Posted on 02/28/2005 9:47:53 PM PST by ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
Life League Pans 'Million Dollar Baby'
"Hollywood continues to pound the American public with the message that the lives of the disabled are not worth living; that such a life is a commodity that can be taken at one's own whim," said Shannon Flanagan, college outreach director of American Life League's Rock for Life.
"Last night's Oscar success for the pro-euthanasia movie 'Million Dollar Baby' is just another example of the Culture of Death seeping into our everyday lives."
The highly controversial movie carried off four Oscars at the 77th Annual Academy Awards. "This movie has been hailed as a love story," said Flanagan. "But the grisly ending keeps it far from being a story about true, unconditional love. True love could never include the taking of another human being's life. The story leads viewers to believe that any end, no matter how noble, can justify the means."
While the movie does offer characters, including a Catholic priest, who warn about the pain and devastation that euthanasia brings, the Culture of Death wins out. "It is sad that so many in the entertainment industry have chosen to embrace the Culture of Death," said Flanagan.
"These individuals have a real opportunity to make a positive impact in this world, but instead they choose to make - and honor - movies such as 'Million Dollar Baby' that hail murder as a form of reluctant heroism. The motion picture academy also honored 'The Sea Inside,' a movie with a pro- assisted-suicide theme, with the Oscar for best foreign language film. And 'Vera Drake,' a film about an abortionist, was nominated for three Academy Awards."
Flanagan said Rock for Life is tired of the continued attempt by Hollywood to normalize such evil acts as euthanasia, abortion, and human embryonic stem cell research. "The truth is, life is a precious gift that must be respected in all forms. Hollywood needs a wake-up call," she said.
"Until the industry stops dolling out movies that send the message that immoral lifestyles and anti-life decisions are acceptable, the American public needs to steer clear of the box office."
Yes, Hollywood has an agenda, whether people want to admit it or not.
Of course 'Vera Drake' was a British film, not Hollywood, that had a very positive portait of the pro life side. Did they even see it? I'm guessing no.
(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")
I avoid liberal culture wherever it oozes into the light. I avoid their music, their art, their films, their lectures, their sermons and especially their "news." This regimen is ridiculously easy to follow (there being nothing of interest in liberal culture anyway) and it goes a long way toward keeping your brain healthy, your soul vibrantly alive, and your spirits sparkling.
At the vey beginning of the oscars they attempted to connect of golden age of Hollywood to the post-Sound of Music age of Hollywood. How arrogant!
A room nearly full of lock-and-step non-thinking libs congratulating themselves, laughing at Chris "Didn't" Rock's pandering jokes, patting each other on the back, thumbing their noses at middle America (and the President), and foisting off largely also-rans as being in the tradition of Cary Grant's, Jimmy Stewart's and Alfred Hitchcock's golden age Hollywood. And the whole time the most upstanding, artistic, and deeply personal film of 2004 is locked out with a mere 3 obligatory nominations (as if trying to meet middle American half-way and say, "Here, but we still hate your Christianity."). It's pathetic. And now so are they.
Hey now that post 'Sound of Music' age produced lots of great movies in the 70s! :-) The Godfather, Taxi Driver. That's just as good as anything in the Golden Age.
Taxi Driver was the inspiration for the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.
The Godfather is Saddam Hussein's favorite movie.
So was 'Catcher in the Rye'. Stalin liked Tolstoy. Are you being serious with those dismissals? What if Hinckley had claimed Macbeth was his inspiration? Do you blame The Beatles for Charles Manson's Tate-Labianca murders?
like that other movie where swank personified a boy... such acclamation. does anyone see the Hollywood agenda here?
I guess we conservatives are still waiting for the real truth of abortions-- a movie showing an actual abortion (murder) of a baby-- in all its horror and shame. Seems Hollywood hasn't made that movie yet.
And if such a movie was made by some daring soul, I just wonder how quickly it would receive its Oscar nomination.......?????
I know you tend to defend Hollywood, and you have your reasons, whatever they be.
I don't fault every person involved in the movie industry. And I myself really enjoy a great movie, such as "The Winslow Boy." That to me is art well done.
But many of the films nowadays are delivering the wrong message (drugs, nudity, violence, anti-Christian, etc.) --- and so it is a great weariness to many people in this country who want to promote right values.
The film you're talking about, 'Boys Don't Cry', was an Indie made outside of the Hollywood system. It was also based on a very sad true story.
Fair enough. I respect your views very much. BTW Vera Drake shows abortions as nasty and very unpleasant...to the people getting them. The title character is shown as a dimwitted woman who doesn't think about the moral consequences of what she does. Her family does however. It's as pro life a message as I've seen in a movie in a long time actually. The Cider House Rules...this wasn't.
I think that my point is this. I could name plenty of movies I like (from post-Sound of Music) but I could also name plenty that I don't. On the other hand I can't name hardly any movies from the pre-Sound of Music era that I am averse to for moral reasons. The biggest complaint is that Hollywood no longer echos middle America. Ambiguous views on abortion and euthanasia are a case in point. The snubbing of Mel's Passion is another case in point.
Look, I'm a big classical music lover so for some reason I sometimes like artistic things that other conservatives don't. Frankly I think "Taxi Driver" is an interesting piece of cinema. But on the whole it is undeniably decadent. It is not something I would ever sit down with my family and watch on a Friday night in. I'm not sure what it's like in France but I think the majority of American families would agree with that view. "The Godfather" is actually less impressive to me as a piece of cinema. But in the end it's still womanizing, sex, and human-life-is-cheap. Ironically it has more redeeming value than many of the movies of the 90s and this decade.
In the end what I do know is that I love Ronald Reagan dearly. And the fact that it was inspiration for such an attempt I think makes my point. The Beatles and Catcher in the Rye were pivotal in the counterculture revolution. I won't raise a finger to defend them. Nor do I entirely blame them for anything. But they were a part of the problem.
Art doesn't have to be beholden to anything. But that doesn't mean I'll watch it.
"Trust me I can point to lots of movies from the 30s and 40s and 50s that are plenty morally adverse!"
Exellect point. Two films that come to mind, "Double Indemity," (1945), and "Touch Of Evil" (1958) are not exactly films I would sit down and watch with my children (if I had children, that is). There are also some of the 'Pre-Code' films (films produced before 1934, when the Hays' Office really started cracking down on indecency in films). The original talking version of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1931), featured a scene of actress Miriam Hopkins doing a semi-striptease that was later cut when the film was re-issued seven years later. A rather riveting film, but definitely not one for the kiddies or even the faint of heart. Rent the DVD if you get a chance and you'll see what I mean.
But one of the things that sets those two excellent films apart from many of the productions of the 1990s and beyond is that they were films aimed at adults without resorting to the needless sex, violence, and foul language. Also, because of the strict enforcement of the old production code, the antagonists in those films got it in the end. As I mentioned on an earlier post, there are some notable exceptions out there. And you are right that everything doesn't have to be for kids, but it can be done with some taste.
Regards, T.
bump for later
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