Hollywood vs. America

“When’s the movie coming out?”

I have been asked that question repeatedly over the course of seven years of book-signings for Sparrowhawk at Colonial Williamsburg’s Booksellers by eager patrons who have read the series and wish to see it on the big screen.

“Not any time soon,” I usually answer. “If it is ever produced, it won’t be by Hollywood. And if Hollywood in some episode of hubris thought it could tackle it, it would attempt to maul and dismember it, just out of sheer, doctrinaire meanness, coupled with incompetence. I would likely disown the result. After all, Hollywood hates America.”

I borrow the title of film critic Michael Medved‘s book-long critique of Hollywood (Hollywood vs. America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values (New York: HarperCollins, 1992). Neither he nor his book is the subject here, but rather the culture that cannot produce Sparrowhawk or any other nominally pro-American, pro-freedom film — including the “traditional” ones which Medved has championed in his book and in various conservative and religious columns (promoting family, God, and other, non-intellectual, non-fundamental values — “Leave It to Beaver“ style, with Ward Cleaver taking questions from the audience). (more…)

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Tags: avatar, Frank Capra, Hollywood vs. America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values, Hollywood’s anti-Americanism, Michael Medved
Posted Jan 19th 2010 at 5:03 am in Culture, Featured Story, Film, Politics | 29593863 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ecline/2010/01/19/hollywood-vs-america/Hollywood+vs.+America+2010-01-19+13%3A03%3A04Edward++Cline

David Brooks’ Sentimental Education: Bruce Springsteen

In a recent New York Times column, David Brooks described a 1975 Bruce Springsteen concert as the start of his “other education,” not the intellectual one from schooling but the “emotional education” from the popular culture. 

Brooks is a superstar pundit.  A featured journalist at The Weekly Standard, in 2000 Brooks was author of “Bobos in Paradise,” a smart look at “bourgeois bohemians,” the educated, “counterculture” crowd that had become America’s new blue state power elite.  Brooks went on to occupy the house conservative Op Ed position at the liberal mainstay New York Times and the equivalent chair on PBS NewsHour’s version of crossfire, with ever-apologetic Brooks pitted against the always garrulous lefty Mark Shields.  These two roles established Brooks as the left’s favorite conservative, a position he solidified as one of the Obamacons, prominent conservatives who supported Obama, believing him to be a moderate centrist, or in Brooks’ case, even a closet Burkean conservative. 

Last week Brooks went with his 15-year-old daughter to see a Springsteen concert in Baltimore and witnessed her joyous astonishment.  Her arrival at utter abandon echoed the exhilaration, the emotional learning, Springsteen had long ago imparted to Brooks, the depiction of a world of “teenage couples out on a desperate lark, workers struggling as the mills close down, and drifters on the wrong side of the law,” tales told with a jolt for “10,000 people in a state of utter abandon.”   

Brooks fondly describes the artistry and stories of Springsteen’s universe, “a distinct map of reality” seen on an epic and anthemic scale, in which “losers” always retain dignity and their choices have immense moral consequences, with emotions like stoicism, seen through veils of exaltation and nostalgia.  (more…)

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Tags: America, Amnesty International, artist, Baltimore, Bonnie
Posted Dec 2nd 2009 at 1:49 pm in Featured Story, Music, Politics | 271070195 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/eazlant/2009/12/02/david-brooks-sentimental-education-bruce-springsteen/David+Brooks%27+Sentimental+Education%3A+Bruce+Springsteen2009-12-02+21%3A49%3A15Edward+Azlant

Review: Bob Dylan’s Christmas Album

On October 13th, Bob Dylan released an album of Christmas standards entitled Christmas in the Heart. The reaction from critics, and much of the public, has been: Is this some kind of joke?

“Hearing Bob hack out the words ‘With angelic host proclaim/Christ is born in Bethlehem’ reminds one of grandpa clearing his throat after finishing a glass of eggnog,” wrote Joseph Brannigan Lynch at Entertainment Weekly.  It’s no joke, writes Andrew Ferguson in The Weekly Standard; it’s worse than that – Christmas in the Heart is a deliberate “affront, a taunt,” to fans and downright “embarrassing.”

–

So, is it really that bad?  Not really.  Dylan’s work tends to inspire either over-praise or over-criticism, and this album is no exception (though receiving far more of the latter).

My reaction upon hearing the record lurch to life with “Here Comes Santa Claus ” in my ear buds was first to laugh; whether a joke or not, this shit is funny. Mostly because Dylan sounds so uncharacteristically jovial and (yes, I’ll say it) jolly, even.  My second reaction was relief – it’s nice to hear that from Dylan for a change. (more…)

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Tags: Bob Dylan, Christmas in the Heart, Entertainment Weekly, Little Drummer Boy, The Weekly Standard
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 at 10:20 am in Music | 26484659 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/11/23/review-bob-dylans-christmas-album/Review%3A+Bob+Dylan%27s+Christmas+Album2009-11-23+18%3A20%3A13Matt+Patterson

A Conservative Journey through Literary America – Part 3: To Write or Not to Write

Mr. Blowhard gives us several juicy bones upon which to gnaw.

First, the point about closet conservatives.  They come in one of two breeds: 1) those who hold conservative views but keep them quiet, preferring to avoid discussing politics altogether for fear of being sniffed out, and 2) those who not only hide their political views, but openly and falsely profess liberal views.

My good friend Martin, a professional musician, admits to me that he is among the former.  “When I’m at social events, or any gathering of entertainers, and they start talking about Bush is evil, blah, blah, blah, I just bite my tongue, because I know that even if I say something, I’m not going to have time to correct all their stupid errors and assumptions, and even if I did, there’s no damn way they’re gonna listen to me anyway.”  It sounds like you think artists are dumb, I say.  “They are,” he answers with a sigh.  “Incredibly.”

For Martin, and those of his breed, I have genuine sympathy.  An artist in his position is surrounded constantly by people with whom he must work, with whom he must get along for work to both keep coming and run smoothly.  Many of these co-workers are personal friends.  This last is no small matter – artists are intensely clannish, and form tight personal bonds.  So in my friend’s case, why jeopardize friendships?  Why jeopardize income?  Perfectly understandable, it seems to me, that he lets his friends and co-workers prattle on.

The latter breed, however, the ones who affect a liberal bias, projecting a false beard to the world, are a different matter.  This is truly insidious, because the aim here is not just to protect one’s income by muting beliefs, but to gain income (and friends, I suppose) under false pretense. (more…)

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Tags: Conservatives, literature, Mr. Blowhard, Philip Terzian, Poe
Posted May 23rd 2009 at 6:58 am in Entertainment, Featured Story | 14005451 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mpatterson/2009/05/23/a-conservative-journey-through-literary-america-part-3-to-write-or-not-to-write/A+Conservative+Journey+through+Literary+America+-+Part+3%3A++To+Write+or+Not+to+Write2009-05-23+13%3A58%3A51Matt+Patterson