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Left-Wing Conspiracies
I never fail to get a huge kick out of it when some media pundit declares
that the media is controlled by the left wing. (And while radio these
days is the new home of misogyny, hate and conformity at all costs, I
still maintain the sooner everyone stops watching television the better
off Western civilization will be). Feh!! The media is so politically conservative
now, so anti-humanist, that a little left wing extremism would be a breath
of fresh air from all the moralizing the press does. (See Bill and Monica’s
excellent adventure wherein the press reeled with high school jealousy
over the blow-jobs they never get or give.) And if you say to me, "Well
maybe TV, but movies and music are still liberal agenda art forms,"
I say you are a dolt; film in particular increasingly is falling prey
to the creeping tide of conservative moralizing. Even a supposedly "hip"
film like Austin
Powers – as funny as some of it is – is a right winger’s dream:
Austin is ultimately a cheerleader for the morally correct ‘90s while
reducing the progressive ‘60s to jokes about style and appeasing the pop
culture apologists who suffer from a severe and wholly misguided generational
envy. Still, there was a brief period in the ‘60s and ‘70s when we liberals
(I am a proud, card-carrying Democrat) enjoyed inroads to the media, and
it’s almost impossible now to imagine any of these three films being made
in such a politically touchy climate as the ‘90s. Granted, once in a while
we get a pretty good satire (Tim Robbins’ Bob
Roberts, Warren Beatty’s Bulworth),
but satire is rarely as funny as the real thing – Dan Quayle’s campaign
speeches on CSPAN this last spring were hilarious in ways comedy films
can’t touch. So, I thought it would be nice to recall a time when films
weren’t too bored for ideology, and when politics informed every aspect
of life. Here are a few films with a thankfully liberal agenda.
Burn! (1969)
Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo
"Terrifically entertaining, with Brando’s stiff-upper-lipped Walker perfectly realized ... the film shows that no matter how much politics serves those greedy for a profit at any cost, there are ideas no leaders can oppress..."Medium Cool (1969)
Directed by Haskell Wexler
"It’s not hard to see that for its time, Wexler’s film, with its naked footage of the Chicago police literally cracking open the skulls of teenagers, showed a polarized, politicized and frightened America, and that such a view frightened the studios. That the film exists at all is reason enough to seek it out...Point of Order! (1963)
Directed by Emile de Antionio
"Joseph McCarthy is one of America’s most intriguing and ultimately frightening figures, representing nothing less than all that is reprehensible, hateful and inhuman about American politics. As a consequence, 'Point of Order!' is absolutely riveting..."
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Nick Burton lives in Newport Beach, California. His fiction has appeared in many small press and web publications, including: Chronicles Of Fiction, Pauper, and of course Pif.