You know what's funny about Hollywood and their acolytes? They actually get it. Their instincts are right on. They just have it upside down and inside out.I was looking through my videos the other day and it struck me how many movies are about iconoclastic heroes who defy The System alone or with a few loyal companions. They are outside the mainstream, against the odds, living by their own rules and wits, uber-individuals who resist conformity, mindless obedience, mediocrity and who fight to the death for freedom.
In The Matrix and Terminator The System is the machines; in Lord of the Rings, it is the Dark Lord and his minions. In Equilibrium, the ultimate conformist super Fascist Socialist State; in Dark City it is the mind control lords, in XXX, the Russian mafia, in Chronicles of Riddick, an alien death-cult; in Desperado, drug kingpins, in Road Warrior, savage post-apocalyptic biker gangs. The list goes on...and on...
Yes, Hollywood instinctively understands the power, glory and appeal of the heroic saga—the hero's journey (tm Joseph Campbell). Writers keep penning them, actors clamor to play the parts, investors pay millions to make them, and the public continues to flock to them.
Artists always claim that the purpose of art is to reveal truth. If that's so, then according to their art, Hollywood would seem to believe in freedom of action, behavior, conscience and thought. And just as clearly, they consider enforced conformity to be the worst fate a man can suffer. (It would also appear they like guns, blades and explosives...a lot!)
And yet, in their personal lives, they are as completely conformist and obedient to The System as it is possible to be.
What the hell's going on here?
They don't seem to be as aware in the real world as they are in fantasy of the true threats to freedom and truth. The libertine and libertarian vocabulary of the Left has fooled them into believing it represents liberty and individual freedom, when it is quite the opposite.
The Left IS The System! It is in tyrannical control of popular culture. From the ecstasy of greening, to the hysteria of global warming, to the petrifying fear of second hand cigarette smoke (but the beloved and beneficent virtues of marijuana smoke), from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to the Nobel Prize Committee.
What Hollywood doesn't realize is that the fascist system they so courageously fight in their movies is, in real life, their master and seducer.
They don't see, yet, that it is The Left—like their darling Obie—that is working hard for the day it can enforce the rigid, soul-killing conformity and restrictions on personal power, expression, freedom of movement, conduct, action and even thought that they so abhor.
And the bogeyman they actively fear is their own fever-brain conjuration of a right-wing dictatorship that will enforce mandatory pre-marital celibacy and outlaw tattoos and nipple rings.
They absolutely get that freedom is the desired condition. They just don't understand where the true threat lies.
They don't fear the unrecognized serial killer at their table, but rather, an imaginary monster they're sure they hear rustling somewhere outside in the night. And as they turn their back to their "guest" to peer out the window into the dark, searching for the illusive and invisible fiend, the man at the table stands up, takes a knife from the dinner table and moves silently toward his host...
They have the right idea...they just have the wrong villain.
The Gunslinger
They do have it wrong. On the other hand I'm sure they know that. All they care about is making money.
ReplyDelete"Cognitive dissonance",I believe it's defined as.Wondered all the same points you made,myself.Of course,mental distortion of reality brought about by shitloads of cocaine and sychophant-laden lifestyle,as well as lack of Real-Life experience to inform judgement (old Hollywood stars actually worked real jobs before stardom,didn't go to friggin'Film School!) explains a lot of their not making that final connection in logic.Heard NPR show this weekend re:Tim Robbins doing "1984" thing: the fool talked about how It was here,yet he sees it from the Right,not the Left.How blind!Or Jaqwio is right,it's just about the money they'll make.They oughta remember "Wag The Dog" movie...
ReplyDeleteJag, in this case I disagree. They're all very passionate. I don't think it's cynical greed. Consider the several anti-War war movies made in the last few years that have lost POTS of money!
ReplyDeleteRemember "V" for Vendetta? Really stupid movie. But the extreme Left loved it because the tyrannical bad guys were defined as right wing conservatives very specifically.
Funny thing, though, they didn't actually behave like conservatives, but like radical Lefties, with a greed and hunger for power over others that no conservative would ever desire.
I honestly don't think they understand that at all.
"Yes, Hollywood instinctively understands the power, glory and appeal of the heroic saga—the hero's journey"
ReplyDeleteI disagree. Hollywood/the Left/Marxists don't understand any of those things. What they understand is perversion, manipulation, cowardice and dishonor. But to make those the order of the day they have to drag down all those who DO understand the virtues you list to their level, by making us all believe "fair is foul and foul is fair".
If you found the film of "V for Vendetta" good, you'll find the graphic novel fascinating as a study of Leftist propaganda. I recommend buying it. Giving money to such scum is painful, I know, but think of it as a sacrifice. It could be worse, wisdom cost Odin his eye!
I am talking about the unspoken and unconscious message of so many Hollywood movies. with lone, iconoclastic, independent, rule-breaking, individualistic, violent, brave, true and honorable heroes.
ReplyDeleteThey are mostly Conservatives with Conservative values, (or at the very least, Libertarian) in REALITY...even if mis-labeled by the Left in their blindness.
What I'm saying is their conscious minds don't know what their unconscious minds understand.
Or to put it another way...their LEFT hand doesn't know what their RIGHT hand is doing....
They THINK they are telling stories about LIBERAL heroes fighting against the CONSERVATIVE man. And they make that perfectly clear. But their heroes have all the qualities that are actually CONSERVATIVE. And their villains are always "the collective, conformist, controlling, meddling, big bureaucrat types. In other words, BIG GOVERNMENT LIBERALS...in the real world. Even when they make the villains ostensibly "big business" it is always a "world domination" theme...controlling everything and everybody...which is just another version of Big Government.
In their fevered brains, they imagine that because Conservatives believe in Free Enterprise, we automatically endorse world dominating, murdering corporations that poison the Third World, and exploit the poor, and assassinate their own employees who don't toe the line.
My point is that Liberals THINK it's the RIGHT that wants to control their lives and limit their choices, and force them into a servile, conformist collective, serving a dogma they don't support. And they are desperately anxious to avoid such a fate. People on DU and KOS are always talking about Bush's Theocratic/Fascist State, for example. They don't want a tyrant running their lives. They are seriously in fear of such a thing.
What it so stupid, and where the disconnect comes is that when they describe the perfect hero...in their fantasies...their screenplays and movies, it is one with Conservative qualities. They simply don't recognize them as such.
Believe me when I tell you, Liberals DO NOT KNOW WHAT CONSERVATIVES BELIEVE IN, WHAT WE SUPPORT, OR WHO WE ARE!
They don't reject what we believe in. They reject what they imagine we believe in.
They live in such a bubble of misinformation with every media source echoing their errors, they have no way to find out what the truth is. It usually happens by accident.
I was ONE of them. And was just as bad. And when my eyes were opened, my friends could not understand why I would want to become, suddenly, greedy, un-compassionate, cold, uncaring, controlling and cruel... a Conservative.
Knowing me personally, and the kind of person I am, did not for a moment cause them to pause and consider what might appeal, or make them question whether their assessment of Conservatism was skewed. They just thought I became some kind of asshole. And we could still be friends, as long as we never talked politics again. It was astounding, remarkable and revealing. They're minds are entirely closed. They have no insight as to what Conservatism means. They have defined it as the Dark Side, and the have no interest in exploring it any further.
They really, truly believe that WE are what they think we are...which is what their own leaders actually are...and they believe they are the warriors for freedom and self-expression and individuality and liberty.
It's totally amazing.
When I first embraced the Dark Side, I was flabbergasted by this ubiquitous ignorance. And I felt it was out first job to explain to Liberals what we really believe.
But it's a much harder job than it might seem. And to make matters worse, too many Conservatives believe Liberals know...but just don't agree. They simply cannot imagine such a depth of utter ignorance in so many seemingly normal and apparently informed people.
I find that it is RARELY the case that Liberals truly understand Conservatism and simply reject it. Most of the time if they can be persuaded to listen and learn, they are shocked at the actual Conservative philosophy.
But left alone without enlightenment, they carry the worst sort of prejudice against Conservatism. They judge without knowing anything about it except the name and what their ill-informed peers have told them.
WE are the New Niggers.