Witch Hunt chases Gays around The Globes
As soon as I see a name like "Concerned Women for America", I'm afraid I automatically switch off. I can tell that I'm not going to agree with you. My mental image is of middle class women from families that are still New Money, but are a mere generation or two away from Old Money, who, having nothing better to do, write letters of indignation about anything that deviates from their idea of the "straight and narrow"1
Take the Golden Globes, for example. "Puritanical Harpies Against Everything" say that "Once again, the media elites are proving that their pet projects are more important than profit". Isn't that a good thing? The moving-going public is getting bored with the same old movies. Action movies these days are sustained two-hour explosions. Film makers should be encouraged and praised for making movies dear to their hearts.
After whinging about the gay films not making much money at the box office, they complain "If America isn’t watching these films, why are they winning the awards?".
I may have missed the point of awards, but surely awards are there to award good films, not profitable films? Each film in The Lord of The Rings trilogy made the best part of $1bn dollars at the box office, yet didn't get Oscars until after The Return of The King.
Media will always reflect the culture of the times, because that is what people of the times are interested in. Every film made will inevitably offend someone. I bet even It's a Wonderful Life pissed someone off. One of the films the "Intolerant Harridans Against Freedom of Expression" are whinging about is about a guy who died over 20 years ago. Of liver disease, of which the Stepford Wives must be all too aware. If someone has made a film about him, it's because it is felt he contributed to our culture. It's not down to any one group to decide whether that contribution was detrimental or not. To quote an awful business cliche, it's about "running it up the flagpole and seeing who salutes". The fact that only a handful of people did, by paying to see the movie, is neither here nor there.
Again, this is about people being intolerant of other people's beliefs and politics. Movie makers are people too and, conciously or not, their beliefs and politics will shape to some extent the films they make. America as a culture is somewhat more polarised than other countries, in that staunchly religious people occupy the same country as rigid capitalists. They at least have the luxury of space; the zealots in the middle don't ever need to see the peverted pederasts on the coasts.
Which may be part of the problem. America is hardly a country populated by well-traveled people. Only a scarily small percentage have passports, and I believe there are people who go their entire lives without leaving their state. Britain itself could drive into Alaska, do a three-point-turn and drive out again. You can't go the shops in the UK without leaving the shire. Americans, on the other hand, don't have to mix with people with differing views, politics and religions, hence why these frictions exist.
I'm not asking for coiffeured kept wives in shaker-built houses in upstate New York to understand why someone in California would make a movie about a gay bloke. All I'm asking it that they admit that they don't understand, understand that it wasn't made for them, or to annoy them, and do something useful with themselves2.
1 I don't know the etymology of the phrase, but it could suggest that it's hard to remain straight, and the more people walking the "straight and narrow", the more people are likely to fall off into Gay.
2 I wrote "like the hoovering" before removing it. If hubby makes squillions as a corporate bastard in the City, I can't imagine there is much to do but sit around complaining with the rest of them. Or screw the gardener. Damn you, Desparate Housewives!
Take the Golden Globes, for example. "Puritanical Harpies Against Everything" say that "Once again, the media elites are proving that their pet projects are more important than profit". Isn't that a good thing? The moving-going public is getting bored with the same old movies. Action movies these days are sustained two-hour explosions. Film makers should be encouraged and praised for making movies dear to their hearts.
After whinging about the gay films not making much money at the box office, they complain "If America isn’t watching these films, why are they winning the awards?".
I may have missed the point of awards, but surely awards are there to award good films, not profitable films? Each film in The Lord of The Rings trilogy made the best part of $1bn dollars at the box office, yet didn't get Oscars until after The Return of The King.
Media will always reflect the culture of the times, because that is what people of the times are interested in. Every film made will inevitably offend someone. I bet even It's a Wonderful Life pissed someone off. One of the films the "Intolerant Harridans Against Freedom of Expression" are whinging about is about a guy who died over 20 years ago. Of liver disease, of which the Stepford Wives must be all too aware. If someone has made a film about him, it's because it is felt he contributed to our culture. It's not down to any one group to decide whether that contribution was detrimental or not. To quote an awful business cliche, it's about "running it up the flagpole and seeing who salutes". The fact that only a handful of people did, by paying to see the movie, is neither here nor there.
Again, this is about people being intolerant of other people's beliefs and politics. Movie makers are people too and, conciously or not, their beliefs and politics will shape to some extent the films they make. America as a culture is somewhat more polarised than other countries, in that staunchly religious people occupy the same country as rigid capitalists. They at least have the luxury of space; the zealots in the middle don't ever need to see the peverted pederasts on the coasts.
Which may be part of the problem. America is hardly a country populated by well-traveled people. Only a scarily small percentage have passports, and I believe there are people who go their entire lives without leaving their state. Britain itself could drive into Alaska, do a three-point-turn and drive out again. You can't go the shops in the UK without leaving the shire. Americans, on the other hand, don't have to mix with people with differing views, politics and religions, hence why these frictions exist.
I'm not asking for coiffeured kept wives in shaker-built houses in upstate New York to understand why someone in California would make a movie about a gay bloke. All I'm asking it that they admit that they don't understand, understand that it wasn't made for them, or to annoy them, and do something useful with themselves2.
1 I don't know the etymology of the phrase, but it could suggest that it's hard to remain straight, and the more people walking the "straight and narrow", the more people are likely to fall off into Gay.
2 I wrote "like the hoovering" before removing it. If hubby makes squillions as a corporate bastard in the City, I can't imagine there is much to do but sit around complaining with the rest of them. Or screw the gardener. Damn you, Desparate Housewives!
posted by RocketBootKid at 8:28 am
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