Melanie and I were watching the movie “Runaway Jury” the other day and discussing the plot, which revolves around evil firearms companies that purposefully sell their evil product to evil criminals to wreak havoc on innocents and people should sue the evil firearms companies because they’re responsible for what evil criminals do with their product. (Tangent: So I guess we should sue Ford when someone drinks and drives; just wait, someone’s going to try it.)
We got to talking about the liberalism rampant in Hollywood and Melanie asked a good question: How did Hollywood become so liberal? In other words, why are liberals in control of the media and not conservatives? Why are so many actors, producers, directors, studio executives, and so on so liberal? Is there something inherent in broadcast entertainment that attracts liberalism? Was there a sociological event decades ago that brought liberals to power in Hollywood and not conservatives?
I’m sure someone must have answered that question somewhere at some time.
Technorati Tags:Hollywood, liberalism, media
Okay but that still doesn’t answer my question of why they were liberal in the 1930s. Why did this industry go liberal?
Why is confronting the Establishment seen as being liberal? Why isn’t it being the next St. Catherine of Siena?
Wow, some good food to chew on. Meg and Kate, I think seeing the film industry as an extension of the theatre world is a compelling argument. And Chris provides an interesting look at the psychology of the individual.
This is what I love about the internet: great discussion groups like being in college still.
Liberalism goes along with secular humanism. Religion, (belief in God with those nasty rules and absolutes) is not in sync with the hedonistic life style rampant among the inhabitants of Hollywood.
Ok to clarify the question, since people seem to be getting off track. To say that secular Jews are the problem is not only anti-semetic, but it also begs the question. As does the explanation that the lunatics, degenerate actors and directors, have taken over the asylum.
Why are so many actors and directors so degenerate? Is it something in the nature of the art of filmmaking that it corrupts those involved? Or is there something in it that attracts the degenerate? Why are certain individuals with certain characteristics attracted to this particular field of human endeavor in such numbers that they have come to define the institution?
Interesting. I’ve been thinking about the question of how Hollywood got so liberal (especially anti-war) because as I’ve been researching classic film stars, I’ve been so impressed with their deeds.
http://all-else-confusion.blogspot.com/2006/08/patriotic-hollywood.html
I would take issue with anyone who claimed that the stars of the classic error were all extremely liberal. Certainly, there were some like Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, and Henry Ford. But, there were also a number who were extremely conservative in their politics. In there personal life, there were many more Catholics in Hollywood, whose values were often portrayed on screen. That doesn’t mean that they weren’t sinners and you can’t point to problems in their lives – one of the effects of living under the microscope. We expect our stars to be perfect as nobody is perfect. Anyway, all this rambling is just to point out that there seems to be a definate change in Hollywood as else where in the ‘60’s.
I wonder if the current very liberal attitude has to do with Hollywood being more established now – and therefore more isolated from ordinary people. In the early days, stars were discovered in all walks of life, coming from established acting families as well as very humble beginnings. Also, a number of stars made their way to Hollywood via the stage, often in travelling productions, where they had more contact with the public in the rest of the country.
I’ve just removed a comment. I wish I didn’t have to remind people that they should write as if they were in church, not as if they were in a dive bar. ‘Nuf said.
“In there personal life, there were many more Catholics in Hollywood, whose values were often portrayed on screen.”
I suspect that Catholics in Hollywood used to play the part gays do today. We were the oppressed, but noble minority persecuted by the bigoted WASP establishment. We “needed” the attention of benevolent Hollywood to save us from our minority status and to raise our standing in society.
Of course, when Catholics “arrived,” we just became the evil establishment, so Archie Bunker-types became the only allowable Catholic characters and Catholic-bashing became de rigeur.