Article

2008-04-24 Home Front: Culture Wars

McCain's Hollywood advantage
Lindsey Myers, Brown Daily Herald (student paper, Brown University)

If Americans vote at the ballot box, they also express their political preferences at the box office. And recent cinematic trends suggest that conservatism is not as moribund as some hope and others fear.

An intriguing case in point is the inability of Hollywood to translate the unpopularity of the war into domestic box office success. Major studios have produced movies highly critical of Bush's war on terror with some of Hollywood's most bankable stars.

However, every one of these movies bombed at the box office. Consider "Rendition" with Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, "In the Valley of Elah" with Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Thereon or "Lions for Lambs" with Tom Cruise, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. These box office flops led Jon Stewart to quip at the Oscars that "Withdrawing the Iraq movies would only embolden the audience. We cannot let the audience win."

Posted by Mike 2008-04-24 07:21|| || Front Page|| [11140 views ] Top

#1 Hollywood's actual response is that they can't sell anti-war dramas, so they are going to try and sell anti-war *comedies* next.

They have several in the pipeline right now, starting with "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay":

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0481536/

Posted by Anonymoose 2008-04-24 09:18|| 2008-04-24 09:18|| Front Page Top

#2 Geez, 'moose, I wish you wouldn't have told me that. Ruins my entire weekend, and it's only Thursday.

Posted by BA 2008-04-24 10:03|| 2008-04-24 10:03|| Front Page Top

#3 It does look like it will be funny.
Now, let's see....movie theaters......movers......moving and storage....
Nope, no more movie theaters. Guess I'll have to wait for the DVD.

Posted by wxjames 2008-04-24 10:56|| 2008-04-24 10:56|| Front Page Top

#4 There's also John Cusack's anti-war satire, "War Inc." coming out. This one is sure to be a hit with the liberal hollywood elites.

Posted by eltoroverde 2008-04-24 13:35|| 2008-04-24 13:35|| Front Page Top

#5 Oh, boy! Another "Harold and Kumar" movie!!

Posted by tu3031 2008-04-24 14:09|| 2008-04-24 14:09|| Front Page Top

#6 If you pay close attention you will see the anti-war movies are lowbudget affairs primarily designed to generate oscars and buzz and probably to create close relationshps between studios and actors. I don't think they are really expecting them to make money and they are certainly unwilling to slip their political messages into the blockbusters.

Note the messages in the Spiderman Franchise and 300 were very pro-conservative messages. I believe Iron Man will follow suit as well. Hollywood might be knee deep in liberal fantasies but they know what makes money and what doesn't.

Posted by rjschwarz 2008-04-24 14:10|| 2008-04-24 14:10|| Front Page Top

#7 H&K being premised on young males willing to spend money to see any dreck if it shows enough exposed genitalia.

Posted by ed 2008-04-24 14:22|| 2008-04-24 14:22|| Front Page Top

#8 I'll wait for them to come out on LaserDisc.....

(Yes... I know they will never be produced on LD.... that's the point)

Posted by CrazyFool 2008-04-24 15:00|| 2008-04-24 15:00|| Front Page Top

#9 Spiderman Franchise and 300 were very pro-conservative

In the 60s, to deliver a 'moral' message Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry had to employ scifi to get around the establishment of that time. By setting the stories in a 'fictional' environment it allowed little morality tales to seep through the walls of good old boy obstructions. Nothing different today other than the identity of the censors.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-04-24 15:48|| 2008-04-24 15:48|| Front Page Top

#10 Hollywood's biases are showing in the movies they try to sell. There are many good stories about the current conflict worthy of telling--about bona fide heroes. For some reason Hollywood keeps spinning their tired old biases in which few Americans are interested. Most of the today's so-called stars wouldn't know one end of a firearm from the other.

Posted by JohnQC 2008-04-24 16:21|| 2008-04-24 16:21|| Front Page Top

#11 Hollywood as we know it has become an echo chamber for liberal elites who are out of touch with reality and out of touch with the American public.

What they fail to realize is that you can fool all of the people some of the time and you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

Posted by eltoroverde 2008-04-24 18:01|| 2008-04-24 18:01|| Front Page Top

#12 Last movie I saw in a theatre was "300." Can't remember the last one I saw before that. Hollyweird's offerings have left me cold for a long, long time. Between the crap on the screen and the overpriced crap at the concession stand, not to mention the too-often rude, noisy patrons, who in their right mind would WANT to go see a movie these days?

Watching a movie at a theatre these days reminds me a lot of the worse parts of air travel. Neither one is a pleasant experience and I avoid them whenever possible.

Posted by Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 2008-04-24 18:10|| 2008-04-24 18:10|| Front Page Top

#13 Ummm, lets see, antiwar comedies?

MASH and Hogan's Heroes come to mind, both were wildly popular, and damn good too.

Posted by Redneck Jim">Redneck Jim 2008-04-24 23:15|| 2008-04-24 23:15|| Front Page Top

#14 Kelly's Heroes

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2008-04-24 23:18|| 2008-04-24 23:18|| Front Page Top

#15 Wonder how Iron Man will stack up - can go either way with that. Previews make it pretty obvious guys with tablecloths on their heads are the evil ones.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-04-24 23:37|| 2008-04-24 23:37|| Front Page Top

00:58 Grom the Reflective
00:57 Grom the Reflective
00:50 DarthVader
00:31 Grom the Reflective
00:26 Grom the Reflective
00:25 Grom the Reflective
00:23 Grom the Reflective
00:15 Grom the Reflective
00:14 Grom the Reflective