Someone could make a great political ad out of this theme.
Writer’s perspective is warped and misguided.
Reagan’s contagious optimism is what gave American society the confidence to overcome its biggest problems. Therefore, conservatism is NOT a “limited proposition” but a discipline of faith coupled with experience yielding a confidence that is essential to dealing with life’s problems.
MAYHEM would make a great political ad……and who knew Kevin Williamson was an effete metrosexual?
“So protect yourself from mayhem, like me’’.
For my money one of the most conservative films of the past couple of decades was made by uber-libtard Tim Robbins, together with Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. It's called Dead Man Walking.
This film is based on the true-life story of a Roman Catholic nun who is an anti-death penalty partisan. It concerns the story of a totally degenerated scumbag (played brilliantly by the painfully PeeCee Sean Penn) who violates and murders a couple of high school kids on Prom Night.
Susan Sarandan is the "mommy" character who breathlessly yammers on and on about the injustice of the "legal murder" of Sean Penn. She gets into a bible-quoting contest with a prison guard on the subject that's really quite entertaining. She wants to brighten little Sean's life, play music for him, bring him the love of Christ (I'm sure the real life nun, one Sister Prejean, is sincere in that desire).
The prison Warden and, to a lesser extent, the local Bishop are the "daddy" characters. They're all about enforcing the rules and holding little Sean accountable for his actions. The Bishop wants Sister Prejean to look and act like a nun (she's totally liberal and secularized), again in accordance with the rules. Sister Prejean is all about feelings - she's not much for objective rules.
Ultimately, despite Susan Sarandon's best efforts, the degenerated murderer is executed. And here where the strong conservative law-and-order message comes shining through. Once Sean realizes that the jig is up and that he'll be dead in a few minutes, he repents. He admits that he murdered those kids. He says he is sorry. And he means it. It's a very moving scene of a sinner coming to Jesus. Note: it's only when he is finally held accountable and is looking imminent death in the face does he see that he must submit to God's law. His soul is saved. The local Bishop and the Warden thus accomplish that which Sister Prejean tried to accomplish but failed due to her "mommy" instincts to protect the wayward child from the full consequences of his choices.
Now, the dramatic effect of the conversion of this horrible sinner is unfortunately attenuated by the next scene in the actual execution room, where Sean is strapped to the gurney and propped up so the victim's families can see him. He apologizes to the families of the murdered kids but says some stupid nonsense about the unfairness of the death penalty. It was the proverbial mustache on the Mona Lisa. It detracted from the powerfully acted repentance scene that came just moments before. It was completely gratuitous and inserted for clearly PeeCee reasons. It made no dramatic sense at all.
But, be that as it may, the real magic is about to happen. As Sean is dying from lethal injection, the ghosts of the child victims appear in their Prom clothes in the execution room. They behold justice being done. Their spirits are put to rest. We next see much-needed closure for the families, as the father of one of the kids is praying in church with Sister Prejean.
A sinner has repented and a soul is saved. Jesus tells us that there is much rejoicing in Heaven when that happens. Justice is done and outraged spirits are put to rest. Families find peace and can reach out to God again in prayer.
The conservative (and profoundly Christian) message is clear: we need daddy rules that hold people accountable for their actions. We need this "daddy" justice to bring desperately-needed closure to the victims of the crime, both living and dead. And perhaps even more importantly, we need to hold the criminal responsible to for the salvation of his own soul.
And, yes, I'll grant, we might just need "mommies" like Sister Prejean to hold the hand of the sinner through it all.
It's really a very powerfully conservative film. It's probably the most explicitly pro-death penalty film ever made. And as a double bonus, it's a fine work of art. Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn may be liberals, but they're brilliant artists in their own way. They clearly intended to make an anti-death penalty film that propagates liberal, nanny-state "mommy" values, but just as clearly they shot themselves in their collective foot, because this film is the best argument for the death-penalty imaginable.