with viruses and when the Dell went into total meltdown the night before, I thought! F*** it! I'm going to give the other a try.

Still trying to get used to it. I'd like the mouse to be more competent, but so far that is my only complaint.

G5 .... nice!!!!! Let us know how you make out with that....

BTW.... for all of those who want to have Microsoft Office but don't want to pay a gazillion bucks for it.... there is a legal substitute... it's called "Open Office" and is offered by Sun Microsystems (the same people who came up with "Java").... and the price is FREE!!!!!!

You can download it at

http://www.openoffice.org

it does spreadsheets, word documents etc.... there are also add ons for databases etc....

 

[007]

3. Until.... someone or something comes along, does something new and starts eating your lunch (like Microsoft and Intel did with computers, like the Japanese did with autos) and eventually, you find your market share has shrunk to single digits.

Hey Karl, real quick, got an idea... why don't we start the "USMessageBoard Productions Inc."? We could sell shares to board members.

We'll give those sons a bitchin' morons in hollywierd a run for their money. I'm sure we could come up with something at least *HALF* as riveting as the "Blare Witch Project", on about the same budget.

 

[KarlMarx]

Hey Karl, real quick, got an idea... why don't we start the "USMessageBoard Productions Inc."? We could sell shares to board members.

We'll give those sons a bitchin' morons in hollywierd a run for their money. I'm sure we could come up with something at least *HALF* as riveting as the "Blare Witch Project", on about the same budget.

OK, I'm going to get a director's chair, a megaphone, some sunglasses and start calling everyone "baby" and "sweetheart" right now!!!!!!

Baby!!! Sweetheart!!!!!!

 

[007]

OK, I'm going to get a director's chair, a megaphone, some sunglasses and start calling everyone "baby" and "sweetheart" right now!!!!!!

Baby!!! Sweetheart!!!!!!

Excelent. And I'll print up some business cards on my computer that say I'm the Executive Producer, and then head down to the casino's today in search of babes.... er, cast. :teeth:

Wow! We're off to a roaring start Karl.... er, baby.

 

[Gunny]

Excelent. And I'll print up some business cards on my computer that say I'm the Executive Producer, and then head down to the casino's today in search of babes.... er, cast. :teeth:

Wow! We're off to a roaring start Karl.... er, baby.

I want to play the role of the deranged right-winger who stalks into the DNC and cuts loose with a 20mm chain gun. Have to get it on the first take though cuz there's only one TRUE way to get realism!!!

(My price is reasonable .....honest!)

 

[007]

I want to play the role of the deranged right-winger who stalks into the DNC and cuts loose with a 20mm chain gun. Have to get it on the first take though cuz there's only one TRUE way to get realism!!!

(My price is reasonable .....honest!)

Sounds good Gunny. We can make that the opening scene. We'll draw the audience in right from the beginning. And inside the DNC you'll shoot up, we put the likes of mickey moore, hanoi jane fonda, howard dean, teddy *hick* kennedy, etc... sound good?

Hey Karl, get ready to say "ACTION"...

 

[KarlMarx]

Baby!!!!!! sweetheart!!!!!!!

Action!!!!!

Knock 'em dead!!!! (literally!)

 

[manu1959]

i will not go to a movie nor buy one that has a wannabee lefty politician in it that used to be a waiter that couldn't get my order correct....

i will take my kids to whatever they want as i will not punish them for dad's politics

oh and date night when my wife picks the film....

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

I can honestly say that the only movies I avoid because of the person in them are Jane Fonda movies. I would be more than happy to see her re-enter retirement.

Other than that, I don't think too much about the actor's politics, unless the movie itself is a thinly veiled political message disguised as entertainment. This is the reason I have never seen "The Insider" or "The Day After Tomorrow". Oddly enough, one of the finest made films I have seen over the last few years is "The Pledge", directed by Sean Penn. I can't stand Penn's politics, but I have to give credit where credit is due and say he put together a great film.

I brought this up before, and I still think it would be a good idea: There are enough Conservatives and Republican friendly actors and entertainers that they could come together and produce their own movies and put a real dent in the modern line of thinking in Hollywood. Bruce Willis has long been open about his politics, as has Mel Gibson. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Adam Sandler, and Patricia Heaton are just a few others off the top of my head. Then there are the "Bush Democrats", if you will, like Ron Silver and Dennis Miller. Who knows who might come out of the Conservative closet if there were a place for them.

 

[Avatar4321]

I can honestly say that the only movies I avoid because of the person in them are Jane Fonda movies. I would be more than happy to see her re-enter retirement.

Other than that, I don't think too much about the actor's politics, unless the movie itself is a thinly veiled political message disguised as entertainment. This is the reason I have never seen "The Insider" or "The Day After Tomorrow". Oddly enough, one of the finest made films I have seen over the last few years is "The Pledge", directed by Sean Penn. I can't stand Penn's politics, but I have to give credit where credit is due and say he put together a great film.

I brought this up before, and I still think it would be a good idea: There are enough Conservatives and Republican friendly actors and entertainers that they could come together and produce their own movies and put a real dent in the modern line of thinking in Hollywood. Bruce Willis has long been open about his politics, as has Mel Gibson. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Adam Sandler, and Patricia Heaton are just a few others off the top of my head. Then there are the "Bush Democrats", if you will, like Ron Silver and Dennis Miller. Who knows who might come out of the Conservative closet if there were a place for them.

Adam Sandler and Buffy huh? Did not know that.

As i am not legally allowed to give legal counsel, I will say only this. Sounds like the movie production idea is pretty good. We would need a base of operations. Maybe create a movie center outside Hollywood. Isnt there like a hollywood florida or something? Maybe we could borrow that place lol