Thursday, November 19, 2020
Screenwriter Billy Ray on Hollywood and Political Activism
Variety: I often wonder what would happen if Donald Trump got to make a movie about Hollywood, instead of the other way around.
Of course, he’s been writing it for years. We’re the radical left, anti-God; we hate Christmas! A bunch of condescending socialist defund-the-policers. Clichés all, but here’s one I bet he wouldn’t use to describe us: patriots.
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2 comments:
I really appreciated the pragmatic, moderate tone of this article- it brings up really important points that are present in our political system today. Look, in the same way that Donald Trump proved that he was worth someone's vote and that even as a complete outsider with no actual experience he was able to be in politics, the same needs to be applied to the rest of Hollywood. For better or for worse, celebrities have a platform and a following that believes what they say and this needs to be utilized. I know a lot of people on the right criticized the DNC for having so many celebrities supporting them- but that's just hypocritical. It shows, political activism among celebrities increases turn out and makes things like voting and civil engagement mainstream. It also helps me as a consumer understand that these celebrities aren't just living in their own world- that they understand real world consequences and contribute to society.
I think this article did a fair bit of idealizing Hollywood and it’s support of the American ideals. I’m being fairly pessimistic, and I was happy to hear about all the coordinating that was happening within the industry to support the democratic process. The arts have always been a pillar of the democratic ideals and therefore targeted in times of political unrest, take the Red Scare for example. But I’m always hesitate to praise Hollywood too much for it’s behavior because of the commercialized nature of their industry I think it creates deeply flawed and biased art that is representative of the overwhelming biases existing in the American system but that’s not what they’re boasting about here. If Hollywood really wants to change and support these American ideals I would really like to see representation and perspectives of mush greater perspectives filling positions and content their creating. Political support and assistance is great but acknowledging and actively fixing the biases in there sphere, where they have so much representation not just during elections in crucial too.
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