HO-HUM: Stone and Hitchens Spar Over Hollywood's Efforts to be Relevant

NY OBSERVER ^ | 10/10/01 | Rebecca Traister

[Liz]

What a waste of time. We coulda told them: "Nothing you do is relevant to most thinking Americans." Period.

[geaux]

The Role of Cinema in the National Debate

The only national debate that cinema has a role in is: is it entertaining or not?

[BlueLancer]

"The Role of Cinema in the National Debate"

None.

[tophat9000]

A pox’s on all there houses..

[Liz]

My, my. Isn't it fun to see the elite chattering classes eat themselves up?

[Alberta's Child]

Mr. Shaye said he was “fascinated to learn” that some readers consider the sought-after ring in J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1950’s trilogy to represent the quest to harness nuclear power during World War II.

I thought Tolkien's readers were brighter than this. Tolkien actually began writing The Lord of the Rings in 1936 (I may be off a year or two there).

[Liz]

"The Role of Cinema in the National Debate" None.

Zilch. Zero. Nada. Nothing.

[Liz]

The only national debate that cinema has a role in is: is it entertaining or not?

But doesn't the audience - you and me - decide that?

[Liz]

A pox’s on all their houses......

. ....anthrax, too..........

[Paradox]

Hitchens may be a liberal, but I admire him! I say he should be our Honorary Closet Freeper.

[Mojo-jo-jo]

Hollywood=liberalism=ignorance=irrelevance

[Darth Reagan]

Mr. Shaye said he was “fascinated to learn” that some readers consider the sought-after ring in J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1950’s trilogy to represent the quest to harness nuclear power during World War II. Thus, he explained, New Line had made a movie that incorporated politics, but by setting the pictures in Middle Earth, those politics had been made “palatable.”

Well, if Mr. Shaye had read anything from Tolkien regarding what his books mean (like, say, the Introduction to the books), he'd know that the Ring doesn't represent nuclear weapons or anything. Tolkien expressly stated that the book is simply a fantasy, a story of a quest and good versus evil and is not allegorical at all.

Besides, would these people take this conference so seriously if it was on "The Role of Movies in the National Debate". Heck, a "Cinema" is a location where movies are projected with lots of seats and sticky floors, but is being used only to make themselves sound more important.

[Jefferson Adams]

These people are all beyond pathetic.

They should be rounded up, dressed in cammies, and dropped into Afghanistan. Those who survive should be picked up a month later, far wiser about the real world than they are now.

[Darth Reagan]

bump.

[geaux]

Right. You're in New York; I'm in California. We debate whether the movie is good or not. Bingo -- national debate.

Wait a minute -- are you saying that these people want a role in national political policy? I hadn't thought of that; I just assumed they weren't that ignorant. Well, you know what they say -- when you ass-u-me... Shame on me.

[Liz]

These people are all beyond pathetic. They should be rounded up, dressed in cammies, and dropped into Afghanistan. Those who survive should be picked up a month later, far wiser about the real world than they are now.

....who was it that said.....anthrax is not Hollowood's (sic) worry.....it's a shortage of botox.....

[bray]

I would rather have anthrax than watch an Oliver Tin Foil Stone movie!

Pray for GW and the Troops!

[Liz]

Wait a minute -- are you saying that these people want a role in national political policy?

(1)Who was the Clinton's main supporter in their ascendancy to power. (2) Who wrote the
sap-happy script for the Man From Hope? (3) Who financed the Clintons' campaigns?

(1) Harry Thomasson of TV's Designing Women (2) Yup. Uncle Harry Thomasson.
(3) Hollywood gave Clinton the really big bucks.

[kassie]

Oliver Stone! “I made a movie in which the President’s head gets blown off in the middle of Dealey Plaza, and it was entertaining because it was a thriller!” he said in a voice as loud as his pink socks.

Are him and impeached 42 friends? They seem to like to toot their own horns.

[Liz]

I would rather have anthrax than watch an Oliver Tin Foil Stone movie!

Yup. Owl-Eyed Oliver's a real hoot. ROTFLMCO.