RATED “R” FOR “REPUBLICAN”
Feb. 23rd, 2009 11:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogITEM: The National Review has released its list of the 25 best conservative films over the last 25 years.
What makes a “conservative” film, you ask?
You know, stuff that liberals hate for no real reason other than they’re hippie retards.
War and anti-Communism figure heavily on it, as you might expect. Oh, and Ghostbusters? Very conservative (because it makes the E.P.A. look snotty – that, and Ivan Reitman is in fact a Republican).
It’s an insightful list, if only because it demonstrates that (1) conservatives like to establish exclusive claim on the appreciation of “freedom, families, patriotism, traditions, and more” (see what they did there?), and (2) they can’t just sit back, relax and enjoy the goddamn movie without this kind of handwringing over whether or not they’re being bombarded by evil liberal propaganda (like, you know, WALL-E).
Personally, I like 12 of the movies on this list (bearing in mind that I haven’t seen ten of them and the only one I’d consider is Gran Torino), and I never thought of any of them as being either left-wing or right-wing (and I’ve been aware for years that superhero comics like Batman are a Republican wet dream in terms of being able to beat the snot out of criminals without worrying about their stupid Miranda rights). Seriously, did ANYONE besides Andrew Leigh see The Lord Of The Rings as a justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein, much less associate Wormtongue with Keith Olbermann?
But then I’ve never really bought into the Liberal Hollywood mythology either. Okay, yes, Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon champion liberal causes (unlike, oh, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charleton Heston and Tom Selleck, who never push their political views on anyone, but I digress), and yes, some movies espouse explicitly liberal POVs (most of them are made by Michael Moore, but whatever).
On the other hand, as John Rogers at Kung Fu Monkey points out, if Hollywood is so liberal, how come Redacted only opened in 15 theaters, when Expelled opened in 1,000? Hollywood and The Big Media all have the same agenda: to make a gazillion dollars and push whatever Sensationalism buttons it takes to do it.
Shut up and watch the movie,
This is dF
What makes a “conservative” film, you ask?
Conservatives enjoy these films because they are great movies that offer compelling messages about freedom, families, patriotism, traditions, and more.
You know, stuff that liberals hate for no real reason other than they’re hippie retards.
War and anti-Communism figure heavily on it, as you might expect. Oh, and Ghostbusters? Very conservative (because it makes the E.P.A. look snotty – that, and Ivan Reitman is in fact a Republican).
It’s an insightful list, if only because it demonstrates that (1) conservatives like to establish exclusive claim on the appreciation of “freedom, families, patriotism, traditions, and more” (see what they did there?), and (2) they can’t just sit back, relax and enjoy the goddamn movie without this kind of handwringing over whether or not they’re being bombarded by evil liberal propaganda (like, you know, WALL-E).
Personally, I like 12 of the movies on this list (bearing in mind that I haven’t seen ten of them and the only one I’d consider is Gran Torino), and I never thought of any of them as being either left-wing or right-wing (and I’ve been aware for years that superhero comics like Batman are a Republican wet dream in terms of being able to beat the snot out of criminals without worrying about their stupid Miranda rights). Seriously, did ANYONE besides Andrew Leigh see The Lord Of The Rings as a justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein, much less associate Wormtongue with Keith Olbermann?
But then I’ve never really bought into the Liberal Hollywood mythology either. Okay, yes, Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon champion liberal causes (unlike, oh, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charleton Heston and Tom Selleck, who never push their political views on anyone, but I digress), and yes, some movies espouse explicitly liberal POVs (most of them are made by Michael Moore, but whatever).
On the other hand, as John Rogers at Kung Fu Monkey points out, if Hollywood is so liberal, how come Redacted only opened in 15 theaters, when Expelled opened in 1,000? Hollywood and The Big Media all have the same agenda: to make a gazillion dollars and push whatever Sensationalism buttons it takes to do it.
Shut up and watch the movie,
This is dF
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no subject
on 2009-02-23 04:18 am (UTC)...BRAZIL is a conservative movie?
Um, I call bullshit.
-- JF
no subject
on 2009-02-23 01:44 pm (UTC)And they named Three fucking Kings as a runner-up?! I wonder what other movies they completely missed the point on -- I'm betting American Psycho is up there.
This entire article is best summed up in the immortal words of John Stuart Mill: "Conservatives aren't necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservative."
no subject
on 2009-02-23 08:07 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-02-24 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
on 2009-02-26 12:41 am (UTC)The point of Gran Torino is that you come to like Eastwood's character despite his bigotry and stubborness, not because of them.
Of course, the people who made this list miss the point, and I think there are a lot of conservatives who would do the same.
These are the same people who miss the point of "Born in the USA" too.