Hollywood box office


More musings on the Brian Anderson article
The Los Angeles Times picked up Brian Anderson's article about the box office blues. I talked about the same article here.

One thing I want to make clear before all this gets buried in the hype is that the Anderson article is both right and wrong.

Right in noticing that most American films produced today have a very strong liberal assumption. Worse, some of the films evangelize for their point of view. It is not enough to offer an alternative, conservatism itself must be eradicated.

Wrong in claiming that "conservative" films and only "conservative" films will save the box office.

Same argument, same solution, different sides. Each answer excludes the other.

Hollywood has become too accustomed to putting all of it's eggs in one basket. Not every film HAS to be a summer blockbuster. Not every film HAS to artistically significant. Not every film HAS to have a political message.

Let's switch to television and I will show you what I mean.

This last week I had a chance to catch up on some of the programs I taped. One of those was the "live debate" episode of The West Wing. Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda, two talented actors strutting their stuff. Now this show leans toward the left so much that I am surprised that they keep their balance. But they have never made Republicans and conservatives villains. Rivals, yes, but never villains. So here is Alan Alda, playing the Republican nominee for President, and he does a fantastic job of laying it on the line. Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater would have recognized the message.

Yes, I know that was just to make the Democratic candidate character look good. The writers and the producers of The West Wing know something very basic about storytelling. They know that the better the opposition, the better your hero looks. The more human (if misguided) the opposition looks, the better your hero looks when he makes the right choice.

I didn't necessarily agree with the arguments presented in the "debate," but it did show both the dream Democrat and Republican positions.

Compare that with Commander in Chief. This is a show that has a gimmick and a message and very little else. The gimmick is of course the woman president. The message is that all Republicans without exception are slimy snakes not to be trusted. They might as well give Donald Sutherland a snake mask and a green body suit. Usually I give a show three episodes before giving up on it, this one got two. Add the fact that most of the hype on the show slyly makes the Hillary comparison, and the thing plays like a campaign commercial.

Both shows are "liberal" by the modern American definition. Now let's fast forward twenty years. Which show do you think will still be in reruns?

One is good story telling, the other is message masking itself as good story telling.

Good story telling stays around

Let's move back into film.

One of the film sites I check regularly is LIBERTAS, the blog for the Liberty Film Festival. Now some of the writers at LIBERTAS have been going after V is for Vendetta, an upcoming film based the 1980s graphic novel. The concern is that it will promote terrorism.

Excuse me?

I haven't read the graphic novel. I did spend some time on the internet and I think I have the gist of the plot. It is terrorism in response to a repressive government.

Like, oh, say, The Patriot.

But the push is that conservatives should avoid this film because it advocates terrorism.

It doesn't help that the producers have planted rumors that this film is at least partially in response to the Bush Adminstration.

Neither side wants to put things in context. Both want an all or nothing deal where there values are the only ones available.

And if you have been reading this blog long enough, you know what my answer is.

Let the people decide what they want to watch.

There are times I am into Woody Allen. There are times I am into Rambo. There are times I am into Disney classics. There are times I am into the old song and dance films, There are times I am into family dramas. There are times I am into anti-heros and corruption. There are times I am into politics. And there are times I am into porno.

The market place is big enough for all of these and more.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Sat - November 19, 2005 at 09:55 PM  Tag


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