Opinion: Breitbart vs. Ehrenstein IV

Conservatives do exist in reasonable numbers in greater Hollywood. However, the vast majority hold ‘below the line’ jobs. That’s Industry-speak for the less sexy middle-class tasks such as lighting, transportation, bookkeeping, etc. Show business’ silent working-class mass exists in a right/left ratio far closer to its split in American society. And because they get paid far less than the ‘talent,’ they live in the far suburbs of L.A., including the flats of the San Fernando Valley ... David, you’ve been baiting me to mention George Soros and MoveOn.org throughout this weeklong exercise. Here it finally goes: The prominent Hollywood non-liberals that come quickly to your encyclopedic mind are mostly past their prime and opened up about their atypical politics during the popular Reagan era. Bruce Willis has not talked much politics since. He’s smart. And Schwarzenegger, the governor, got almost no institutional support from his Hollywood peers during his run.

Returning to the ‘conservative’ pity-party, the most important right-wing writer-director Hollywood has seen since DeMille, John Milius (‘Apocalypse Now,’ ‘Big Wednesday,’ ‘Red Dawn’), has forsaken Tinseltown entirely for the lucrative cyber-shores of video-game creation. Shouldn’t he be making ‘Red Dawn II: Al Qaeda in America’? Give him a nudge, won’t you? I’m sure it would be as big a box-office winner as Mel Gibson’s ‘NASCAR Jesus’ (a.k.a. ‘The Passion of the Christ’). Having achieved not only box-office success but Oscar glory with ‘Braveheart’ -- his epic tribute to 13th century Scottish face-painter William Wallace -- Gibson followed up with ‘Passion.’ But failing to see the wisdom of yet another film about the founder of Christianity, the major studios gave Gibson a pass on what has turned out to be his signature project. And, all glory to capitalism at its ‘invisible hand’ best, the independently financed result was one of the greatest box-office bonanzas of all-time. ... As always, money talks, and should Mel elect to make a film out of ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ I haven’t the slightest doubt he’d get a backer -- even in ‘liberal’ Hollywood.

And yet Andrew must also know that the Shepard case was not devoid of homophobia, even if it was grotesquely distorted as a pure hate crime by the usual suspects. And he also knows that the situation of many young gay men in red state America is still dire. Larry Craig isn’t reduced to restrooms because it’s easy to be openly gay in Idaho. I know many red-staters have a justified objection to thinking of themselves as murderous homophobes. Many aren’t. But in many red states, gay couples have been told recently by large majorities that their relationships are not only meaningless, but a threat to people they know and love. Andrew has never experienced growing up in that kind of climate, let alone living a life in it. If he did, his well-deserved skepticism of Hollywood liberals would not descend to prettifying what remains ugly.

I feel it’s worth noticing that Breitbart misses the point a bit when he laments the now-ostentatious ostracization of conservatives in Hollyw(eir)d. I’d like to think that when push comes to absolute shove, it’s still ultimately the money that matters in the USA (thanks, Mr. Newman.) Cases in point: Newt Gingrich’s praise certainly didn’t stop Forrest Gump from winning the Oscar for Best Picture (or making tons at the box office) in 1994. And even unapologetically lefty David practically concedes Andrew’s point that polemics like Redacted aren’t really designed to make anything when he acknowledges it’ll most likely only enjoy limited release stateside. (‘It’s all about the Euros, baby!!’) So the answer isn’t to gripe, which unfortunately Andrew almost does. All the protesting and arguing in the world isn’t going to change the minds of the supremely arrogant present-day powers in today’s industry. The la-la-land limousine liberal lads and ladies only consider the bird-flipping from flyover country a confirmation of their intellectual/philosophical superiority, and never usually have a personal cent to lose with their leftist vanity projects.