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December 29, 2005
Good Reasons Not To Go To The Movies These Days
We all see the blatantly, often ridiculously politically correct scripting of today's Hollywood output, much of this going so far beyond the boundaries of reality(at least for most of those of us who don't write for, direct, produce or act in the film industry) that one has to wonder how far afield from the rest of America and the world these denizens of the lower left coast have actually migrated.
But the above only scratches the surface of goings-on in an industry that seems to have lost its soul -- today's movies, even those meant for thirteen year olds, are filled with material that was once rated a firm "R". It seems Hollywood feels the kids need some generous helpings of world class sexual demonstration and profoundly graphic violence in order to develop into proper modern adults.
And there is an increasing anti-American, leftist element being worked into scripts as the almost entirely anti-war, Bush hating liberal contingent that rules the roost in Hollywood uses its "art" as a vehicle for pushing political agendas that not too many decades ago would have seen them lynched by vast crowds of patriotic Americans.
Victor Davis Hanson is spot-on in a column titled Hollywood's Misunderstood Terrorists.
When terrorism goes to the movies in the post-Sept. 11 world, we might expect the plots, characters and themes to reflect some sort of believable reality. But in Hollywood, the politically correct impulse now overrides all else. Even the spectacular pyrotechnics, beautiful people and accomplished acting cannot hide it.Instead, moviegoers can anticipate before the opening credits that those characters who work for the American government or are at war with terrorists will likely be portrayed as criminals, incompetents or people existing on the same moral plane as killers.
Too true.
Take this fall's "Flightplan," in which the U.S. air marshal on board and a flight attendant turn out to be the true terrorists. Meanwhile, four Middle Eastern males are unfairly put under suspicion in the lynch-mob atmosphere on the plane.The film warns us that the real threat after Sept. 11 is certainly not young Middle Eastern males on planes who might hijack or crash them into iconic American buildings. No, more dangerous in Hollywood's alternate universe are the flight officials themselves — who in reality on Sept. 11 battled terrorists only to have their throats cut before being blown up with all the passengers.
Max Boot has more to say on the subject.
...for 60 years, Hollywood has had no problem making movies that depict World War II as a struggle of good versus evil. Rightly so. Because for all the Allies' faults, they were the good guys.For some reason, Hollywood can't take an equally clear-eyed view of the war on terrorism. The current conflict, pitting the forces of freedom against those of Islamo-fascism, is every bit as clear cut as World War II. Yet fashionable filmmakers insist on painting both sides in shades of gray, as if Israeli secret agents or American soldiers were comparable to Al Qaeda killers. Two of the most serious holiday flicks — "Syriana" and "Munich" — are case studies in mindless moral relativism and pathetic pseudo-sophistication.
What gets me is that even though film revenues are off because Americans have grown tired of seeing our way of life and those who defend it being perpetually demeaned at the movies and out of the mouths of Hollywood celebrities in their endless barrage of Bush bashing, these clueless, anti-American morons continue to sabotage their own collective source of income.
Posted by Seth at December 29, 2005 03:47 AM
