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The recent discussion on the ideology of Hollywood has been generating a ton of e-mail. Here’s a sample. (And thanks to everyone who took the time to write!)
From Brian:
[You say:] “Yep. Increasingly, Hollywood is making films that Hollywood wants to consume, not necessarily what the rest of America does.”
I’m fairly skeptical about these sorts of claims, especially the “increasing” part. In so much as the movies you’re speaking of are lefty polemics rather than, say, The Island, we’ve seen remarkably few of these movies in comparison to the 90’s. Hollywood’s obviously a lefty town, and every year you’ll see the occasional Syriana, or Crash (or Brokeback Mountain which has more lefty street cred than politics), but that number’s gone down quite a bit in recent years, outnumbered a few thousand to one by comic book movies and big franchises.
What’s more is that, despite the doom-and-gloom rhetoric about Hollywood ignoring the masses, these small, left-ish films tend to end up with a tidy profit, and sometimes more - American Beauty, if I recall, took in well over a hundred million. I’m fairly certain that none of the Oscar nominees that have caused such a ruckus will end up losing money. Aside from bad conservative press (which, let’s face it, would happen anyway - it’s a sweet political schtick to milk), there just doesn’t seem to be much of a downside to the concept of a few little lefty films a year for a Hollywood executive.
My perception is that Hollywood is increasing the political content in its films. I don’t have hard data to back this up, but until 2004, I don’t think we ever saw a major movie release whose goal was to change the outcome of a U.S. presidential election (Fahrenheit 9/11). We also never before had a major movie studio dedicated to advancing left-wing politics (Participant Productions, creators of the George Clooney films Syriana and Good Night and Good Luck). It is also a fairly recent phenomenon that people now expect the Academy Awards to be used as political podiums by the Hollywood elite. So, to me, it does seem like Hollywood is becoming politicized to an unprecedented degree.
But even if my perception of this is wrong, the real issue isn’t the fact that Hollywood puts political messages in films or releases overtly-political films, the issue is that of the films with recognizable political content, that content almost invariably represents a left-of-center worldview. This is bad business.
Why? Well, for one, it serves to underscore the leftism of the more outspoken Hollywood pseudo-politicos. And that alienates potential customers who happen to have vastly divergent opinions. I know a lot of people who will never watch the Academy Awards because they don’t want to endure four hours of having their beliefs trashed by Hollywood’s condescending know-it-alls. That same frustration keeps people away from theaters, too.
Can left-wing films still turn a profit? Sure. But the fact that the only political films happen to be left-wing indicates that a huge market is going unserved. On talk radio, cable news and the best-seller lists, conservative perspectives do quite well in the marketplace. But with film, demand for this type of content is not being fulfilled because of—I believe—the political views of the gatekeepers.
From a business standpoint, it seems obvious that there is a downside to Hollywood’s current practices. Unfortunately, it’s hard to calculate the gross receipts of films that haven’t been made, so Hollywood has no way of knowing just how much money it is leaving left on the table. The market has to be proven for Hollywood to wake up. And for that to happen, some insider needs to take a chance, or technology will eventually render the current business model obsolete.
At Slate, Mickey Kaus says:
Matt Yglesias points out to me [video link] it’s not simply Hollywood’s films that skew “left.” Hollywood’s audience—largely young people, in cities—skews left also. There’s less of a mismatch there than Hollywood critics like Ben Stein and Evan Coyne Maloney like to claim. But this natural congruence also means a film can succeed at the box office without changing many minds in Bush country.
This factoid could just as easily prove my point as disprove it.
Let’s assume it’s true that Hollywood’s audience does skew to the left. Is that a cause or an effect? Does Hollywood churn out left-wing political films because they see their audience as left-of-center? Or are the audiences more left-leaning because conservatives see Hollywood’s output and decide that there are better uses of their time and money?
I wonder, have moviegoing audiences historically been left-of-center? Was it that way during the 1940s and 50s when Frank Capra and Orson Welles were kings? If not, why has the audience shifted left today?
Jeff God writes:
Passion of the Christ and Narnia have mopped up with the rest of America. I think a better explanation is that Hollywood, as any business, will make what people want. But Hollywood, as a political action committee, will reward the kind of movies that appeal to the members of the Hollywood PAC.
Remember that both The Passion and Narnia were created and distributed by people who are seen as fringe players by the rest of the industry. Sure, Mel Gibson was famous before The Passion, as an actor, but when it came time to find industry support for the film, he was locked out of Hollywood’s inner circle. Similarly, Walden Media, responsible for Narnia, is a bit of a renegade outfit. Walden was formed specifically out of a belief that Hollywood wasn’t making certain types of films.
Jeanne B. writes:
In reading the self-centered comments from the Hollywood gliteratti, I am flabbergasted at their total cluelessness.
Most striking is their seemingly universal conviction that the rest of us aren’t having a dialogue...aren’t paying attention. They think we’re oblivious to being “set adrift” by our government. If they can just yell loud enough and long enough, suddenly the masses will wake up to “the truth” and embrace Hollywood and its views. More, they think we’ll forever be in their debt for saving us!
Such ego. They don’t think we disagree with them. We’re just ill informed and too stupid to recognize how right they are. They really think they’re doing it for our good! Such gobsmacking elitism.
Well, maybe they do have a point. Perhaps one day I will evolve enough, become wise enough to take my political cues from the likes of Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon. Until then, I guess my ignorance makes me deserve their constant scorn.
