Posted on 11/01/2007 5:03:49 AM PDT by StatenIsland
If Tokyo Rose were alive today, she wouldn't get jail time - she'd get a three-picture deal.
Throwing all caution and fiscal sanity to the winds, the Hollywood establishment is releasing a slate of anti-war films that do violence to the cause of American victory - and to the art form of film.
Art is best served by an open competition of ideas. When only the anti-war left is allowed to make films in Hollywood and pro-American voices are excluded, the result is movies that are ideologically rigid, morally shallow and creatively sterile. Is it any wonder that recent anti-war films like "Rendition" and "In the Valley of Elah" have bombed at the box office?
Hollywood's enforced ideological conformity is obvious: "Elah," the Tommy Lee Jones vehicle now in theaters, and "Redacted," directed by Brian DePalma and set for release later this month, both depict American troops in Iraq as murderers and psychopaths. "Rendition," released last month, asserts that the American government allows innocent Muslim civilians to be tortured. "Lions for Lambs," featuring Robert Redford and Tom Cruise, depicts a venal Republican senator risking the lives of American troops in order to advance his political career. "Stop Loss," starring Ryan Phillippe, posits that the only noble American soldier is the one who refuses to serve.
Even the relatively tame "The Kingdom" concludes with a coda that draws a moral equivalency between American CIA agents and Saudi terrorists.
These films and others are the crescendo of three years' worth of anti-war films. Even our sacred memories of World War II have been tarnished in recent years by films like "The Good German" (a ghastly, morally confused remake of "Casablanca").
This proliferation of anti-war cinema in the midst of a war is unprecedented. In World Wars I and II, Hollywood filmmakers - both conservative and liberal - rushed to support the war effort regardless of which administration was leading it.
During the Great War, conservative stars like Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks worked with liberals like Charlie Chaplin to raise millions of dollars through Liberty Loan drives.
During the Second World War, Hollywood's Republican studio heads - patriots like Louis B. Mayer, Jack Warner and Darryl F. Zanuck - did not hesitate to make films supporting the war effort when Democrat Franklin Roosevelt asked for their help. Great pro-war films like "Casablanca," "To Have and Have Not," "Sergeant York" and the "Why We Fight" series were the result.
Hollywood's support for American military efforts continued during the Korean War and into the early Vietnam era. Despite growing anti-war sentiment, the studios made not a single major anti-Vietnam War movie while our troops were still on the ground fighting. The only notable Vietnam movie made during the war, John Wayne's "The Green Berets," was ardently pro-American.
That all changed when the Baby Boomers took over Hollywood in the 1970s and weaved a new cinematic narrative of anti-American self-loathing. This narrative is now being applied to the post-9/11 world - and dissenting conservative voices are being systematically excluded.
Talented filmmakers like Cyrus Nowrasteh (ABC's "The Path to 9/11"), Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Robert Avrech ("Body Double"), novelist and screenwriter Andrew Klavan (Clint Eastwood's "True Crime") and actor Robert Davi ("Profiler") have all tried to get pro-war projects made these past three years, and have all been turned down by the Hollywood system.
Even superstar Bruce Willis has tried to get a film made about the famed "Deuce Four" battalion serving in Iraq - but has gotten nowhere with the studios.
The resulting ideological conformity is a disaster both for America and for the art form of film. Art must serve truth if it is to be compelling. When Hollywood systematically muddies distinctions between freedom-loving Americans and terrorists, it's no wonder the resulting films resemble the tedious "Rendition" - instead of enthralling classics like "Casablanca."
It's hard to tell good stories when you equivocate about tyranny - and even harder to get the public to go along with it.
We could use more of that.
I am really looking forward to seeing the opening number for Lions for Lambs. This thing is getting heavy promotion, and has Streep/Cruise/Redford. When this turkey tanks, it will be obvious to everyone that anti-war movies are box office poison.
Good article!
BTW, I thought the ending of The Kingdom was less about moral equivalency than about the fact that the enemy (Islam) doesn’t plan to give up - and neither do we. There can be only one winner, and the battle is going to go on until the other side is wiped out.
Even superstar Bruce Willis has tried to get a film made about the famed "Deuce Four" battalion serving in Iraq - but has gotten nowhere with the studios.
Mel Gibson, when he tried to make "The Passion" had the same story. Then he put up his OWN money and made the 4th biggest blockbuster movie of all time...
I am escaping the world...
Watching old flicks from the 1930’s..
Try it you might like it.
The propaganda war can be as important as the shooting war.
That was why the communists sought to take over Hollywood back in the late 40s/early 50s.
Funny thing is, those anti military films...bomb, no one pays to see that crapola, yet like the dinosaur media, they keep on losing money hand over fist, like a bucket with a hole at the bottom and they (Hollyweird) doesn’t seem to care that they are losing their shareholders money.
It’s the only business that I know of that losses are not only encouraged, but subsidized, that film released last month lost to a re-release of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Nightmare” opened on far fewer screens!
There is currently a 3 million dollar movie, made by unknows and with a pro life message getting very good review and attendance the movie called Bella.
Mel Gibson on his own and with his own money put together a blockbuster that according to Hollywood would bomb, it did not and the Passion of the Christ made him much richer.
Movies can be made minus Hollywood.
You're right. If Willis wants to make this movie, he should be able to do it on his own, like Mel Gibson did.
They managed to do it, Joe was right.
The second area they managed to take over is our educational system (public)
“Even the relatively tame “The Kingdom” concludes with a coda that draws a moral equivalency between American CIA agents and Saudi terrorists.”
It’s only moral equivalency if you are a pacifist i.e all violent actions are equally wrong.
Of course, these movies will make millions in sales overseas and in Muslim countries where they’ll be cited as proof of American atrocities.
Most people here will continue to support these anti American rants with their dollars by going to see other movies at the box office.
Those movies pay for these ones.
Think of it all as one big pool of money - which it is - that the hollywood left pulls on to cover the loses inherent in these movies.
They are doing their best to advance the cause of Socialism and Communism and all who pay to see any movies whatsoever are supporting them in the finest Stalinist tradition.- we will hang capitalism. where will we get the rope? they will sell it to us.
Don’t spend your money on these anti-USA films. Let Follywood eat some big losses on these projects featuring geriatric liberals.
Maybe it's time to form a new studio (or go the indie route). There's no reason to cede total control of American cinema to the hands of a few ideological-straitjacketed people.
“I am escaping the world...Watching old flicks from the 1930’s...Try it you might like it.”
LOL, I do it ALL the time. It’s most of what I watch on TV. BTW, I’m 56, so most of the 30,40’s flix are a revelation to me.
I’m glad I saw “The Kingdom” because I thought it was a profoundly pro-American and anti-Jihadist film. So in general yes I agree with you but I think conservatives should support good films or they’ll cease to be made.
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