Thursday, August 21, 2008
How Hollywood kills off its conservatives
Blacklisting by any other name, Hollywood kills off its conservatives:
In 2004, before anyone had even seen The Passion of the Christ, before Mel Gibson would drunkenly reveal his darker side, leftists poured out of the entertainment, academic, and religious worlds to unleash an unholy hell on the film and its maker. Too late to stop the film (it had secured distribution), the goal was therefore two-fold: to hurt the movie financially (which obviously failed), but also to launch a pre-emptive strike against any filmmaker thinking about following Gibson’s lead and scampering off the liberal Hollywood plantation. The message was clear: Stray and you will be personally destroyed. And it worked. The Passion may be the only film to make over a half-billion dollars and not create a me-too phenomenon. A more tolerant industry, or at least one driven by financial considerations, would’ve quickly greenlit a serious-minded sequel based on the Acts of the Apostles.
Reasonable people would call this a form of “blacklisting,” but liberal Hollywood isn’t reasonable and rather than have an honest discussion on the matter they instead wrap us ’round the axle of specificity when it comes to the word “blacklist. ” So let’s use another word: Passioning.
Read the whole thing.
9 Comments:
By 
, at
Fri Aug 22, 12:08:00 AM:
Blacklisting was wrong when it was directed at the communists, but Okay when it is directed at Christians.
That pretty much sums up Hollywood
By , at
Fri Aug 22, 12:12:00 AM:
Anyone who blows off a half a billion bucks has a mental disorder.
By 
Mike, at
Fri Aug 22, 08:05:00 AM:
The history in this post is backward. Mel Gibson is an antisemite, who made an antisemitic film. He was criticized by Jews and then later ranted so badly about the Jews that everyone woke up.
Passion plays have an ugly history of provoking murder, rape, and assault. In today's climate of frequent antisemitism and terrorism, Jews had valid reason to protest adding kindling to the fire.
Passion of the Christ did not cause any murderous pogroms. This is a testament to Americans' fundamental decency, not Gibson's restraint in portraying Jewish children as demons and Jews generally as Christ-killers.
Other Christian media (including the enormously successfully Left Behind series, Purpose-Driven Life, etc.) raise no eyebrows among Jews. I think Passion is a special case.
And yes, I'd avoid producing it - even if it meant forfeiting $500 million.
By , at
Fri Aug 22, 09:07:00 AM:
The Passion of the Christ didn't cause any murderous pogroms elsewhere in the world either, and it was enormously popular worldwide.
Maybe Gibson is an antisemite, but the film is not antisemitic.
By Mike, at
Fri Aug 22, 10:23:00 AM:
Which country outside of America and Israel has not killed off/driven out the Jews to the point where they can't be found? England/France maybe count, but you can't count on riding the subway/go to school/etc. without being attacked if identifiably Jewish.
America's the only place where heightened antisemitism would be noticeable. Thankfully, this remains a great country, regardless of fruitcakes like Gibson, Rev. Wright, etc.
I'm not thinking you absorbed anything bad from the movie (and I'll admit I never saw it myself). But how can an antisemite produce the same (or digitally enhanced) enactment that has caused so many murders and avoid making an antisemitic movie?
It would be difficult for anyone to produce a non-gutted Passion Play without stirring up hatred. Gibson's incredibly talented (I was a big fan). Gibson's human and didn't stand a chance of avoiding his core prejudices in making this movie.
By , at
Fri Aug 22, 10:25:00 AM:
...Jews generally as Christ-killers.
The portrayal in "Passion" was not general. It was specific to the era and locale depicted in the story.
I think Passion is a special case.
Be honest. Did you form your opinions only after, or before actually seeing the movie?
The article TH cites discusses the mores of Hollywood, and the double standard applied in terms of blacklisting. It doesn't defend or even address Mel Gibson's personal views.
By Mrs. Davis, at
Fri Aug 22, 10:56:00 AM:
Which country outside of America and Israel has not killed off/driven out the Jews to the point where they can't be found? England/France maybe count,
Edward III, Phillip Augustus.
By Dawnfire82, at
Fri Aug 22, 11:43:00 AM:
The Vatican has specifically stated that enmity toward Jews for something that happened two thousand years ago is un-Christian. Of course, it took till the 20th century for them to do that, but they did it.
By Mike, at
Fri Aug 22, 12:06:00 PM:
Disliking Passion isn't a dig on the Vatican (Gibson's "Catholicism" thinks the Vatican began erring with Vatican II).
It's also not a beef with Christians. John McCain and the NYT notwithstanding, religious Christians like Reverend Hagee are the Jews' best friends in the world.
