More and more celebrities using fame to back causes
Posted on 12/25/2002 7:49:55 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
More and more celebrities using fame to back causes
12/26/2002
NEW YORK - From the moment Sean Penn arrived in Baghdad, eager to advance the cause of peace, he was doomed - a dead man talking.
He was a celebrity, like so many other celebrities who have waded into the treacherous waters of politics or international relations. So he walked gingerly - he was there, he said, "to learn and not to teach." He avoided reporters. And he was careful not to say or do anything that would cause a meltdown at home.
So the Iraqis did it for him.
Mr. Penn "confirmed that Iraq is completely clear of weapons of mass destruction and the United Nations must adopt a positive stance toward Iraq," the official Iraqi News Service reported.
Before Mr. Penn could deny it, the New York Post had published its top 10 reasons Mr. Penn would be a great U.N. arms inspector (No. 2: "After 'Shanghai Surprise,' Mr. Penn certainly knows what a bomb looks like."). Craig Kilborn of the CBS Late, Late Show also scorned Mr. Penn's peace efforts.
"Hey, isn't that Bono's job?" Mr. Kilborn said.
No. Bono is the one who flew to Africa with the since-defenestrated treasury secretary Paul O'Neill promoting the fight against hunger. Not to be confused with the late Sonny Bono, who was elected to Congress because he sang next to Cher (who called radio stations during the 2000 presidential campaign to support Al Gore).
Sometimes, it seems, there are more actors on soapboxes than in soap operas.
Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, Edward James Olmos, the various Baldwin brothers, Ted Nugent, Tom Selleck, Harry Belafonte, Woody Harrelson, Angelina Jolie, Ben Affleck, Warren Beatty - the list of politically active celebrities is long and growing.
Jesse Ventura started out administering sleeper holds and ended up Minnesota's governor; Bill Bradley started out shooting jumpers and ended up in the Senate; Ronald Reagan started out co-starring with a chimpanzee and ended up in the White House.
Charlton Heston started out parting the Red Sea, moved on to marching with Martin Luther King and ended up waving a musket over his head for the National Rifle Association.
"Celebrities often have assumed political roles, but it's becoming more frequent all the time," says Darrell West, director of the Center for Public Policy and American Institutions at Brown University and co-author of the book Celebrity Politics.
Mr. West says celebrity politics is almost inevitable. Anyone with an opinion and a platform is likely to speak out, and political groups are eager to help them.
Do they know more than the average nonentity? Probably not. "You just have to hope that they have smart people advising them," Mr. West said.
Most of the time, Mr. West said, notables know enough not to generate bad publicity. But occasionally, they fail.
An early example is Charles Lindbergh, whose solo flight across the Atlantic made him one of the most famous - and admired - people in the world.
But Mr. Lindbergh visited Germany in 1939 and came away convinced that the Nazi military machine was invincible. He helped create America First, which advocated that the United States stay out of the war in Europe.
For this, Mr. Lindbergh's reputation took a nosedive. "Hitler wrote to Lindy, said 'Do your very worst,' So Lindy started an outfit that he called America First," Woody Guthrie sang.
The most famous example of ritual celebrity disembowelment was that of Jane Fonda, who went to North Vietnam in 1972, at the height of the Vietnam war, and posed in an anti-aircraft gun. Thirty years later, despite her apologies, she is still widely known as Hanoi Jane.
Others have suffered lesser debacles. In October, Democrat Barbra Streisand was excoriated for a performance at a party fund-raiser. She had read a quote - "Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war," it began - and attributed it to Shakespeare, falsely.
In fact, a poll by The Hollywood Reporter this year found that Ms. Fonda, Alec Baldwin and Ms. Streisand were the celebrities least admired for their political views.
The flip side were those most admired for their politics: Bono, Oprah Winfrey and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In an online forum in 2000, actor William Baldwin - Alec's brother - said everyone, celebrity and noncelebrity alike, should "use the voice you're given."
But Mr. Baldwin knows that the effectiveness of his voice is a function of the box office.
"First and foremost, I'm an actor," he said. "If I have a hit movie, it gives my show business career a shot in the arm, and it gives my advocacy career a correlating shot in the arm."
Mr. West says celebrity politics is almost inevitable. Anyone with an opinion and a platform is likely to speak out, and political groups are eager to help them.
Do they know more than the average nonentity? Probably not. "You just have to hope that they have smart people advising them," Mr. West said.
Most of the time, Mr. West said, notables know enough not to generate bad publicity. But occasionally, they fail.
I think the Hollyweed crowd fails often, and usually badly.....
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Soul Mates: The Meltdown Continues
Tom Daschle calls Dick Gephardt
his "partner and soul mate" in the
afterglow of his mid-week meltdown.
This is too good...
Week of 9-23-2002
Number one, you immediately alienate HALF of your audience. Number two, unless you TRULY practice what you preach, in all ways, you will be seen as a hipocrite. There is also the ever-present possibility that you will be revealed as a fool, as well.
Much better, therefore, to keep it to yourself, at least for professional reasons. I have to believe that these stars' handlers tell them these things, but the stars, predictably, ignore them, so swollen are their egos.
It is my understanding that back in the days of the old studio system, the studio honchos like Louis B Mayer and Jack Warner had the "keep your mouth shut" policy as a rule for their performers. They understood show business and how IMAGE works. They'd also NEVER risk a boycott. Every dollar counted.
...Every Tom, Dick, and Harry thinks he knows better than everyone else.
Since conservatives are usually better at business than liberals, it is no surprise that Hollywood conservatives are quiet about their views, beyond contributions and occaisional appearances at conventions, AND that they are not as "in your face" about their beliefs, or as shrill, for that matter.
Or, it could be that they have some class.
In any case, the old studio system, which has taken many slings and arrows over the years, did its job quite well...it produced wonderful, uplifting, patriotic entertainment for 50 years, and did so with much less money, fuss, and rancor than the insane bedlam which replaced it.
Some are too busy taking out the garbage and raising kids(Mel Gibson). Now that's conservatism!
I've often thought of how a studio would look, and what it would produce, were it modeled after sound, workable corporate models, and run like a real business, rather than as a massive ego-boost. I've actually designed such a company in my head, top-to-bottom.
If it existed it would KILL Hollywood.
Ironically, a lot of the system's rules are even now being re-written, by "the most unlikely of creatures"...a plump, bedraggled, unkempt Kiwi, who has just happened to make over one billion dollars in the past year, and has done it outside of Hollywood's purview.
By the time he's done, Peter Jackson will have made at least three billion dollars in grosses alone. That kind of success moves mountains. I'm watching, hopefully.
We don't have to worry about William Baldwin.
As we here on FR make abundantly clear whenever some star shoots off their leftist mouth, such stances cost money, and ultimately, earning money (what is called "asses in seats") is the whole point.
Currently, a major motion picture can cost $200 million to make and market. If it does NOT earn back that money in its first month, it will be considered a failure. Such a loss can easily bankrupt a studio. Therefore, driving away ANY potential customers is insane. You drive away the least number by not taking divisive stances.
As far as Miss America goes, that's a bit different but still, the pageant is in business to make money. That's why they told her to muzzle some of her more controversial stances. Their image is not one they want to associate with argument and rancor. Note, she's already been accused of hipocrisy and being "holier than thou".
Too true. It is telling that production companies are turning more and more to overseas productions...it tends to shave off 50% or more from the total cost.
I once saw an estimate of what the Lord Of The Rings trilogy would have cost if made by a Hollywood studio, under Hollywood rules, with "name" actors. It would have nearly tripled the cost. As it is, the whole thing cost three hundred million.
The same can be said for the cameramen, grips, assistants, and other staff.
Right there, you save a good ten percent off the top.
I once read an interview with a Japanese director (He worked on Japan's famous "Giant Monster", or Kaiju, movies). He had taken a trip to the U.S. to watch a Hollywood production and to get some idea of how the Americans do it. Since he was used to budgets in the $10 million range on the HIGH side, he was eager to see what the Yanks did with their (to him) astronomical amounts of cash. After all, with only a few million, he could have Godzilla destroy Tokyo and make back a respectable profit (which is why Godzilla still stomps a city at least once a year nowadays. He is STILL a box-office draw in Japan).
He was AMAZED, he said, at the waste of money. Multiple takes were done, which he would have demanded be done right the first time. Lavish sums were spent on catering! EVERY member of the crew, to the lowest rank, recieved custom leather jackets with the movie's logo on them, courtesy of the budget. The stars frequently got "agitated", and either refused to work, holding up production, or demanded the right to rewrite the script on the spot.
He went back to Japan, presumably shaking his head in disbelief the whole way. Needless to say, he learned little from us, unless it was what to avoid.
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