Liberal Drama, Conservative Comedy, the West Wing and more

Various | March 1, 2002 (and earlier) | Various and Darth Reagan

[Darth Reagan]

I ran across an old column on Salon about The West Wing. In that column, the writer muses that Conservatives can do comedy and Liberals can do drama:

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule, but, generally, when liberal politics intersects with dramatic entertainment, the results can be pretty good. TV drama in the '80s was dominated by "St. Elsewhere" and "L.A. Law," and today by "The Practice" and "The West Wing." When conservatives do drama it comes out as "The A-Team" or "Red Dawn" or "The Omega Strain" or, even worse, "Rambo."

..........

"Murphy Brown," "Ellen," and "Designing Women" verged at times on the unwatchable. "M*A*S*H," one of the best shows ever to appear on television, always sagged whenever Alan Alda began his sensitive political philosophizing.

And as antithetical as it may seem, conservatism makes for great sitcom characters. Archie Bunker was much funnier than Meathead and Gloria. George Jefferson grounded "The Jeffersons," and Alex P. Keaton, played to incorrigible Reaganite perfection by Michael J. Fox, created the humor that was in "Family Ties." Even "The Simpsons" fills its shows with endless tweaking of the liberal agenda. (In one famous instance, Sideshow Bob is sent back to prison screaming that one day he'll walk the streets again because you can't keep the Democrats out of office forever.) And the most conservative character on television is, unquestionably, Hank Hill from "King of the Hill."

So what's the truth? Are liberals better at writing quality drama (except maybe good action movies)? What are some examples of conservative dramatic movies and television programs?

[Darth Reagan]

Now, I'm a fan of The West Wing, but then I've always found it pretty easy to separate politics from entertainment. How else could I enjoy R.E.M.? But, I enjoy my entertainment even more when there's a good conservative argument being presented. I remember an episode of Battlestar Galactica when Captain Apollo explained to the legislature on some planet that his people discovered that "the opposite of war is not peace, but very often slavery". He was opposing disarmament along the lines of the nuclear freeze movement of the late 70s.

Anyway, how bout some examples?

[Hacksaw]

The most conservative show on TV is South Park. Unfortuantely it is also the most vulgar. But I am a fan!

[Texaggie79]

Well, as for me. I sit in my home and watch Charleston Heston movies all day and listen to Ted Nugent all night. That's all I need.

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[Texaggie79]

Did you see yesterday's Family Guy on Fox?

[Darth Reagan]

The Simpsons. Ok, what else you got?

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

I agree. South Park is without question the one show that torches liberalism every chance it gets. Trey Parker and Matt Stone make no bones about being conservative and the episode they cranked out about Janet Reno 4 days after Elian Gonzalez was taken by her stormtroopers was priceless.

[Argus]

In order to be funny, something has to be true. There's also an element of moralism in all effective comedy or satire. Most comic putdowns consist in applying common sense to fatuous bs. These are all conservative standpoints.

As to liberals writing better drama, the fact is that liberals tend to go in for the arts, including acting, writing, directing, etc., so whatever they're doing reflects their politics, i.e. what they care about. Liberal solutions to problems are simple, even childish, so lend themselves better to the easy black&white moral universe one finds on most TV shows today.

For "conservative drama", just look at any movies or TV shows made before the 1960's. Everything in them - the attitudes, the morality, the assumptions about law, society, religion, etc., and characters' behavior - is "conservative" in the modern sense, but back then it was just called "normal".

[Seydlitz]

Well put!

[Ipberg]

LAW AND ORDER is a conservative drama

[Darth Reagan]

But there must be some conservative dramas around today, and I don't mean typical family fare, but hip things that are as overtly conservative as liberal dramas. But, I can't think of any.

I know that some writers, like Bob Gale (Back to the Future) are conservative, but I don't know if they've written a serious drama where the conservatism is worn on their sleeve. I know there are examples, but why can't I think of any?

[counterrevolutionary]

Well, TV drama tends toward the sanctimonious, so liberals have an obvious advantage there (the only real exception I can think of is the blessed Sgt. Joe Friday). And conservatives are funnier because we don't tend to get outraged about every picayune little problem.

[Ipberg]

I'm not a viewer but I've also heard TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL and SEVENTH HEAVEN are conservative dramas.

[xkaydet65]

"Law and Order is a conservative drama."

Not really. It runs along the lines that liberals can be tough on crime. Also the culprits are much more often than not well to do white males seeking to increase their holdings by any means necessary. This may not indicate severe liberal bias since crimes featuring rich Wasps are usually more interesting than a Blood holding up a bodega and killing the owner

I am surprised that no one has mentioned JAG or Magnum for shows with a conservative outlook and ditto that idea for Babylon V.

[xm177e2]

Comedy is based on logic, drama is based on emotion.

[xm177e2]

TV drama tends toward the sanctimonious, so liberals have an obvious advantage there

See post #12, there are some sanctimonious conservative dramas.

[Cicero]

None of this stuff is great art. Some of it is straightforward entertainment and some of it is pretentious entertainment, and I prefer my entertainment straight. I'd rather watch Red Dawn any day than West Wing. Similarly, although Star Wars was never great art, it was good entertainment. But the first Star Wars movie was the best, and the project went downhill from there as it got more and more politically correct, solemn and full of itself, and "multicultural." Face it, the alien bar room scene was a lot better than the multicultural mush that followed.

[Freemyland]

Daggoneit, I never saw that one. I did like the one where Mr. Garrison's kindergarten class had an election controversy ala the 2000 election.

[Hugin]

The Agency is a pretty good show that is pro-CIA. I've only seen a couple of episodes, but I was surprised that it presented the CIA in a positive light, something I haven't see from Hollywood in ages.

[Hacksaw]

Did you see yesterday's Family Guy on Fox?

Actually, no. I sanded my living room floor and am in the process of staining and sealing. The TV is unfortunately sitting on my couch out of the way.

[counterrevolutionary]

I just saw an FR thread indicating that Touched by an Angel and Seventh Heaven might not be so conservative as people seem to think (though I've never watched either show, so I can't comment myself).