The Hollywood Myth

Jack Gustafson

I must say that I disagree with the nature of this question. First off, I see no evidence that Hollywood intentionally lionizes Liberal Presidents and demonizes Conservative ones. In fact, I can only think of a short number of movies dealing with the American Presidency, and of these few movies, I see no evidence of a hidden plot to paint a particular ideology in a negative or positive light.

Hollywood makes movies to make money. It is financially ignorant to attach any sort of political affiliation to any movie, as a certain portion of the population will commit themselves to not see it if they think it will directly challenge what they believe in. It is also a mistake to think that the Hollywood establishment is progressive, when the Hollywood power brokers have much more to gain from a Republican administration. With this said, why is there this myth that Hollywood is “out to get” conservatives?

To answer this question, I must ask two more: What makes a good movie? What makes people want to see a movie? The answer to both of these is the desire to witness conflict. We must not view Richard Nixon in Oliver Stone’s Nixon primarily as the Historical Nixon, but rather as a fictional one. The same goes for any other movie. In Oliver Stone’s Nixon, we get a character study of one of America’s most scrutinized Presidents. It is the breakdown of character, the ability for the audience to feel empathy, which allows the film to succeed. To make a good movie, one has to take artistic licenses in order to keep the audience’s attention: A director won’t succeed by being preachy; the film has to show and not tell. The story cannot stick to the absolute truth or else people would be asking for their money back.

Because there is this historical inaccuracy, we can presume that ideologues will be miffed. So back to part of the original question: Why are conservatives demonized? We can presume that since conservatives have held the Presidency for the majority of time since the acceleration of mass media that conservatives will be featured more than liberals in the media. Because of this prominence and because of the historical inaccuracy, we can presume that some will feel that Hollywood is demonizing conservatives.

To lay this non-answer aside, why do conservatives have such a distain for Hollywood in general? I believe that the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s are emblematic of why conservative do not trust Hollywood. Conservatives of the Rush Limbaugh/Jerry Falwell bent were taught to believe that real Americans don’t drink to excess, use drugs, have sex before or outside of marriage, question authority, question God’s will, or be gay. Because Hollywood uses many of these issues within their films, we can assume that these types of conservatives will not take kindly to them, even if they do have to tackle these issues in their own lives, however quietly they do. The fact is that these issues are exciting and prone to cause conflict, which is why they are in films. People want to see something that will shock them; people want to see sex and violence.

To say that Hollywood is biased toward a particular political ideology follows the same sort of illogic that goes with saying that the media is biased in a particular political way. The fact is that money talks. The media will be biased to a certain degree, as long as it is profitable, just as a given film may attach itself to popular beliefs. Hollywood stopped being relevant a long time ago, so to even have this conversation bolsters the Hollywood myth.

Hollywood: Nuts & Bolts

The reason entertainment, particularly Hollywood, lionizes liberal presidents comes down to the basic principal of geography. Where is Hollywood? The great state of “fruits & nuts:” California. California is largely a liberal and democratic state. Although there are some areas that may be more conservative due to the wealth in California, the state is considered a blue state.

Long before film was considered to have a political nature, a man by the name of Eadweard Muybridge strung together a series of images and projected them to make The Horse in Motion (1878), considered to be the first movie ever made. There’s no underlying political message hidden in this clear-cut movie (as far as I know) but the roots of Hollywood span from a man, although originally from England, mainly resided in San Francisco, California. Another example of the early beginnings of film leaning towards a liberal persuasion is one of the first controversial political movies Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939.) Although the viewpoint may not have been considered liberal at the time, those issues recognized in the movie would today fit the depiction of liberal ideals today.

Is Hollywood liberal because the roots of industry were largely a liberal people starting an unbroken wave of liberalism in movies? Or did Hollywood start out unaffiliated and became liberal when the artists and free thinkers migrated there because that’s where the industry began? That’s similar to asking the age old question of “which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

Are there any movies that portray a conservative president in a good light? Not any that I can recall. There may be a few comedies that lash back at liberal portrayals, such as An American Carol (2008) which finished 9th in box offices it’s opening weekend (ouch!) Or movies that hide the heroism of conservative presidents - or so Andrew Klavan says about The Dark Knight (2008) although I tend to disagree- but none that blatantly try to portray a conservative president in the Hollywood glow that liberal presidents are cast into.

The basic truth is that entertainment is largely rooted in liberalism and intended to entertain a highly liberal audience. There are just no trends that allow room for conservative views (and presidents) in Hollywood.

Beth Goin