NEWS: Hollywood Doesn't Get It, and Neither Does the AFP.

CULTURE: Hollywood Doesn't Get It, and Neither Does the AFP.

How many times does Hollywood have to shoot itself in the foot before it realizes it's bleeding? According to an article from the Agence France-Presse yesterday, Hollywood is struggling to turn a profit because would-be film-goers are "keen to escape grim news headlines when they go to the movies." Apparently, the war is to blame for tinseltown's recent flops, which include Rendition, In the Valley of Elah, and The Kingdom.

What the article fails to consider, as pointed out by LGF, is these films’ "unanimous left-wing political slant." Could it be that the very same would-be movie-goers currently avoiding the theater might actually be willing to drop the $10+ on pro-American films shot from a patriotic angle?

Hmm, maybe. Or maybe it's more that Hollywood is out of touch with a large portion of America's population--you know, the ones with "Support Our Troops" decals and "These Colors Don't Run" bumper stickers. Believe it or not, this particular contingent does indeed enjoy a good film here and there, but prefers not to be prosyletized or condescended to.



Perhaps Hollywood will stop bleeding money when an old American hero returns to the screen in January:

Do you remember a movie from the eighties called Red Dawn? I'm a total bleeding-heart liberal, but I still thought it was great. This even though it was basically a cold war gun nut's paranoid fantasy come true.

I think it's great when Hollywood can tell a story that helps us to become better people, but as you say, beating people over the head with a political message doesn't accomplish that goal.

Whether it is movie studios or television studios, they are showing their stubborn ignorance even after watching the music industry's arrogance cripple the "old" model.

I would rather spend my time here online being educated, entertained, choosing what I want to see and hear and being able to change up quickly if the current topic isn't fulfilling me. They have held that power so long - of what message they determine is important - that the heads of these studios can't fathom the audience actually having a say.

Why go to the stupid movies when there are beautiful tatted women right here, amongst a community filled with thinkers, doers and people who question the status quo yet are right on top of what's happening in politics, pop culture, technology, art, etc. They need to learn how to turn on a computer and open their eyes for the good of everyone.

Okay...didn't mean to go nuts there and I'll get off the soapbox, but it infuriates me every day at work (TV news) until I get back into the web game again.

Cold War 80s Action will never be equaled. Those filmmakers realized that in order to achieve universal appeal, the films had to be over-the-top. Sure, they were incredibly right-wing, and sure they were politically elitist, and sure they were incendiary, but they were so outrageous that they were awesome. But over-the-top liberal films aren't entertaining at all. This Lions & Lambs bullshit, for instance, is simply liberal preachyness for two hours. And the aforementioned culture shift means more of these kinds of movies are made than right-wing films. Over-the-top liberalism is boring, but over-the-top Conservativism is hysterical. Which goes to show you about Conservativism in general.

But don't make the mistake of thinking that right-wingers haven't been catered to. What about Larry the Cable Guy's last few movies? The right-wing movies have been made, but they've been absolutely dreadful. Nobody's been going to them either. So the issue is not about the lack of catering to a political side, but rather simply Hollywood's inability to make good movies.

It's because they don't pay their writers enough. Duh.

And in my case, I love movies with political messages.

Americans love blood and guts. Look at the number of slasher films released this year alone.

You want audiences? Put a bumper sticker on Jenna Jameson and film the results.

I do to sometimes, but generally it's because they aren't really *political* messages - they just happen to relate to politics. Politics is mechanism - it's not truth.

The annoying thing is that there was no shortage of anti war films before 2001, they just dealt with the most embarrassing military endeavor in American history forty years ago...but there were even more films about the heroism and happiness that was World War 2 either. Saying that anti-war films are the reason people don't go to the movies is like saying that anti-war art is the reason people don't go to art galleries. It's not a lack of interest in the subject, it's the lack of interest in general and more entertaining alternatives. Especially in the face of excessive box office prices and marketing.

furthermore now that more and more people have access to affordable (relative to previous iterations of the home theater) home entertainment to wait an extra six months to see Ben Stiller make a fool of himself in your own home where you can pause the movie and go use a much cleaner bathroom or microwave another bag of pop corn doesn't look all that bad.

And if you are lucky enough to have an independent theater in town (My town has TWO) then you find out that going to the movies isn't all that bad when you can kick back with a bottle of wine and watch three previews and a decent foreign film that makes you laugh harder than Ben Stiller ever could.

i'm surprised they don't strike.

Well, I guess we have a testable hypothesis. Elect a President who gets America out of Iraq, and watch what happens to the Hollywood box-office.
Then we'll know whether this article is sensible or not.

Dude. Even Uptight didn't try to cite Little Green Footballs as a legitimate source.

yes he did. i remember making fun of him about it. alot.

The problem with Rendition (the only one of those mentioned that I've seen) is that it isn't a good film.

You don't need to be "left-wing" to be anti-rendition, and I'd say that most of the world is anti-rendition.

So, will the film do well outside of the US? No. Because it's not very good.

Why wait? It's not like this analysis constituted any measure of depth. I think it's safe to call bullshit. Any freshmen in college can tell you that drawing conclusions about a trend based on a single factor is going to produce erroneous results.

Like this:

for instance.

my god.

Why does Hollywood hate our troops? God damned Gypsy-loving good for nothing liberals!

You called?!?

Heh. I meant he didn't when he was writing on the newswire. Regardless, citing them is like citing jeffreydavidmorris.com.

Thank christ, no one else had mentioned it and I thought my mind may have started to eat itself. A link to an LGF article is roughly akin to that message reading "Here Be Monsters" on a mariner's map.

But yeah, the 'disaster' of these vaguely political war films is the real problem for Americans, certainly not the (non-vague) disaster of our current war.

And while we're at it, there wasn't anything at all left-wing about The Kingdom - it was black-and-white kill 'em where they live wish fulfillment. Shoulda been right up LGF's alley.

I'd like to see something more entertaining, enlightening, and engrossing that what has been suggested in earlier comments from which I get the idea that films might be propaganda for one political agenda or another. (Clearly some are. But rather than asking for opposing propaganda, how about NO propaganda at all?)

How about something in which characters are a little more like us -- thinking and feeling humans first, all patriotic Americans second, blue/red third, who then confront the difficult questions in ways which are more immediate than most of us experience. What if we see something new through them? What if film helps us confront the shitstorms out there (i.e., no easy answers) in a way that holds out some sliver of hope for these nations, our nation, and our common future? Don't insult our intelligence with propaganda, but please shine a light, baby.

Nah -- too much to ask of Hollywood. But the indies could swing it.

They'd get my $10.

Yes. That's it. That's the correct comparison. Excellent

No no, you don't understand: It was made by Hollywood, therefore it was liberal.

That's about the level of analysis we should expect from LGF.

I think the reason movies are flopping is because, well, they suck. But that's just me.