Make a Bigger Pie
by Doug TenNapelBox-office attendance continues to trend lower and lower each year. It’s on such a downward trajectory you’d think it might be tied to the crashing Republican brand we keep hearing about. But I think the opposite is the case. From an ideology standpoint, the political mono-think of Tinseltown is failing over half the largest audience demographic, and they don’t care.
I hear the excuses from the can-don’ts. People get their entertainment from their phones and YouTubes now. But I sure as hell didn’t watch “Iron Man” on my phone, I have no interest in watching “Gran Torino” on my computer and I won’t be waiting three months for the BluRay to come out. My friends said I had to see those movies today! Yesterday! Do whatever it takes to go see it!
The fact that entertainment folks refuse to take personal responsibility for empty theater seats is more proof that they’re liberal. But I’m a “yes we can” kind of guy. It’s an ideal learned from the attitude of our great “yes we can” president…Ronald Reagan.
Why is it we get more laughs, see more amazing things and find more truth-telling on YouTube videos and reality programming than the average movie or TV series? Multiculturalism and rampant individualism have allowed for an ever growing divide between the content providers in Hollywood and the content consumers in Kansas. And it wasn’t the people in Kansas who walked away from stories of our soldiers achieving absolute victory against terrorists on screen. It’s the writers who took it upon themselves to campaign against the war in Iraq, the surge and any other value that Republicans endorsed.
Divisive political commentary was once approached with fear and trembling, generally buried deep within the mythos of a story. Today we have to get out the sledge hammer and hit everyone over the head with the message: Liberal-liberal-Bush-is-evil-Capitalism-is-bad-we’re-all-racist. After a while, we’re trained to wince when a new trailer is released that takes place during the Iraq War. I turn to my wife and whisper, “Don’t tell me; it’s about a gung-ho soldier who wants to fight for the good cause of America then sees enough friendly fire and slaughtered children to gain a conscience that the whole war is a lie for oil.” That shit was old when Oliver Stone was doing it twenty-something years ago. Stale, boring, reflexive, predictable.
The very best movies that transcend politics and draw the broadest audiences are movies like “Jaws” and “Star Wars.” For years they’ve been categorized as shallow, popcorn films. But I think they’re far deeper than the politics of their time. Thirty years later, families around the world still get together and watch these masterpieces made by liberal men. “Iron Man” attracted my lefty friends in L.A. and my righty friends in Kentucky.
The belief that all of America is in agreement about global warming is an example of a divisive political dogma shoved into mainstream movies by the myopic true believers. Keep pushing the Gore Manifesto and you’ll continue to soften a market skeptical of Hollywood’s agenda. Do you want to make money or push ideology? If you’re unclear, ask your stock holders about the mandate of your office.
I used to think entertainment was a mixture of art and commerce. Now I think it reluctantly operates as a business that enthusiastically spreads ideology. They’d rather be right than entertain most people and they aren’t willing to pay the price of admission to attract a conservative audience. That’s fifty percent of an audience generally despised, condescended to and not served by television, magazines and movies. All dominated by left leaning writers and executives.
There’s fat money to be had. In the age where other newspapers fail, the Wall Street Journal soared. Cable news was a tiny pie until it was inflated and bloated by Fox News…the most hated product in Hollywood is the most profitable cable news network in the world. Does anyone want to make box office off of Rush’s giant audience? Hollywood hates them too much to tell them stories. These aren’t fly-over states, they’re fly-over values.
I’m not proposing we slap together a bunch of conservative propaganda films, though there’s room for that. I’d rather see us emphasize the American values we agree upon while de-emphasizing the values that split the broadest market.
We all love our spouses, our children, and cry when Old Yeller dies. We cheer when three-hundred Spartans gut the Persian hoards with big metal spears. We all love to see an underdog take down the Death Star. Before the Sith were politicized by a revisionist Lucas, we could all project our personal bad guy onto Vader. He’s like the leviathan government taxing us to death as much as he’s like the European expansionist Empire. Che and Buckley could sit side by side at the same movie and the box office became a bigger pie.
Content is everything, and if movies won’t tell the truth then a savvy public will find it elsewhere… and the truth appears to be everywhere but in big media as far as half of us are concerned.
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27 Comments
Doug-
I think you present a lot of interesting ideas, but I’d quibble with a few points:
1. The overwhelming majority of films produced today are not political at all. Of the more than 400 films distributed each year, you would be hard-pressed to find more than a handful that express overt political messages. That might increase slightly if you include films with one or two throw-away lines. As for Iraq films, you are talking about 16 or 17 movies out of 800-1,000 in the past two years. That’s 1.6 percent.
2. You neglect to take into account the extreme competition facing the film industry today. Americans today have a lot of options when it comes to entertainment. Even the huge growth of DVDs and on-demand home entertainment has cut into theater profits. Even the sophisticated home entertainment equipment can’t exactly replicate the theater experience, but I say it’s close enough for me.
3. You also fail to take into account economics and time. For the average family paying $10 or more just for tickets, going to the movies is a not inexpensive investment. Throw in babysitters and dinner, you could be looking at a couple hundred dollars for a night out. Time is another factor. Full-time work for both spouses, homeownership and children tend to make movies much less of a priority. Hell, I have DVR movies more than a year old. I just don’t have time to watch.
4. Finally, not every movie is made for everyone. I could make the arguement that “Jaws” has a “liberal” agenda because it depicts a mayor who willfully puts the public’s safety life in danger to appease the town’s monied business interests. Besides, if you never depicted controversial politics or social concerns in film, a lot of great movies would have been lost. (Think “Paths of Glory,” for one.) I am not saying the Iraq films are good; they mostly are not. But if every work of art was geared to pleasing the sensibilities of everyone, it would be a dull state of affairs.
Great comment about Murdoch, at lunch we were counting the Ch 11s among the print media when someone commented that News Corp doesn’t seem to have that problem. Hummm ?? So there’s gold in them thar hillbillies !!
One big demographic is young men, well I doubt if many of them are too busy with angst about the war (no draft)one way or the other. Recruitment is way up ! ((and thank you Monica))
The other demographic is old men, old capitalists with money. They know who butters the bread and who protects the bakery.
One group is chasing girls and the other group is thinking about chasing girls while they chase profits.
None of them went to “rendition”,”valley of elah”, et al.
Hell none of them care to see Meryl Streep anymore either ( ahhh Manhattan….)
One group doesn’t care if the actors think and the other group still thinks it’s unseemly. Hell they watched brigitte bardot, they didn’t listen to her (turned out to be a teaching moment).
This is a great moment to plug what looks like something that might fit the bill. (MIGHT. I need reliable confirmation first.)
Has anyone out there seen Liam Neeson in ‘Taken’ yet? The libs on RottenTomatoes are slamming its politics, which sound pretty darn ‘Dark Knight’ to me…
http://roguewavelength.blogspot.com/2009/01/europhobe-im-in.html
Please let this be as good as it sounds.
Couldn’t agree more. I’m more than tired of being force fed political ideology down my thought just to catch a decent drama flick. And like you say, it’s absurd that Hollywood doesn’t feel that there is a market there for us.
(BTW, you might have missed a “not” in that last sentence.)
I worry that YouTube will eventually be gobbled up by the media giants.
I do have to disagree with “rampant individualism” being a problem. The correct term should be “rampant narcissism.” Individualism is good! It’s what built this country. But of course, individualism includes a heavy dose of self-responsibility, which is anathema within liberal circles.
I agree with your theories about the propaganda in the films, it is so disgusting that it completely turns us off. But, another things is the blantant political stand that a lot of movie stars have taken. I believe that everyone has the right to their own thoughts and beliefs, but if any celebrity decides that it is important that they publically support a certain side or agenda, then, hmmmmm… they are added to “the list!” As we call it in our house, meaning, the list of movies, shows, or music that we won’t purchase in anyway, shape or form. And I mean even renting the dvd.
I am amazed that hollywood continues to put out left leaning political, anti-religion, and anti-family drivel that no-one is consuming. When will they get it? Until they do, we will watch our old movies and the few good flicks that come out!
Matt:
You made interesting points in your comment, so I’ll address them in the order you made them:
1. Perhaps you are right that only a handful of movies make overt political points, and that handful increases only slightly if you include films with “one or two throw-away lines” (though I would venture that including those would result in a few handfuls). However, these political points are almost exception liberal points. The fact is that when political points are made in movies, it is only one side of the political spectrum that gets a fair hearing.
I would also take issue with your dismissing of political points present in only “one or two throw-away lines” as though that were inconsequential. In contrast, I find it even more annoying than an overtly political movie: at least in those movies the lines have something to do with the rest of the movie. A particularly infuriating example of this was “The Departed”. What on earth did the 5 or 6 “Catholic priests are pedophiles” lines, or the scene in the restaurant with the two priests and the nun who had some sort of shady sexual past, have to do with the rest of the movie? I went to see a cops vs. the mob movie, and got pelted with pot-shots at the Catholic Church.
2 & 3. Like the author, I have a huge TV, a DVD player, a computer, etc., but nothing beats seeing a movie in the theater. And yes, the price of going to the movies could be a factor (it has remained steady at 9-10 bucks for about 6 years here) and the time available to go them is getting shorter, the fact is that if a movie that interests me, I want to see it in a theater. However, I because there has been an increase in movies that belittle religion or the military, or mouth gratuitous liberal talking points, I find fewer and fewer movies interest me enough to invest the time or money in. I would venture that it this experience is becoming rather common to a lot of people, if the content of this blog’s posts and comments is any indication.
4. Again, I don’t think the issue is that political points are made in a film, but that the political points being made almost uniformly represent the liberal viewpoint. I will grant that if you eliminated liberal political points from film, a lot of great movies would be lost. However, that would in turn impel you to grant that by Hollywood ignoring or avoiding the conservative viewpoint, a lot of great films are never getting made.
Thank you for taking the time to post your original comment, and for reading my response.
I’ve heard for years “there oughta be a production company for conservative films” but it seems to be like the weather – everyone talking about it, no one actually . . . yada yada yada.
Blogs like BH are nice, but ultimately they accomplish nothing but preach to the choir, which means they accomplish nothing. The purpose of BH is to generate traffic and sell ads. It actually has nothing to do with the film industry.
I know that sounds harsh, but I believe people need to hear the hard truth. The money for our kinds of films is out there. I don’t mean lame propaganda hit pieces but solid entertainment where the Americans (and those with American values) are discovered to be the good guys, for a change.
What I want to see is a site where those of us who are serious can organize face-to-face meetings in LA. We need to pitch ideas, give each other notes on scripts, put together deals, and raise fnancing. That’s hard and painful – it’s much easier just to blog and complain how The Man is keeping us down. Sean Penn hopes that you just keep blogging and keep complaing. What are you gonna do?
Driefromseattle: Reasonable question. What I’ve done, first, is move to LA by myself without knowing a soul in southern California. I am a firm believer that if we are serious about making inroads in this industry, then we need to be here, where people make movies and know lots of other people who make movies.
Second, starting in May 2007, I’m investing my entire life savings (north of $150,000) in producing a rather non-political, health-related documentary (see link above). We expect to be in post by June, first screenings before the end of 2009. I am learning an incredible amount and more importantly getting to know and work with a slew of experienced people. If the movie won’t sell, I will be writing spec scripts in a cardboard box.
I am also a believier in face-to-face contact. We have to be willing to invest at least that much time and energy. You can learn so much more “in person” than over a blog.
I am finding that the crew and above-the-line people I am meeting are not so far in lock-step with the leftist elite as you may anticipate. Many people in LA (movie industry or not) understand that they have been fed half the story. I have pitched ideas that I consider “patriotic” (as well as entertaining) and I’m working on shaping them into commercial projects.
Hope that answers your question – best regards to you.
In the 90’s I used to see movies twice a month. Now I do it twice a year. I have a solid career, so budget isn’t an issue. There is such a fundamental disconnect between what Hollywood produces and what people want to see, and it started about 10 years ago.
The Fair One has right. While Matt claims (correctly, in my opinion) that only a small percentage of overall movies are clearly and deliberate political vehicles, two things to note: Those movies are part of a smaller subset of movies that get all the marketing, festival and media attention. Only 10% of movies ever cascade across the American attention span, and the Iraq movies are always part of that group. In addition, when politics aren’t overt they still jump out. Corporations cast as villains; Enviro-action flicks; Spy movies where the “real” enemy is us. And the offhand comments that jar you out of the story like a sucker-punch. As a film-goer, you can’t help but notice – or remember. After a while, you start to watch out.
After hearing Clooney talk about how we can’t win anything anymore, you start to avoid his movies. Not because he’s a bad performer, but because you know that if he’s in it then regardless of what you see in the trailers, the film stands a fairly good chance of being a Trojan Horse for an in-depth narrative for “why they hate us” – and why risk it? I took a pass on ‘The Good German’.
After ‘The Happening’ and ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ you start avoiding disaster flicks because you know that regardless of what you see in the trailers, at some point the reveal will be that we did it. That we fat, superstitious unenlightened slaves to consumerism befouled the planet and brought it on ourselves – and why risk it? I took a pass on ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’.
After the ‘Bourne’ trilogy, you start avoiding spy movies because you know that regardless of what you see in the trailers, at some point the shadowy puppetmaster will have an American Flag pin on his lapel telling us that the REAL villain is America – and why risk it? I took a pass on ‘Quantum of Solace’.
Honestly, I could go on and on across genres, directors, and performers. The shame of it all is that I still want to see movies on the big screen – badly in fact. But On-Demand, DVR and Netflix is a better risk for film, and at least for now, there’s better material on TV.
Jim: I understand your point of view. But there’s more to the crucial differences between our side (“conservatives” for lack of a better term) and the liberals / Marxists / collectivist camp.
They are willing and able to dedicate their working lives and their money to the media arts: film, television, literature, theater. We (with damn few exceptions) are not.
To paraphrase a recent article in BH: the left dominates popular culture because they have spent decades dedicated to dominating popular culture.
What does our side do? We work in corporate America. We make money for our families. We invest in traditional instruments. We retire, we play golf.
The simple truth is that the lefties are out there now writing scripts, perfecting their acting talents, pitching ideas, raising money, and hiring crew. We are attending our son’s soccer game.
We can list all the reasons why so many of us “cannot” make films:
1. Work committments preclude my involvement.
2. Family committments preclude my involvement.
3. I’ve worked hard for the wealth my family has accumulated, and I intend to reinvest it, grow it, and pass it on to our children.
The result? The left dominates the media arts, and they will continue to do so until many, many more individuals on our side take action.
After reading Doug’s post it may be tempting to play down his perspective with an alternate take on whether Hollywood is out of touch with over half of its audience or not, but… aren’t movies big financial risks? Or do most movie-makers have money to burn? Because when you consider the quick succession of Middle-east war films that have tanked at the box-office over the past five years (In the Valley Of Elah, Rendition, Redacted, Lions For Lambs, Jarhead, Home of the Brave, Waltz with Bashir, Manchurian Candidate, Body Of Lies, Paradise Now), you get the feeling that a certain ideology is prioritized over making a profit.
Too true Mr. TenNapel. I think there needs to be a liitle blurb on this site for the recently released on DVD “An American Carol” for starters… kind of ends on the same note.
BTW
Just finished Earthboy Jacobus, absolutely incredible. Liked it better than all your others (though Black Cherry is a close second). As an aspiring Graphic Novelist of the conservative persuasion, I’m glad to see we CAN make it. Keep it up! May Sockbaby bless you.
It’s the politics, but it’s not JUST the politics.
Yes, I’m tired of being beaten over the head with a sledgehammer by a bunch of unentertaining, dim-witted, hare-brained scriptwriters, their fawning celebrity mouthpieces, and their tediously mediocre auteur directors.
But what the real problem is, is that MOVIES SUCK.
I say this as someone who makes quite a nice living in movies, and has had a lifelong love affair with them. The good ones, anyway.
Because by hiring all these interminably pretentious mouthy pinheads to write movies and star in movies and direct movies, the interminably pretentious mouthy pinheads who produce them have gutted the goose that lays the golden eggs.
It was once said that “Good is the enemy of best” but in Tinseltown “Politically correct is the enemy of anything not atrocious.”
Quick: Name the five greatest films of 1930s Germany. Leni Reifenstahl’s works are notable mainly for the dearth of anything else memorable among her contemporaries.
And in Hollywood 2009, we’ve created an entire pod colony of 5,000 Leni Reifenstahls, all churning out the same atrocious agitprop, the same pedantically bad perversion, filth, and bile, until audiences just woke up one day and said
“Enough. No more. I’m staying in my living room. Here I stand, I can do no other.”
I go to first-run movies, usually one every week. This year, time after time after time, I was sitting in a prime early evening performance alone, or with 3-5 other folks in theatres built for 500 or more. Week after dreary week.
If Hollywood doesn’t recognize their new muse, I do: it’s Sisyphus.
They keep churning out the most revolting tripe, and fawning over it, like those of us out in the seats won’t notice. As if Brad’s smile and Angelina’s lips and Redford’s perpetually boyish charm would beguile us from noticing we’re not only watching crap, we’re being crapped on, and from a great height.
The Emperor is naked, citizens.
And what’s worse, he’s heard us say it, time after time, and now rather than fleeing to the palace in shame and embarassment, he’s walking up to each and every one of us and shaking his shriveled man parts in our faces.
That only leaves it up to us to avert our own eyes, and walk away, to maintain any semblance of respect and decorum.
And we’re doing it in our millions, Hollywood.
Maybe it was just me, but in Star Wars Episode III, Senator Palpatine was doing fine until the movie made him do deliberately evil things just so we knew that he was the evil guy. It forced me to take a second look at the Rebellion propaganda I had been fed for the previous 25 years.
Doug!
AWESOME article, my friend. I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said here. I admire your commitment to your – and my – values.
Keep fighting the good fight. You have an ally in me.
Butch
As liberal as Hollywood product seems to be, i dont think this is the problem. The problem is the gross lack of imagination in Hollywood’s product. The great majority of Hollywood movies are just the same thing ive been watching for forty years, except with new stars, so i don’t rush out to see them, i wait for the dvd. For God’s sake, you guys remade The Eye, which was itself a ripoff of The Sixth Sense! Want more seats filled? Stop rehashing, remaking, and “sequeling” and you’ll get more tickets sold.
I could tolerate “soft-sell” lefty messages — I’ll use the “NYPD Blue” series as example. Gays were good, our anti-hero — racist, sexist, homophone Sipowicz — gets reformed. But then it got so you had to pick the lefty political turds out of your teeth after every episode –”Without a Trace,” my example. It gets so old…
My wife and I used to see a movie a week. We are down to a movie every couple of months. Keep on dishing up the swill, and we will stop all together. Natural political leanings right or left don’t bother us, but start with the lecture and that’s all she wrote.
I do not give a flying fornication what anybody’s political views are much less a guilt ridden, self important, leftist, Hollywood snob. Shut up and make movies!
Ok, where do I send my money so we can print this article off and lay a copy of it on every plush chair prior to the attendees arrival at each and every award show that is coming up? Gospel man, gospel…..
Aesop for President 2012!
While some of these posts have tried to make the argument that only a few films per year are leftist propaganda films I disagree. There are many “stealth” liberal agenda’s pushed in even films geared toward children. The post about throw away lines in more mainstream films is spot on. I mean for G-d’s sake, I’m at the theater with my kids for a Star Wars freakin movie and Princess Half a Dollar spouts her little line about “democracy going out to thunderous applause”. I just sat there and thought WTF? It made me furious, especially since I had loved the Star Wars franchise when I was younger. I decided then and there to “vote with my feet”. I got up, took the kids out and went to the box office counter and got my money back. We then spent a lovely afternoon watching an old 30’s movie at home on the DVD.
I vote my principles and for several years now I have been spending my principles. Me and my wife regularly went to movies but we don’t anymore. I got tired of dropping 10 bucks on movies that not only chastised me for being a conservative republican but just were not good movies. Now, I have Netflix and hit the internet blog sites (michael medved, this site, etc) to let me know if a film is worth my money. I want to be bi-partisan but we all know there is no such thing in this day and age.
Why not a new genre: Republicansploitation. The blacks had their own genre in the 70s, where black folks dressed well, were tough, and took down the man. The Christians had Christsploitation when they made movies about insane raptures and corrupt, anti-Christ driven governments. Now, the conservatives can have movies where the good guy fights someone truly evil, survives self-doubt, treats everyone with respect and doesn’t hate himself or anyone else for the way his race has acted or been treated. It can feature a protagonist of any race, sex, or creed, they only need to love truth and be a hard worker.
very good post Mr. TenNapel! This is probably the best argument to be making in Hollywood right now. I just hope they come to their senses sooner rather than later. It’d be nice to see movies that weren’t politically driven and fun again.
I am waiting for when Hollywood releases on DVD the theatrical cut AND a DVD of the film they edited for television and the airlines. Talk about an untapped market, Hollywood is missing out of boatloads of money for people like me who want to own that “director’s cut.”
Great Article. I think that if Hollywood is going to pull out of the “slump”, they’ve got to (and are able) to create things that transcend politics, and make both sides of the aisle go, “Wow, that was a good movie, I want to see that again.”
When they are able to make things that are truly entertaining and inspiring, then those are the films that become hits.
Doug, you ask too much of Hollyweird. You ask they use common sense and try to tell stories instead of preach ideology! You ask them to lower themselves to level of the audience and produce something that might entertain instead of indoctrinate! You point out that classics are loved by all on either side, yet were made by someone who believes in an ideology.
“Star Wars” was based on the mythology and classic heroism that is embraced by all societies. Such heroes are intolerable in our modern pessimistic age of ‘reason’. At least that’s what the Liberal Establishment who currently runs Hollweird seems to think. Never mind that “Ironman” was enjoyed by all, or even that the satire of “Team America” could be enjoyed by all (it was rather neutral in the absurdity of all parties depicted!).
Maybe if STORY became the ideal again instead of ideology, or if PLOT became the art instead of CGI SFX, or if the ability to entertain everyone became the point instead of pushing the boundaries of the ratings board; film would be reborn as an ART from instead of propaganda center for ridiculous worn out Marxist/Socialist/Fascist big state unified one world government ideology.
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