A Political Year at the Movies

Pajamas Media ^ | January 2 | Christian Toto

[AJKauf]

At first blush this doesn’t seem to be an overly political year at the movies. After all, Michael Moore was silent in 2008 by his standards, releasing only one documentary for his Bush-hating brethren online.

Look closer. Among the Oscar favorites are: Milk, the biopic of the slain councilman and gay rights activist played by Sean Penn; Wall*E, a Pixar tale in which the earth has been reduced to a garbage dump thanks to rampant consumerism; Frost/Nixon, a retelling of the historic interview of the disgraced GOP president; and The Dark Knight, a film many conservatives felt embraced President George W. Bush’s war on terror tactics.

What’s a conservative movie doing lumped in with the rest?...

[FrankR]

I watched an interview with Ron Howard the other night in which he was talking about his movies; a reocurring theme in the interview was his - and other directors' - penchant for including a "message" in their movies. I think that is what has torpedoed the movie industry.

What happened to good old entertainment for entertainment sake? Are movies produced only to reinforce the gibberish kids are being taught in public schools?

We get enough dosage of gay rights, civil right, global warming and every other cause imagineable on the TV every night, it would sure be nice if there was a place we could go...say, the movies...to get away from the "indocrintation".

[ClearCase_guy]

I hear what you're saying, but I think to a large extent, it's always been that way. (And let me say it's one of my pet peeves when someone says "It's always been that way" to explain away some rampant moral failing we see in the world today.)

What I really mean is that "High Noon" with Gary Cooper had the message "A man's got to do what a man's got to do". And "Spartacus" had a message. And "The Wizard of Oz" had a message. And "Casablanca" had a message.

Yes, the movies were more artful, and the messages were much better. What we see now is just propaganda by anti-Western, anti-Christian, pro-Communist snobs. It's all gone downhill and I give Hollywood very little money because of it.

But once upon a time, the messages favored our side.

[IYAS9YAS]

I disagree about WALL-E. It was certainly set in dystopian times, and there have been many good movies set in dystopian times, but the movie is all about the character and his interaction with his love interest.

[FrankR]

Sorry...I meant a political message. Of course they've always implied moral messages - once upon a time the messages were actually based on morality.

[ClearCase_guy]

I agree completely with that.

I think overt political messages for either side used to be pretty rare, but moral messages common. Nowadays, morality is considered a joke and leftwing political ideology is pushed relentlessly. Very sad.

[lnzog]

I took my little brother and sister to see Wall E and it made me so mad, I spent the entire ride home un-indocternating them. Humans are not all stupid pigs that want to destry the environment!

[Oztrich Boy]

What I really mean is that "High Noon" with Gary Cooper had the message "A man's got to do what a man's got to do". And "Spartacus" had a message. And "The Wizard of Oz" had a message. And "Casablanca" had a message.

Yes, the movies were more artful, and the messages were much better

Or different. They used to be about individual integrity.

Gay rights, civil rights, global warming are causes about group belief.

[wtc911]

What I really mean is that "High Noon" with Gary Cooper had the message "A man's got to do what a man's got to do".

________________________________________________

The real (original) message of HIGH NOON cannot be understood without knowledge of both the political climate at the time and the writer's personal history. It is clear that Kane represented the writer who was 'targeted' by the HUAC (and blacklisted right after this film) and the towns folk hiding in the church represented the rank and file of Hollywood who, at that time, refused, out of perceived cowardice and self interest, to come to his aid.

It is only in more recent years that Kane's plight became identified as similar to America's go it alone foreign policy.

That my FRiend is irony writ large.

[Bitsy]

Humans are not all stupid pigs that want to destry the environment!
Not according to all the manic depressive liberal greenies - all of us are stupid pigs.

[Tarantulas]

I took my little brother and sister to see Wall E and it made me so mad, I spent the entire ride home un-indocternating them. Humans are not all stupid pigs that want to destry the environment!

The movie's closing credits showed the humans and robots cleaning up the planet and regrowing the vegetation. And the humans were not shown as "stupid pigs," but as basically decent people who had been duped and controlled by their machine handlers. Once they shook off the control, they pulled together and did the right thing. The ship's Captain, especially, was shown to be heroic and determined to save his crew. The message I took away from this movie was to fight in the face of adversity rather than giving up. I believe it is a good message for youngsters.

[6SJ7]

Agree. I thought WALL-E was inspired. The human’s story was one of being saved by becoming self sufficient instead of letting machines do everything.

Auto Pilot: “On the Axiom, you will survive.”
Captain: “I don’t want to survive, I want to live!”

Besides which, the visuals in WALL-E we’re the best I’ve seen in any animation. Truly a romantic movie in the true definition of the word.

[FrankR]

I remember when those messages were just called, "The moral of the story". Too many people see/hear stories these days and arrive totally at the wrong moral.

Aesops fables should be required reading for all school children...there's a wealth of knowledge and wisdom in some of those stories. What's funny, with every wayward character in Aesops tales, you can identify the character with some democrat you know...i.e. "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", Al Gore.

[paltz]

I just don’t think Sean Penn is a good actor. I keep seeing the retarded character he played in “I am Sam” in his other movies...including Milk. I just don’t see Penn having an eclectic range.