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Brad
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since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705
Jejudo, South Korea

0 posted 2002-06-05 01:04 AM


http://www.salon.com/books/review/2002/06/04/hollywood/print.html

Or why does the Left so completely misunderstand the American tradition?

From the text:

"Yet it is a huge leap from there to the notion that the McCarthyist view of Hollywood was "wildly exaggerated but not entirely false." The problem is that Buhle and Wagner claim way too much ground as the exclusive domain of the left. In their view, movies that celebrate community-mindedness become secret advertisements for collectivism, and tales of rebels and loners are critiques of capitalist uniformity. They ignore the importance of both anti-authoritarianism and the celebration of civic virtue in mainstream American culture, defining progressivism so broadly that it becomes both all-encompassing and meaningless."

[This message has been edited by Brad (06-05-2002 01:06 AM).]

© Copyright 2002 Brad - All Rights Reserved
serenity blaze
Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738

1 posted 2002-06-05 03:10 AM


I suppose the final analysis depends upon your own proximity--stand beside him? or in opposition!

and? I'll watch this thread with interest, but? smiling, This time? I will try to stay a bit detached---it's one of those "emotional" issues for me... sigh

Phaedrus
Member
since 2002-01-26
Posts 180

2 posted 2002-06-05 06:50 PM



Do you mean was he right to believe that Hollywood was a hotbed of communist activity or are you asking whether the actions and methods instigated to counter such a belief were right?

I have no idea whether the original claim was right or wrong but I’m pretty sure the actions and methods used, regardless of the validity of that claim, were most certainly wrong.

Thanks for the chance to read and reply.

Brad
Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705
Jejudo, South Korea
3 posted 2002-06-05 11:58 PM


Well, my point is rather that finding political content in an art form is a foolish game. It's always there and it's always not there. I agree that the methods used in the McCarthy era were wrong regardless of whether he was right or wrong (and a liberal position has to entertain communism as a legitimate point as long as it doesn't in itself attack liberalism); but I also think it's silly to reify the Leftist postion. Discuss the movies as movies, not as some form that is subordinate to a political agenda.

The Left is neither absolutely Good nor absolutely Evil, it is a political position. As long as we continue to see it as the city on the hill or the spawn of the devil, we get nowhere.

serenity blaze
Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738

4 posted 2002-06-08 02:31 AM


I don't think I demonize the Republican party...I simply find the politics annoyingly convenient!

I often quote Paula Poundstone, who once asked a homosexual Republican, --"So, what? Are you against your own lifestyle?"

I would LOVE to concentrate on the bridges, instead of the gulf. But I'm afraid at this point, I will need a map! I live in Louisiana, after all. (Earl K. Long---"When I die? Bury me in Louisiana, so I can still practice politics!")

And by the way, not registered as a Democrat either!   It's not a political party or leaning that ever offended me...but INQUISITION. (and I know, I said I would stay out of this...serenity runs and ducks, probably catching shrapnel right in the arse...)  

[This message has been edited by serenity (06-08-2002 02:32 AM).]

Brad
Member Ascendant
since 1999-08-20
Posts 5705
Jejudo, South Korea
5 posted 2002-06-10 12:02 PM


I don't know, I just don't understand the Left these days. Are they so desperate to find resistance somewhere that they look for it anywhere -- From Gramsci to grafitti as one writer put it. Everything seems so polarized and so distant from the way I see things. Not every academic writer is this way -- I do spend time trying to defend a lot of these guys, but when you lend support to McCarthyism, aren't we barking up the qrong tree somehwere somehow?

I guess I'm just an old Leftie.

The funniest thing is that in a couple of days I'll put up an article that captures my own thinking on where America should be going on international policy and it was published in the Policy Review (Heritage Foundation).

My God what am I becoming?

(takes deep breath)

Ah well, there's still Ashcroft to bash.


serenity blaze
Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738

6 posted 2002-06-10 12:48 PM


"From Gramsci to grafitti"

SHOULDN'T THAT BE THE OTHER WAY AROUND?  

and okay, I'll bite....ashcroft...damn, my head hurts already.

(edited to add the frigging "t" to ashcrof...humoring the anal? heh heh? )

[This message has been edited by serenity (06-10-2002 12:50 AM).]

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