Why Hollywood Hates Conservatives

frontpagemag.com/PoliticallyRight.com ^ | February 18, 2003 | Steve Feinberg

[Core_Conservative]

Awesome Article - Hope it converts someone - even one is a start.

[harleyrider]

bump

[Lunatic Fringe]

We did not lose a single engagement in Vietnam, not one.

Some vets might disagree with this claim....

[fporretto]

Though much here is true, I must dispute the characterization of Apocalypse Now as an anti-war movie.

Apocalypse Now was about contradictions and what they do to men's minds.

Kurtz was driven insane by the contradictions of the war, a war in which America tried to create a viable, defensible South Vietnamese nation without any support from the South Vietnamese themselves, a war in which Vietcong monsters willing to hack off children's arms sheltered among the very people America was trying to defend, a war which the commanders above him would not permit him to fight effectively, even though he could prove that his methods would work. Willard was at the edge of insanity, remaining functional only because he had a mission to focus on. The Dennis Hopper character was perhaps the best give-away that the movie's focus was on the personal deterioration that accompanied sustained immersion in contradictions that enveloping and savage.

In interpreting this masterpiece of a movie, remember that Kurtz himself agrees with the decision to have him killed, and facilitates his own execution. Compare his bludgeoning to death with the exactly parallel sacrifice of the ox by the Montagnards whom Kurtz had gathered around him, while befuddled American soldier Lance Johnson looks on. And regard the exit scene, in which Willard the executioner presents himself to the Montagnards immediately after killing Kurtz, and, instead of taking his life in payment, they disperse.

When rationality fails, all that remains is the Leader's will. When the Leader falls, nothing remains at all.

Apocalypse Now is a fitting cinematic epitaph to the War in Vietnam and the 56,000 brave Americans who died there, vainly trying to defend a country that was not a country, with one hand tied behind their backs and their legs hobbled by commanders that would not permit them to win.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason:
http://palaceofreason.com

[P.O.E.]

If there was one word I now wished never existed, it's the word "Cool".

Everything and everybody has to be "cool".

If you're a black person in crime-ridden neighborhood you can't turn a local thug over to the police. That's not cool. If you're a smart kid in a failing school, that's not cool, and the thugs will beat you until you conform.

Men on sitcoms are either effeminate or bumblers. Men who are strong and decisive, well, that's not cool. That's being controlling.

War is definitely not cool. War is about the most uncool thing imaginable.

That one I agree with wholeheartedly.

But sometimes you have to do the uncool thing: aka, the right thing.

Coolness can really only be bestowed by others. Look at how the liberal amongst us are obsessed with how they look in the polls (if they're politicians), how they look on TV (if their Hollyweirders), etc. They are overgrown teenagers, still dealing with fear of peer pressure.

Tell you what, now that I'm older, I don't have to be cool. It's the most liberating feeling. I don't have to worry about how I'm dressed, what music I listen to, etc. Of course I obsess with keeping the mortgage paid and my family safe. But I don't have to be cool. I haven't completely descended to "squaresville" - no bermuda shorts, white socks and sandals. But even that really wouldn't bother me, either, now that I think about it.

[buffyt]

Clinton sent more cruise missiles into Iraq during his impeachment trial than were sent during the entire Gulf War. I can't remember a single protest.

EXCELLENT POINT! Where were the protestors then????

[weikel]

I agree Apocalypse Now was more an indictment of the incompetence of the top leaders as far as Vietnam. The main character was sent to kill one of the few commanders who had been consistently effective.

[The Other Harry]

Though much here is true, I must dispute the characterization of Apocalypse Now as an anti-war movie...

Excellent post. You obviously have a much better understanding of the movie than does the author of the original article.

[ClearCase_guy]

I wish I had it handy, but there was a very interesting article published after Frank Sinatra died, that blamed him for the whole "cool" thing. Frank associated with criminals, he drank, he smoked, he was tough, he wasn't big on following rules, and he respected things he wanted to respect, not necessarily the things that everyone expected him to respect. Frank was "cool".

He just wasn't a good role model. But a trend was started, and being "cool" has pretty much meant "going down the wrong path" ever since.

[buffyt]

I have never seen the movie. I can't decide, after reading this, if I want to see it or not.

[ClearCase_guy]

I've seen Apocalypse Now one time. Didn't like it. Another "great" movie is The Deerhunter. I've seen that one 2.5 times. Hated it everytime. It's pointless. It's got a message which is so deep that no one I know has ever grasped it.

[uncbob]

Hollywood believes itself to be beyond war

Not TRUE
Hollywood still loves WWII and fighting Nazis that is why movies like Saving Private Ryan which was a complete farce in its main premise ( that of sending a unit to find private Ryan) is hailed as a GREAT movie with vivid depiction of battle scenes and Black Hawk down and The Patriot are mocked for their ENDLESS BLOOD AND GUTS

The War in the Balkans didn't find disfavor in Hollyweird either

[uncbob]

Apocalypse Now is a fitting cinematic epitaph

Tried to watch it once and couldn't
Same goes for all the other Vietnam movies

[buffyt]

I was just re-reading the article and came upon this line....

My friend J., was placed with the 101st Airbourne Division as an interpreter, but refused to carry a gun. When he found himself surrounded in Bastogne, during the Battle of the Bulge, he picked up a gun and used it. His conscience was clear. We are surrounded by terrorism, and it is time to pick up the gun.

We toured the Battle of the Bulge museum in Luxemburg in 1993 and it was fascinating. The hardships OUR men went through in that cold, hostile place. They have a life size display of what it was like cooking Thanksgiving turkey out there in the cold. Awesome museum.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Apocalypse Now had the greatest battle scene of all time, "The Flight of the Valkyries."

"Turn on psych-war ops... make it LOUD!"

[eureka!]

Great post. What really irks me most about the Hollywood left is the lack of reason and intellectual honesty in their positions. Facts don't matter. Also, the ones who take the lead in their politics (Babs, Cooney, Penn etc.) are not the sharpest tools in the box. Downright dumb they are. Cerebral celebrities are few and far between (Ben Stein is one.) Thanks again for the post....

[DeuceTraveler]

"After the Tet Offensive, the war was won. The North attacked the South and we beat Ho's children back...
You cannot win a war if you don't want to be there. If the military had been allowed to do its work -- if we had bombed the North more definitively -- that would have been the end of it and the Vietnamese people could have started ordering from the Sears catalogue, opening factories to knock off Wranglers, and dancing with "The Disco Duck." "


I don't believe the Tet Offensive could have led to a US victory if we used a more intensive bombing campaign. I think we needed to go north and take over the country instead of sitting on our laurels while the north regrouped. You should never let an exhausted enemy regroup and have the time to learn from its mistakes. But we were afraid of China and a repeat of the Korean War.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks, I have bookmarked this excellent article.

[JohnGalt]

Clearly, the author is not fit to be commenting on 'the movies' or the multiple attempts to bring Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to film.

Funny how the author fails to mention that Frank Capra was investigated by the FBI in the late 40s for putting Communists propoganda in his films. Why again did the Hollywood Pacificsts become Hollywood internationalists circa June 1941?