Posted on 10/11/2010 7:54:08 PM PDT by FromLori
Jimmy Stewart was a hard-core Republican. Henry Fonda was a die-hard liberal Democrat.
Ronald Reagan was a liberal Democrat for many years. As he famously said, I didn’t leave the party, it left me.
Jimmy Stewart was a WW 2 hero, but so was George McGovern.
Stewart flew 20+ missions against NAZI targets and McGovern 35.
They both received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal, and both mostly refused to use their military heroism to aid their postwar careers.
“Ronald Reagan was a liberal Democrat for many years. As he famously said, I didnt leave the party, it left me.”
It was a great line, but the truth was he married out of the party to a conservative Republican woman.
No, all art is NOT a societal statement. Some art is historic, some is just for the sake of beauty. This "art" was specifically chosen by Henry Fonda for it's "societal statement". He was a commie just like his officious offspring.
But you are correct, the object was an attempt to typecast, just like the socialists today attempting to typecast Tea Partiers and Conservatives. Your refusal to accept that reality is a pity.
“I’m pretty sure they have yet to find anyone that was later proved innocent that received the death penalty.”
Unfortunately you are mistaken:
http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2009/09/68593.php
Jimmy Stewart was a hard-core Republican. As were many many others. Bob Hope, Cary Grant, Dean Martin, etc.
Here is a nice list of HOLLYWOOD REPUBLICANS.
http://wikibin.org/articles/list-of-hollywood-republicans.html
All Art reveals a view of both human nature and society whether the artist intended or not. Most aesthetic critics will tell you this.
You can just as well dismiss the fiction of Dickens as a ‘societal statement’ because of its sense of outrage over Victorian shortcomings. Dickens is actually much MORE political than something like ‘12 Angry Men’.
There is no evidence of Henry Fonda ever having been a Communist. He was never blacklisted (he actually left the film industry for several years at the time on his own accord). He was good friends with both Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne. He enjoyed playing military figures.
Unfortunately you are mistaken:
Not yet...nowhere in the article does it state that he was officially declared innocent. I assert that if he had, we would have heard it ad nauseum by more well-known media outlets than "The Texas Moratorium Network".
But I'm willing to stand corrected. Got anything more substantial?
“Jimmy Stewart was a lifelong Republican as were many/most of the golden era Hollywood stars....”
Yeah, not so much.
Some of Hollywood’s “Golden Age” Liberal/Socialists:
Henry Fonda (his spawn)
Richard Widmark (yup)
Lloyd Bridges (early Commie)
Andy Griffith (and still today)
Ron Howard (ditto)
Will Gear (grandpa in “The Waltons”....played the part of the wiley old tracker in “Jeremiah Johnson”.....avowed Communist, Homo, and deep Lib.
Amidst all things, “Hollywood” has long been liberal. Yet, weirdly enough, it may not be as pure Socialist as it once was.
And that's just the point, isn't it. This particular "art" was intended by the artist to reveal his view of human nature and society. A decidedly socialist view.
Most aesthetic critics will tell you this.
Most aesthetic critics are blowhards that are full of themselves, so what they might tell me is meaningless.
You can just as well dismiss the fiction of Dickens as a societal statement because of its sense of outrage over Victorian shortcomings. Dickens is actually much MORE political than something like 12 Angry Men.
I dismiss nothing. I merely point out the nature of the beast.
There is no evidence of Henry Fonda ever having been a Communist. He was never blacklisted (he actually left the film industry for several years at the time on his own accord). He was good friends with both Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne. He enjoyed playing military figures.
He left the film industry at the time on his own accord. How convenient for him. So not only was he a commie, but a cowardly commie who couldn't even stand up and defend his positions. And he enjoyed playing military figures? Wow, that settles it then - that must mean he couldn't possibly have Communist sympathies. Are you for real? You can't possibly be this naive and be a true conservative.
Ron Howard is a communist?
I'm beginning to think we are talking about two different movies, because there is no way that the Lee J. Cobb character is afforded dignity. There is nothing like empathy for his character, but rather scorn and possibly pity that society could cause such bigotry.
You’re engaging in very poor aesthetic criticism so you might want to read some Aesthetics. Anyway, you’ve provided no proof that Fonda was a communist - just ‘guilt by asociation’ claptrap. ‘12 Angry Men’ pops up on lists of American classics year in and year out. You obviously know better. John Ford directed ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ - was he a communist too? How about ‘12 Angry Men’ director Sidney Lumet - who’s still alive and still directing films?
Fonda’s fairly short pro forma speeches in the film are refuted by other characters and the viewer is free to choose amongst them. As I said not a single character in that film is denied their humanity - the exact opposite of propaganda where chararcters are merely stick figures.
His positions were never assailed at the time. Only just now by you.
McGovern was a flaming idiot lib but he was not an evil man. He was far more honorable than 99% of today’s Dems.
The only cast member from 12 Angry Men still alive is Jack Klugman. I don’t know his politics. Thank goodness, because I like his work.
I didn’t get to meet her, but when my rock band was playing LA back in the day, we pulled up in our van to a stop light and Lucy, in a Mercedes convertible, pulled up next to us! We all waved and said, “Loooooocy” and she laughed at us long-haired rock and roll types. Also got to briefly meet Groucho before he died.
Actually, I recall clips of her talking about it, and I believe she did register with the communist party when she was young, but it never went further than that - hence the quote you sited.
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