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<A HREF="http://www.homevideo.net/FIRM/lowest.htm">FIRM - What's Really Going
on in Hollywood</A>
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WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON IN HOLLYWOOD
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A Recent Speech by John W. Cones
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Geronimo
I saw a movie a few years ago, in 1993 actually. It was a major studio
release by Columbia, and featured one of my favorite actors, Robert
Duvall. The movie was Geronimo--An American Legend. Maybe some of you
saw the film.
Texans
Duvall played a Western character, and in a part of the movie not
significantly related to the main theme, he had a run-in with a group of
Texans. After the Texans rode off into the sunset, the Duvall character
announced to his associates that "Texans are the lowest form of human
life". Now, I ask you, was that funny or offensive?
Different Character
What if in a different movie a character said "African-Americans are the
lowest form of human life"? Would that be funny or offensive? What about
another movie in which the character said "Latinos are the lowest form
of human life"? Funny or offensive? And, what if the movie character
said "Jews are the lowest form of human life"? Funny or offensive?
Acceptable
Would it be any more or less acceptable if the people being descri bed
as the "lowest form of human life" were women? Christians? Arabs ?
Italian-Americans? Asians? Gays? Lesbians? or Whites from the South ? Do
your feelings differ depending on which group is being defamed? Should
your feelings differ?
Southerners
Would your feelings differ if you knew that White folks from Texas and
the American South are among a half dozen or so distinct populations in
our diverse society that have been consistently portrayed in Hollywood
movies in a negative or stereotypical manner for the last several
decades?
Significant Medium
Would your feelings differ if you realized that contrary to what we're
often led to believe by the Hollywood establishment, feature films are
much more than mere entertainment. No less an authority than our own
United States Supreme Court has actually declared that the motion
picture is a significant medium for the communication of ideas, and on
that basis has extended the broad protections of the constitutional
right of free speech to feature films?
Influence
Would your feelings differ if you realized that throughout the history
of human civiliz ation, ideas (no matter how comm unicat ed) have always
and will always be impor tant factors in influe ncing human thinking and
behav ior? And, would your feelings differ if you realized that millions
of the people who are regula rly expos ed to the ideas comm unicat ed
through film are young , not very sophis ticated, and in some cases, not
well educa ted or even menta lly balan ced. After all, no one stands at
the theatre door trying to deter mine who can effecti vely separate
reality from fantasy in movies, do they?
Repeated Viewings
If persons like any of those I've just described, repeatedly saw a
particular group consistently portrayed in a negative or stereotypical
manner in a significant number of Hollywood movies over the years (which
is exactly what happens in real life), what are the chances that such
portrayals would influence the attitudes and behavior of some of those
moviegoers with respect to the people portrayed? Probably, pretty good,
wouldn't you say?
Richard Donner
The truth is that all movies communicate messages of one sort or
another. One of our problems is that these messages have been
consistently biased. Some filmmakers readily admit they sneak messages
into their films. The Producer/Director of the Lethal Weapon series,
Richard Donner, told Daily Variety just this past month that he tries to
deliver a message in almost every picture, and that it's best if you
sneak it in while getting a laugh. In his previous Lethal Weapon movie,
the villain was a white racist from South Africa. That got a laugh, I'm
sure. But his latest message in Lethal Weapon 4 is even more hilarious.
It's a blatant attack on the National Rifle Association. Movies are much
more than mere entertainment.
Consistent Portrayals
Would you feel any different about my original question if I told you
that my ten year study of the U.S. film industry has confirmed that
(among other things) for the last 30 to 40 years at least, Hollywood
films have consistently portrayed Latinos, Christians,
Italian-Americans, Asians, Arabs and Whites from the South (including
those poor Texans) as the villains (or at least in a negative or
stereotypical manner), while simultaneously promoting politically
liberal points of view? Aside from the irony in that, some of you may
rationalize that these movie patterns of bias are merely coincidental.
Latinos
The consistency of the record, however, suggests otherwise. My study of
thousands of movies and movie reviews indicates that Hollywood,
throughout its nearly 90-year history, has specifically portrayed
LATINOS in films as mean, macho, scraggly, violent, cynical, racist,
tire slashers, drug traffickers, kidnappers, gang members, prison
inmates or in despair. Despite a couple of recent exceptions to this
general pattern, Hollywood films have traditionally contained very few
positive portrayals of Latinos. If the objective is to hold back or
create a disadvantage for Latinos in our society, I suppose there is no
better way than the historically proven method of using powerful mass
communications media to poison people's minds toward one or more
designated populations. By the way, the words and phrases used to
describe these biased movie portrayals, mostly come right out of the
reviews relied on for this research.
Arabs
My studies also show that ARABS have been portrayed in Hollywood films
as evil, barbaric, oversexed, depraved, villainous, shifty, possessed,
hostile, fanatical, criminal, mystical, wicked and crazed. Of course,
that's not enough to satisfy Hollywood, so Arabs have also been
portrayed as thieves, shady, kidnappers, enemies, mysterious, murderers,
assassins, terrorists, blood-thirsty, saboteurs, extremists,
cult-ridden, curse-stricken, oily, shifty-eyed, violent, and idiots.
Seldom have Hollywood movies contained favorable portrayals of Arabs or
Arab-Americans. Thus, millions of viewers of Hollywood movies worldwide
are being burdened with Hollywood's perspective of what Arabs and
Arab-Americans are like, which we all have to admit is prejudiced and
extremely unbalanced. In all fairness, this record suggests that some
Hollywood movies are being used as a form of private propaganda (paid
for by the unsuspecting moviegoers themselves), and in this instance,
the propaganda could have consequences for Mid-East and world peace.
Asians
My studies also reveal that Hollywood's portrayals of ASIANS AND
ASIAN-AMERICANS consistently present them as enemies, cold, calculating,
ruthless, aggressive, criminals, slave owners and conspiring businessmen
(some of whom, of course, bought a couple of the major Hollywood studios
a few years ago). Evenso, just as with Latinos and Arabs, it is also
accurate to report that Hollywood has seldom portrayed Asians and Asian
Americans in a positive light.
Politics
>From a POLITICAL perspective, it's quite apparent that another of these
consistent patterns of Hollywood movie bias comes in the form of
negative portrayals of characters and positions representing
conservative points of view, and positive presentations of characters
and positions representing a liberal perspective. While Hollywood movie
villains often hold political views of the extreme right, seldom does
Hollywood portray its movie villains as political liberals.
Religion
Another blatant Hollywood movie bias occurs with respect to RELIGION.
Most are just overlooked, but some, including Christianity are
vigorously attacked in films. In recent decades, Hollywood has portrayed
Christians as disturbed, phony, sexually rigid, devil worshipping
cultists, manipulative, hypocritical, murder suspects, talking to God,
neurotic, fanatical, slick hucksters, Bible quoting Nazis, outlaws,
psychotic, fake spiritualists, Catholic schoolboys running amok,
dishonest, Bible pushers, Adam & Eve as pawns in a game between God and
Satan, unscrupulous, dumb, deranged preachers, an unbalanced nun accused
of killing her newborn infant, obsessed, mentally unbalanced,
destructive, foul mouthed, fraudulent and miracle fabricators. That
pretty much describes your Christian neighbors, doesn't it? Of course,
I'm not even a religious person, but regardless of how you feel about
religion and Christianity in particular, the use of a powerful
communications medium by anyone to consistently portray Christians or
any other religious characters in this manner is a national disgrace.
South
Still another little recognized Hollywood movie bias regularly appears
in the form of negative or stereotypical portrayals of WHITES FROM THE
SOUTH. My studies reveal that during the 1970's, 80s and early '90s
Hollywood continued a long-established and consistent pattern of
negative or stereotypical portrayals of Southerners that began as early
as the 1920s. White Southerners have been most often portrayed as
hillbillies, eccentrics, murderers and other types of criminals, flawed
lawmen, country music lovers, being from small towns, cagey Cajuns, oil
field workers, rednecks, strippers and prostitutes, plantation owners,
dumb, odd-ball characters, poor, gossips, "the lowest form of human
life", aimless, lifelong losers, members of the Ku Klux Klan, racists or
otherwise prejudiced individuals. Hollywood's record with respect to the
South is nothing more than a combined form of regional and race-based
defamation.
Survey
A total of 251 movies were included in that particular survey of films
about the South. As it turns out, only 12% of them were directed by film
directors from that region of the country, which helps explain why so
many of them present negative and/or stereotypical portrayals of these
subjects. It also highlights the heart of the problem for all of the
groups mentioned. There are relatively few Latinos, Arabs, Arab-
Americans, Asians, Asian-Americans, political conservatives, Christians
or Whites from the South making the key decisions with regard to the
production and distribution of Hollywood films. Under those
circumstances, these observed patterns of bias may be considered
inevitable. The makers of these films do not, as a general rule, know
their subjects and are prejudiced themselves.
Movies Unique
Now, without continuing the litany of the few other specific groups that
Hollywood has consistently defamed (like Italian-Americans), or
consistently defamed until just the last few years (like women, gays,
lesbians and African-Americans--and even those groups are not where they
ought to be in terms of balanced movie portrayals), I am confident in
telling you that using a powerful communications medium to consistently
portray people you don't like in a negative or stereotypical manner is
wrong! So, let's look more closely at the question of, why is this
happening? More specifically, why do movies portray these incredibly
misleading stereotypes and such limited views of the world? Well, partly
because, movies are different from most other products produced in this
country. Movies, to a large extent, tend to mirror the values,
interests, cultural perspectives and prejudices of their makers.
Control Relevant
This means it is absolutely relevant and entirely appropriate for all of
us concerned about the impact of movies on our society (and we all
should be concerned) to know exactly who in Hollywood has the power to
make the key decisions with respect to which movies are produced and
released, to determine who gets to work in the top positions on those
movies and to approve the screenplays that serve as the basis for such
motion pictures. These are the people who create, encourage or tolerate
the blatant patterns of bias just described, and we cannot fully
understand the relationships between these decision- makers, their films
and our society without knowing about their backgrounds.
Major Movies
This is particularly important with respect to the major studios and
their releases because those are the films seen by about 92% of all
theatrical moviegoers in the domestic marketplace, and these same movies
represent a significant percentage of the films seen in most other
countries.
Important Messages
In addition, as already noted, movie makers do not hesitate to use
feature films to communicate to millions of people in our society,
important messages about such sensitive topics as race, religion,
ethnicity, culture, politics, violence, sexuality or regional and other
perceived differences. Thus again, the study of any factors that may
influence the decisions by movie makers about which messages are to be
presented to our society through this powerful communications medium are
clearly relevant and appropriate.
Studio Executives
Is there anyone in this audience who would try to convince me that it is
inappropriate to consider the backgrounds of studio executives who
consistently release movies that defame Latinos, Italian- Americans,
Arabs, Arab-Americans, Asians, Asian-Americans, Christians and Whites
from the South; not to mention movies that teach our impressionable
youngsters by powerful cinematic example that, among other things, it is
acceptable to smoke, do drugs, lie in the middle of busy highways, or
take a gun to school and fire away at teachers and classmates? Who are
you kidding?
Objective Discussion
As opposed to many other Hollywood observers of the past who have merely
expressed a rather crude and subjective opinion (or tap- danced around
the truth) about this issue of who controls Hollywood, I've actually
conducted and published a study, that can be replicated by anyone who
chooses to do so, although so far as I know, no one else has had the
courage to undertake such research. Evenso, I think it is time for us
(as a nation) to get past our inability to discuss this issue both
objectively and intelligently.
Who Controls
First, my studies demonstrate that the people who still determine which
movies the vast majority of American audiences see on the screen (that
is, the real Hollywood movie "makers") are the three top studio
executives at the so-called major studio/distributors. Despite what
we're often led to believe by the so-called Hollywood establishment
about influence on a relatively small number of films from other sources
(like certain powerful actors, agents and directors), these top studio
executives are the people who directly control the important level of
Hollywood decision-making I've described, and they have exercised that
control for the nearly 90-year history of the Hollywood-based U.S. film
industry.
Specific Group
My studies demonstrate further that the most honest, accurate and fair
description of the relevant characteristics and backgrounds of the
members of this Hollywood control group is that a clear majority (not
all, but a clear majority) of it's members have been politically
liberal, not very religious, Jewish males of European heritage. And, as
with most institutions in our society, majority rules. On the other
hand, "control" in this context does not mean absolute control, but the
"exercise of dominant influence" over this particular industry. Now,
apparently this is the part of my speech that makes some people
uncomfortable, and that's not my intent, I'm just trying to get at the
truth and be as precise as possible. So, if anyone disagrees with my
facts, show me your studies. To help avoid any misunderstanding or
misinterpretation of my work, however, I'll pause here for a moment to
emphasize what I am clearly not saying.
What I'm NOT Saying
I am not saying that the behavior of this narrowly-defined Hollywood
control group (a majority of not more than twenty-five individuals at
any given time) is in any way representative of the 5.5 million or more
members of the much broader so-called Jewish community here in the U.S.,
so I'm clearly not talking about Jews generally. Second, I'm not
suggesting that any of the members of the Hollywood control group behave
the way they do because they are Jewish. I am only observing and merely
criticizing the well-documented, business-related behavior of a small
group of unrepresentative individuals, who in all likelihood and at
certain levels, are behaving just like anyone else under the same or
similar circumstances. After all, as human beings, we all tend to want
to associate with people who are more like ourselves, and since movies
tend to mirror the values, interests, cultural perspectives and
prejudices of their makers (no matter who they are), the motion pictures
of any particular group will tend to reflect the interests of that
group. In addition, since the motion picture is a significant medium for
the communication of ideas, it is essential in a democracy (based on a
marketplace of freely competing ideas) that we consumers of motion
picture product and victims of its legacy know as much about the
backgrounds of these individual mass-media communicators as possible.
Also NOT Saying
I'm not even saying that these members of the Hollywood Saying control
group think alike, merely that there is less diversity of thought in any
narrowly-defined group than there would be in a more diverse group.
Finally, I'm not alleging any sort of conspiracy. I'm only concerned
about the improper business practices and the adverse results. On the
other hand, as we will see, one of those business practices is
discrimination, and in order to clarify who the modern-day victims of
this discrimination are, we must identify as best we can the
perpetrators of the discriminatory acts.
Unfair Practices
Now, to make matters much worse and even more intolerable with respect
to Hollywood, my studies demonstrate that this small narrowly-defined
Hollywood control group has actually gained and has maintained its
dominance over the U.S. film industry through the consistent use of
several hundred of these specifically identifiable unfair, unethical,
unconscionable, anti-competitive, predatory and illegal business
practices. I specifically identify, describe and discuss these business
practices in varying degrees of detail in three of my published books.
Outsider Exclusion
So, in addition to all of the patterns of bias in Hollywood films noted
earlier, this narrow control of Hollywood has also generally resulted in
the systematic and arbitrary exclusion of those who may be considered
"outsiders" from positions of control at the major studio/distributors
and a significant number of associated entities, in and around the film
industry. An insidious network of social and cultural relationships
based on reciprocal preferences for Hollywood insiders, and those
closely associated with them, has long enveloped this industry. In
Hollywood, that is the most accurate interpretation of the deceptive
rationalization commonly offered by the Hollywood insiders. They say:
"It's a relationship business . . . " which is just another way of
saying: "We're going to exclude you because you don't have a
relationship with us, and, of course, you don't have a relationship with
us because we don't consider you to be one of us."
Job Bias
Specifically, the executives of the Hollywood major studio/distributors
have engaged in wholesale employment discrimination from corporate top
to bottom for nearly 90 years. Not only has that discrimination
destroyed thousands of the career opportunities, livelihoods and some
lives of Blacks, Latinos, Italian- Americans, Native-Americans, Irish,
women, Arab-Americans, Asian- Americans, Christians, Whites from the
South, among others, but these Hollywood employers have also
historically shown several distinct hiring preferences, including a
strong preference for employing specific immigrants from just 4 or 5
European countries, as opposed to hiring equally talented persons
already in the U.S. (or from other parts of the world), and even when no
demonstrated need for the employment of immigrants was apparent.
Car Theft
If you steal a car in this country, you might very well go to prison.
If, on the other hand, you arbitrarily destroy someone else's career by
hiring your less-deserving cultural cousin for a high-paid Hollywood
studio job, our government has generally looked the other way.
Antitrust Violations
My studies further reveal that the Hollywood control group has also
consistently violated U.S. antitrust laws and continues to do so today.
Some of you may be shocked by these allegations, because you've been
convinced that ours is a nation of laws. Unfortunately, the Federal
Election Commission records show that the arbitrarily selected and
excessively overpaid Hollywood studio executives, their spouses and
multiple political action committees gave some $23.5 million dollars in
so-called "political contributions" during a recent five year reporting
period to candidates for the U.S. Presidency (from both major political
parties) and in key Congressional races.
Justice Department
Consequently, it is absurd for us to expect, or even hope, that any U.S.
President who accepts such "generosity" would turn ment around and
direct the head of the Justice Department (or the FTC) to vigorously
enforce existing federal antitrust laws in the film industry. Of course,
a similar phenomenon occurs at the federal Equal Employment
Opportunities Commission, in Congress and at the local level with
District Attorneys. We have to face up to the fact that our system of
justice is vulnerable to the indirect political bribe, particularly in
this area of white-collar crime. And, that is one of the important
reasons why the antitrust law violations in the film industry are
occurring, and will continue to occur, until the U.S. public becomes
sufficiently informed and outraged to force an end to the practices. And
yes, in a broader context, this requires meaningful campaign finance
reform.
Adhesive
Further, most if not all, of the major studio film distribution
Contracts agreements are contracts of adhesion filled with multiple
unconscionable provisions. They have been specifically drafted and
refined over the years to give these vertically-integrated,
distributor-dominated major studios whatever discretion is necessary to
prevent revenue generated by the exploitation of any motion picture they
distribute from flowing past the distributor to anyone else, including
certain outside investors.
Creative
This illegal and manipulative control of the revenue streams Control
generated by the exploitation of feature films in all markets and media,
is routinely converted in turn, into creative control over future motion
pictures. In Hollywood, he who has the gold, rules.
Circle of Control
Thus, we come full circle back to the reasons why the previously cited
blatant patterns of bias exist in Hollywood films. Illegal business
practices have been used to gain and maintain control of the
Hollywood-based U.S. film industry. That control has been used to hire
generation after generation of individuals with similar backgrounds and
interests for the key executive positions at the major studios.
Additional unscrupulous business practices have been used to extract
unconscionable profits from the studio movies and to retain most of
those profits within the Hollywood insider community.
Uses of Money
Some of that money is used to keep the government at bay. Other illicit
revenues are used to employ the services of some of the best hired guns
for legal and legislative protection. Some is used to buy the loyalty
and silence of high-profile members of the creative community. After
all, you are not likely to complain about the actions of someone who is
paying you anywhere from $1 million to $20 million dollars to appear in
a movie are you? Other portions of these funds are used for outrageous
producer deals on the studio lots for outgoing studio executives or
"super golden parachutes" for retiring executives. Still other such
monies are used for giving insider development deals to the girl
friends, wives, other friends and family members of studio executives. A
dditional funds are used for philanthropic purposes to help gloss over
what's really going on in Hollywood, and to soften potential sources of
criticism (obviously, none of that money has been given to me). Still
other profits are used to attract other people's money to cover the
costs associated with the production and release of the movies the
Hollywood insiders choose. Nobody else matters. Complaints over the
years, and there have been many complaints from a variety of groups,
have generally been met with a wall of arrogance or temporary and
superficial adjustments that have little or no impact on the long-term
distribution of power in Hollywood.
Perfect Crime
With all of the admiration one might muster for such a thing, some may
reasonably choose to describe the Hollywood game as the "perfect crime".
Its victims go far beyond the small production, distribution and
exhibition companies in this country and around the world that are
unfairly squeezed out of the marketplace each year by the predatory
business practices of the majors, far beyond the many producers and
screenwriters whose ideas and screenplays are stolen annually without
sufficient remedy . . .
More Victims
. . . far beyond the diverse community of "outsider" filmmakers,
(including those among the 200 or more disfavored U.S. religious
denominations), whose stories cannot be told through feature film
because they've been arbitrarily shut out of Hollywood, far beyond the
hundreds of thousands of struggling members of the creative community
who don't even realize the playing field is titled in favor of the
Hollywood insiders (or if they do, they're so afraid of being
blacklisted they won't speak out), far beyond the hundreds of attractive
young men and women who are lured to Hollywood every year by prospects
of fame and fortune, only to end up having to sell their bodies to
survive, or even worse, literally never being heard from again . . .
Even More Victims
. . . far beyond all those persons who are cheated out of their fair
share of the economic upside of their own films, far beyond the Victims
millions of moviegoers who are regularly deceived by the high- powered,
all-pervasive advertising, publicity and promotion, about the subject,
suitability or quality of the films they pay money to see (which is why
Jack Valenti's oft-repeated claim that "moviegoers vote with their
pocketbooks" is fraudulent), far beyond the thousands of college level
film students (possibly some of your sons or daughters) whose choice of
studies and professional futures have been based on the misconception
that there are reasonable opportunities waiting for them in the U.S.
film industry, far beyond individuals within the U.S. academic community
and government bureaucracies whose intellectual honesty and willingness
to conduct critical research regarding this industry has been
compromised by Hollywood intimidation -- to all citizens who have to
cope with the powerful negative impact of irresponsible visual images
and biased motion pictures on our children and all of the world's
societies.
Justify
I've had people try to justify what's going on in Hollywood, by telling
me that other industries in this country are just as corrupt. Of course,
I haven't spent 11 years working in or studying the business practices
of any other industry, so I can't compare. In addition, I've always been
taught that just because someone else is doing something wrong, that's
no excuse for doing the same. Further, I can tell you that if a
significant number of our other industries are just as corrupt as the
Hollywood-based U.S. film industry, this country is in deep trouble.
And, if these people are arguing that it's ok for members of the
Hollywood establishment to discriminate against outsiders, because some
others outside of Hollywood also discriminate, then by virtue of that f
lawed logic, it must be ok for those others to discriminate. Employment
discrimination has to be stopped across the board. What do you think our
ongoing national debate about affirmative action is all about? If there
was no employment discrimination, there would be no need for a remedy
like affirmative action.
Wrongful Conduct
In any case, the behavior of this Hollywood control group has been so
reprehensible that over a period of some 50 years, three different
informed and sophisticated individuals who were specifically
knowledgeable about the operation of the film industry (a U.S. Supreme
Court Justice, the federal judge who supervised 30 years of film
industry compliance [or non-compliance] with the Paramount Consent
decrees and the Los Angeles-based litigating attorney who sued Paramount
on behalf of Art Buchwald), all proclaimed in writing (independent of
each other) that the Hollywood control group has a "proclivity for
wrongful conduct".
Insider Defense
In their own defense, the Hollywood insiders have historically used a
series of myths, smokescreens and straw-man arguments disseminated
through the world's most powerful and highly-paid PR machine (aided by a
partisan trade press), to cloud public discussion and understanding of
these important issues.
Narrow Control
In the broadest sense, it's my view, that it is inappropriate in our
multi-cultural society for any readily identifiable interest group
(whether the group identity is based on ethnicity, culture, religion,
race, class, region of origin, sex or sexual orientation, or otherwise)
to be allowed to dominate or control any important communications
medium, including film.
Federal Help
Now, you may be surprised to know that our federal government has a long
and well-documented history of being highly involved in helping the
Hollywood-based U.S. film industry achieve its dominance over both the
domestic and international film markets. Although, from time to time,
our government has ineptly and unsuccessfully attempted to limit
Hollywood's excesses in this regard.
Proper Role
On the other hand, our federal government has a legitimate interest and
role to play (indeed, a duty and obligation) to stop, or at least fully
investigate and consider all appropriate remedies, for any of the
employment discrimination and antitrust law violations, along with the
hundreds of other questionable business practices routinely utilized by
the Hollywood major studio/distributors.
General Welfare
In addition to any available private remedies that I might encourage,
such as class action lawsuits based on antitrust and racketeering
statutes, or more broad-based and long-term economic boycotts than ever
before instigated, our federal government, through all legitimate means
necessary, has the right and the obligation to protect the
constitutionally ordained general welfare of all our citizens from what
Professor George Gerbner calls the "pollution of our cultural
environment". Furthermore, our government has the right and a duty to
ensure that all U.S. citizens, regardless of background, have an equal
and fair opportunity to participate at all levels of the U.S. film
industry, with the appropriate long-term objectives of ensuring that our
feature films more accurately reflect the diversity of our
multi-cultural society, and communicate greater diversity in the
marketplace of ideas. The search for truth deserves no less.
Cultural Stories
In other words, none of our cultural groups should be arbitrarily denied
the opportunity to tell their important cultural stories (the way they
want to tell them), through this significant medium for the
communication of ideas. No one should be allowed to force members of
other cultures to filter their important stories through the cultural
sensibilities of a small, rather homogeneous group of film industry
gate-keepers, which is exactly what is happening in Hollywood today, and
that is exactly what has been occurring for the nearly 90-year history
of the Hollywood-based U.S. film industry. After all, as noted earlier,
movies are somewhat unique -- to a large extent, they tend to mirror the
values, interests, cultural perspectives and prejudices of their makers.
On the other hand, as we've seen, the Hollywood control group is much
too narrow in scope, and its members are prejudiced indeed.
Weaken Democracy
Ultimately, as already pointed out by the Supreme Court, the motion
picture is a significant medium for the communication of ideas. And, in
a democratic society, we cannot afford to stand by and allow any single
narrowly-defined interest group to control or even dominate any of our
important communications media, because that inaction will inevitably
weaken, if not transform our cherished democracy into a fraudulent
facsimile. In the absence of a free marketplace of ideas, our democracy
is flawed. And, it is impossible to have a free marketplace of ideas, so
long as any of our important communications media are controlled by one
or even a few, narrowly-defined interest groups. If we want to preserve
our democracy and make the world a better place, we need to start with
what we communicate to each other, and who gets to communicate.
--o0o-
-----
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
Omnia Bona Bonis,
All My Relations.
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
Kris
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