10 mistakes conservatives make in art and entertainment

townhall.com ^ | 2/7/06 | Erik Lokkesmoe

[paudio]

Conservatives, by definition but not always by practice, are curators of the good, the true, and the beautiful. In the popular arts, however, we have become champions of the tame, the trite, and the temporal. (See “safe for the whole family” radio stations, movie reviews that count body parts and swear words, and paintings of nostalgic sugarplum cottages.) Wrong-headed in our approach, seduced by fashionable (and profitable) trends, debilitated by our passion for the cheap and comfortable, our “vision” for popular art and entertainment – if one can call protests and boycotts a vision – is doing more harm than good in the culture.

The remedy is easier than one might think. It begins by identifying and admitting our errors. Here are ten to start us off, no doubt there are dozens more:

Mistake #1: We try to improve art and entertainment from the top-down and the outside-in. For example, when well-meaning people, flush with cash but bankrupt on talent, attempt to “show Hollywood” by creating films that go around proven creative methods, the result is always the same: direct to video, a waste of time and money. Enduring change, meanwhile, comes from the bottom-up (working your way up from the mailroom) and the inside-out (working within the creative industries).

Mistake #2: We don't quite understand common grace – the idea that the good, the true, and the beautiful can be found in the most “unlikely” of places (Broadway) and people (liberal artists). Without a strong belief in common grace, we will either get angry at the culture or withdraw from it entirely.

[NoCountyIncomeTax]

The market works. People like explosions and sh*t.

Exactly. That's why edgy and near-pornographic sell better than family values. People look to popular entertainment to live out their fantasies. Who fantasizes about being married, having three kids and going to church when that's what they do day in and day out? That's why sex, gore and violence will always outsell whatever the PTC is trying to push us to watch.

A better idea would be to remind people that fictional books, movies and televisions shows are just that -- fictional.

[Mr. Jeeves]

I suspect an uncomfortably large portion of the viewership of Passion were horror fans getting off on viewing the flagellation and torture and whatnot who had no interest in Christianity...

I agree. Like anybody who saw it more than once.

[ontos-on]

Like the downtrodden minorities of the past, we have to be twice as good to get half the recognition.

Thanks for your reply. However, there is a problem in your essential point excerpted above. The standard of what is "good" is not the same now. The leftist revolution has supplanted the classical good true and beautiful as that which is estimable. In your analogy, if minorities were as good or so much better, then the idea was that this would allow them to be recognized. However, in the present situation, the "conservatives" are the group who are disadvantaged, but if those who are judging or recognizing use a non-classical standard, then there is no way to achieve recognition. Recognition itself is problematical. But I got to run right now.

[AmericaUnite]

I like TOON art. Go Pookie!

[\/\/ayne]

...hey, that's my pizza eating hand!

Sounds like something Spiderman would say but I don't know the issue. I was never allowed to read comic books growing up in the '60's but in the '80's I had two friends with boxes and boxes of comics in their collections. I spent a few days catching up.

My favorite line of Spiderman's is in the '90's cartoon series where he fights a bad guy with a very dense metabalism called Tombstone.

Tombstone: (looking up at Spiderman way up on the ceiling) "Come down here and fight like a man!"

Spiderman: "Why don't you come up here and fight like a spider?"

I was also not allowed to watch Batman, Star Trek or Wild Wild West due to too much violence (I saw a lot of "Flipper") but I love them now.

[SlowBoat407]

Recognition itself is problematical. But I got to run right now.

How can I recognize you if you won't stand still?!?

[Euro-American Scum]

(1) Brokeback Mountain, (2) Capote, (3) Crash, (4) Good Night and Good Luck, and (5)Munich.

Any film that glofies the gay lifestyle will win hands down.

[Euro-American Scum]

glofies = glorifies

[Melas]

problem is, why is it as if there's no personal expression that is 'clean', nice, and beautiful at the same time?

Simply put, life isn't clean or nice. Life is all about moving from one obstacle to another, with myriad little dramas unfolding all the time. Nice doesn't make drama, and life is really all about drama.

[Melas]

It bothers me to see Capote in there. That movie stands apart from the rest. It just so happens that Capote was gay.

[AmishDude]

There are some pieces which are argued to be conservative (Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters) but not purposefully and others that promote conservatism through an anti-hero (24, Dirty Harry).

I don't think we should damage ourselves by doing those ridiculous movies and TV shows that preach politics with more vigor and less veneer than a televangelist. It's killing the liberals.

[Melas]

I saw Narnia, and I can sum it up in two words: LOTR Lite. The books were wonderful, and the film did a passable job of capturing the essence of the (now) second book, but not a remarkable job. More than anything though, the movie borrows just about every visual cue and cinematic element from LOTR and does it (seemingly) a bit cheaper.

It was an entertaining movie, no doubt. But honestly, there is no way this film is deserving of awards.

[Darkwolf377]

I thought Sin City was astonishing visually, but to be honest, it was one of the most depressing filmgoing experiences of my life. I love action movies, so it's not the violence--among my favorite movies ever are The Wild Bunch, Heat, Seven and Apocalypse Now.

But Sin City, as stunning-looking as it was, was repetitive garbage, plot-wise. How many times am I supposed to enjoy seeing a man's private parts shot or crushed in one movie? I sat in the theater during the umpteenth killing and wondered if there was ever going to be a plot in this stupid thing.

[AmishDude]

It bothers me to see Capote in there. That movie stands apart from the rest. It just so happens that Capote was gay.

Well, it'll lose to Brokeback Mountain, because I guess Truman Capote just wasn't gay enough for Hollywood.

[Melas]

In fact, all great artists have been artists of the right... can't think of one from the left except maybe Brecht.

Surely you jest? Tennesee Williams, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ibsen, Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, the Bronte sisters, and many many more that I could name were anything but on the right.

I have a pet theory that conservative personalities are anethma to the inherent instability of a career in the arts. Conservatives are attracted to professions with more predictable futures and incomes.

[vimto]

Strange the way we react to films. But I guess the point is - as conservatives we have to get involved with culture, and that means sitting through some dire stuff at times. I certainly was able to engage my son in conversation about the film (that in itself is unusual!). We can at least be agreed it was visually stunning - and perhaps that won me over.

[Heyworth]

Chronicles of Narnia...?

The guy is talking about outsiders making movies. Narnia was a studio project all the way.

[Melas]

Frank Miller isn't much of a conservative. Don't read too much into his work.

[vimto]

Fair point.... the film was no doubt nihilistic. Yet it prompted the question - how do you act when there are no laws to guide - many westerns had that at their heart. But heck I'm not saying the film was a advert for conservatism. Oh no.

[Darkwolf377]

But the prime investor was an outsider, a Christian billionaire of the type he's refering to in the bit I quoted.