Posted on 10/13/2004 8:05:08 PM PDT by Jon Alvarez
Studio: Miramax Films
Starring: Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon
Also watch Tampopo.
5th reason - it looks like it stinks.
People in the art lean left because:
A)The craft -- whether it be writing, acting, painting, dance etc -- doesn't allow much time for political thought, reading etc.
B)By tradition, personal inclination and necessity artists are typically outsiders.
C)The lifestyle, whether a struggling "artist" or a $20 million a picture movie star has little resemblance to typical American lifestyle. For instance, at any given time 99.5% of all actors are unemployed.
D)Many artists just want to shake things up a bit.
"A)The craft -- whether it be writing, acting, painting, dance etc -- doesn't allow much time for political thought, reading etc."---
Okay, I can buy that, although I should point out that many people work harder, more time-consuming jobs for longer hours than artists and still find the time to seek out both sides of the story.
"B)By tradition, personal inclination and necessity artists are typically outsiders."---
I get what you mean, but if 95-9 or whatever % of all professional artists are lockstep liberal, wouldn't that make the political conservative the true brave outsider, the "noncomformist" in his/her community.
"C)The lifestyle, whether a struggling "artist" or a $20 million a picture movie star has little resemblance to typical American lifestyle. For instance, at any given time 99.5% of all actors are unemployed."---
This is true, but I know people who hardly work at all except for the odd job here and then that still hate the Demmie's guts.
"D)Many artists just want to shake things up a bit."
True, but how can they rock society's boat if they stay chained up in their little one-viewpoint, lockstep lefty clique? How can they really explore the truth of the human condition if they only expose themsel;ves to those who think as they do on everything?
Vincent Gallo once hit the nail on the head when an interviewer expressed regret that a hip, expressionistic artist like him could be a conservative Republican. He asked where the true guts were in Hollywood when the brave causes the liberals in the community take are vague, airheaded, slogans like "cure world hunger". He also scornfully asked how much "courage" it took for an artist to continuously degrade America, a free and open nation where they can rattle their mouths off against their country and Bush all day and all night long without even the possibility of government repression on their free speech rights.
This is a discussion worth having -- particularly in light of the power pop culture has in society today.
I may not have expressed myself clearly enough on some points. When I said the "craft" takes up time, I meant in an obssessive manner. Many of these people, and I've met quite a few of them, actually re-program themselves to do their "jobs." There either isn't much there aside from the craft or they think in a very shallow manner about all other issues, including politics.
As for people working hard at other jobs, this is certainly true. However, no other job compares to the arts. You kinda half to be half-mad to enter the field to begin with. And, it's safe to say, normal, well-adjusted people don't decide that painting or acting is a good career choice. Edmond Wilson wrote an excellent essay on this subject called The Wound and the Bow. Worth reading.
Actors' political stands have little relationship to their craft. I'd say that Sean Penn -- who really is a gifted actor -- can say more about the human condition in 45 seconds of Mystic River than all the hours and hours of political nonsense he spouts.
Very often that chasm exists between their craft and everything else, including family, friends, etc. etc. Not to mention intellectual horsepower. I once saw a very, very talented A-List actress sitting between takes on a movie set doing one of those puzzle books where words are hidden in a seemingly random arrangement of letters. The object of the puzzle is to find and circle the "hidden" words. It was the kind of book you'd buy for a 5th grader at the supermarket check out. When I asked her what the hell she was doing, she said, "I like these, they make me think." Ooooh kay, then. And I backed away very slowly.
3 reasons:
1. Miramax--Backers of Fakenhype 9/11
2. Richard Gere "Artists For The U.N." Member
"The horrendous energy that we’re all feeling, and the possibility of turning it into more violence, and revenge, we can stop that. We can take that energy and turn it into something else. We can turn it into compassion, and to love, and to understanding."
"That’s apparently unpopular right now, but that’s alright."
Richard Gere addresses the crowd at concert for N.Y. firefighters and police
"Bush's plans for war are a bizarre bad dream. There doesn't appear to be any sort of basis for any of this. I have a feeling something hidden is at work here that will someday see the light of day."
Richard Gere criticises Bush in anti-war attack
Story filed: 14:00 Monday 10th February 2003
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_749299.html
The Power of Love Richard Gere Says Even Terrorists Deserve Compassion
"If you can see them [the terrorists] as a relative who's dangerously sick and we have to give them medicine and the medicine is love and compassion. There's nothing better."
But, he said, we must also think about "the terrorists who are creating such horrible future lives for themselves because of the negativity of this karma. If you see it from a much wider point of view, we're all in this together. We're all intimately interconnected in all of these actions."
Wednesday, October 10, 2001
By David Blaustein
ABC News
http://www.tibet.ca/wtnarchive/2001/10/10_1.html
"I keep asking myself where all this personal enmity between George Bush and Saddam Hussein comes from. It's like the story of Captain Ahab and the great white whale from Moby Dick." Gere, a Buddhist, added: "We have to say 'stop', there's no reason for a war. At the moment Hussein is not threatening anybody. "It'd be different if he was staring somebody down with a loaded gun in his hand. But there doesn't seem to be any indications whatsoever that this man poses an immediate threat to anybody. "America has never paid any attention to other people, so it's absurd for Bush to say that it's all in the best interests of the Iraqi people. "If the United States marches into Iraq without the backing of the United Nations, that will be done entirely without the backing of the American people."
Ananova Story filed: 14:00 Monday 10th February 2003
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_749299.html
3. Susan Sarandon "Artists For The U.N." Member
QUOTE
"We stand a chance of getting a president [G. W. Bush] who has probably killed more people before he gets into office than any president in the history of the United States."
and
At an anti-war rally, Sarandon condemned Bush for having "hijacked our losses and our fears." She told the adoring crowd that terrorism could not be fought with violence. As the crowd yelled in approval, Sarandon proclaimed, "Let us hate war in all its forms, whether the weapon used is a missile or an airplane." Demonstrators chanted in lilting lockstep: "George Bush, you can't hide. We charge you with genocide."
Do these people deserve our entertainment dollars?
We saw the previews some time ago and thought it looked like a B movie.
Do these people deserve our entertainment dollars?
If you give such a test to every entertainer and every entertainment company, there's every chance you face a future without very many movies, little music and virtually no art.
Additionally, it's a pretty sure bet that the actors have already been paid, the studio has already been paid and the only people waiting for a pay check from box office receipts are distributors and a few bankers.
not at all...there's 200 on our boycott list...
lots of celebs out there to support. Besides, life isn't just about the dummy box.
Since 9/11, I've forged some excellent relationships with other patriots in the area, so we sometimes get together and actually interact, talk, and the like...an amazing new concept.
;)
I read in the NY Post gossip page that her two bastards by Tim Robbins begged the two of them to get married -- they refused. She also had a child by someone else, perhaps Mikhail Baryshivnikov, I don't remember.
Absolutely, I agree with you on the attitude toward the "dummy box," which my generation called the "idiot box." Art, literature, movies, etc. etc. is the spice of life and not the main course. This is a fact often lost in today's pop culture driven society.
If I may suggest -- you and the people you've forged a patriot community with -- form a patriot reading group to tackle the important texts.
I know nothing about their lives. I used to see them ice skating every once in awhile. But that's all I know about them. Both have made a couple of decent movies. Shawshank Redemption was okay. Mystic River was good. Can't remember what she was in.
The whole idea of tryin to financially ruin someone who doesn't agree with you is creepy. Espeically since nothing Gere said is mean spirited.
Yes! The Japanese version of Shall We Dance? was fantastic. Why spoil it with an American remake starring the insufferable Susan Sarandon and Richard Gere, of all people?
To expand on yoru point...in the Jpaanese film...the main male character is just an oridnary schmoe. The whole point is that this man finds something extraodinary in his daily grind....its typical of Hollywood-think to cast the charismatic Richard Gere to play an ordinary schmoe. What that role needed was someone like William H Macy or Charles Martin Smith (whatever happened to him anyway)
I'm glad there was a thread about this movie. I reluctantly went to see it yesterday afternoon after promising my friend she could pick the movie we'd see. Well, I have to tell you, despite those two, the movie was so good. It was sweet and it was romantic. DEFINITELY a chick flick. But a good one with some unexpected turns. There was no nudity, foul language, etc. It was pure, good fun with a great message. I can't remember the last time I left a movie theater feeling really good. Yesterday I did.
Richard "Hug A Terrorist" Gere thanks you for supporting his career...
We, however, feel he deserves a pink slip.
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